Thanks for the video Rob! Its not an easy task working out the payback on these things as it is based on so many variable. Weather, consumption and tariff changes to name a few. We are extremely happy with how much you love the system!
Absolutely, so many variables, from every aspect, and it is critical that people take the facts and apply it to their situation. Although you made it look easy, we know the routing was not so simple and its only the tools, experience that got it done in the timeframe. I think, now is the perfect time to say Thank you, we are over the moon, even the wife is impressed. It is, so far worth every single penny. Your guidance from day 1 has led us in to a system that so far has gone far beyond expectations, which is hugely appreciated. …ill certainly be in touch for the next house 😃
Very interesting. Extremely neat installation. We (2 pensioners) had a system installed a few weeks ago on our bungalow which fortunately has a long roof facing directly south, give or take a degree. When we first contacted a company 4-5 months ago there were already equipment supply problems, but we had full confidence in the company (in Hereford) to do their best for us. We ended up with 13 x 370w panels (not black, but actually we really like what we've got), so a total of 4.81 kwh, along with a 10 kwh Solaredge battery system including a 4 kw inverter. Our installation was very straightforward, with the battery and inverter installed on a north-facing external wall just outside where our internal electricity meter is, the panel cables routed through the loft. The installation took a day and a half, three guys on day one, two on the second day. We paid just under £12,000. I am certain that the decision to get a battery was the right one, even though it makes the cost recovery period years longer. The weather here just east of the Welsh border has been quite overcast much of the time since our installation (we missed the heatwaves) and our system has often been producing at a rate of just 1 kw or less - more than enough to keep essential background devices running but not enough to boil a kettle without drawing power from the grid. However, during the day the excess of this low productivity is stored in the battery and gives us a sensible amount to use overnight and on more power-hungry devices on occasion. Our least productive day so far was a paltry 5 kwh, but the best day was 24 kwh. Our battery generally recharges fully by mid-to-late afternoon. On one day we exported 14 kwh which we could not use, but on another only 0.14 kwh. I am slightly disappointed that a 4.8.kwh system often produces so little at this time of year, very late summer or vey early autumn, although I fully anticipated very, very low production in the winter, and correspondingly high production during sunny summer days. The Solaredge app is brilliant for showing you exactly what is going on, almost second by second - it shows that we are still using 0.25-0.5 kwh off the grid each day, for reasons I don't understand, and of course we still pay a daily standing charge. Actually the real motivation to get a battery was to hopefully get on a cheap overnight tariff (albeit with a higher than normal daytime kwh cost). If we can do this when the power companies put these on offer again, I assume that in the low-productivity winter season for the panels we will be able to charge up the 10 kwh battery overnight at a very cheap rate and use the stored power through the next day without needing to use higher-rate units. We are not a high-consumption family, and if we were I would probably opt for more panels and a bigger battery (or more batteries)? We have no regrets. It is nice to feel that you are in a small way contributing to reducing your own and the nation's need for energy produced from gas or whatever, while at the same time, in the long term, hopefully saving money. But it is a big up-front cost.
Absolutely fantastic comment. Thank you for sharing your experience and offering the facts to others. I completely agree. We generally are using as much of our system as possible and having an electric car is allowing that, which is holding me back from considering more batteries, as in essence I have a 74kwh one in my car. Really appreciate the comment.
You are probably using the .25kwh from the grid when a large load is switched on, like a kettle etc. Most inverters switch to grid power while it works out if it can ramp up solar production or use the battery, and then does so. These small grid charges add up over a day. My system does the same, albeit a different brand of inverter
Thank you. Finally someone giving an accurate example of cost. I am sick of seeing adverts for solar systems where they say affordable pricing and then want your personal details to quote. I just want to see a rough cost of an installed system without getting multiple calls and emails
I had a similar SolarEdge (SE) system installed this week, although a little smaller. 15 x Longhi 405W panels, 3.68Kw SE Inverter and SE battery. £14k. Quoted early this year. We had a long wait for the battery with an original estimated delivery of December. Almost a year from quote to installation, but fortunately the battery arrived August. System works great and pleased I went with SE. Looked at other systems and wasn’t impressed with monitoring applications (e.g Solar Man) amongst other factors. My installer only fits SE and Tesla as a rule but did offer GivEnergy as an option if we wanted it. In addition to the above price we added a Myenergi Zappi charger as we have an EV due. As well as the equipment, spend time looking for a good installer. It sounds obvious but remember anyone can buy the equipment online. We had quotes from people who didn’t give me confidence they had the experience with Solar. Also avoid placing equipment in your loft, some installers will offer this but my research showed it was best to avoid due to heat affecting the inverter.
Hi, I was wondering how you are finding your Solar Edge monitoring, personally I cant see why the average user would need all that info + the extra cost for it.
@@dykey1234567 The monitoring is good, and I am told an upgrade is due in the coming months. I think as the data is available anyway then why not offer it to the user. You don't have to do anything with it and can readily view the performance of the system as it is relatively intuitive. You can download the data if required but mostly I just check the production and self consumption figures.
Thanks for sharing, we have had our system roughly two years now 7.5kw battery and 14 panels. Summer savings this year around 92%, winter savings around 50%, but it depends on sunny days mainly. Poor charge days are round about 38%, but in only takes the sun to come out to change that. Also changing the way you use energy, running dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer around mid day helps to save money by using the sun. We use a timer connecting to the immersion heater for water heating at optimum times, it’s not foolproof but it works for us. Now with energy prices rising, it comes into its own, just be smart when it comes to energy uses. The downside is your always looking for the sun being out and become a bit nerdy towards your own systems 🤣🤣. Good luck with your systems
Fantastic, thank you for sharing. You’ve hit the nail on the head for how we are finding its working. Really appreciate taking the time to share as will help others understand 👍🏼
We may add a back up battery for power cuts, most of all the common systems fail all off in a power cut. This is to protect the power company engineers, working on the supply side from the grid, effectively stopping your system from shocking them. Some of the more up-to-date systems can have this built in from new, in effect isolating your house from the grid in that event . It also means your system would work in a power cut, as it does need a source of power to work the system. NB:- I was once told anything above 1kw will start to draw part of its power from the grid, as well as the battery. Just be careful of what you connect 👍👍
Thats it, I believe the essential circuits are separated out in this instance. Our battery would shut down in the event of a power cut, but to be honest I cant remember the last time we had a power cut, well one that lasted more than a few minutes. Something we’ll consider when the solaredge system can do it
@@DIYJourney1 Just a bit of an update, had two day’s of rubbish sun ☀️ due to heavy cloud cover. Powered into the battery only 20% per day so you will get disappointing days. I was thinking of power cuts that may happen , an item on the news recently of the probability. Just thinking you have all this power in the battery and no access to it.
Very good of you to give an honest brake down of the costs of such an installation, We didn't need scaffolding as our panels are only on our garage roof. Obviously trying to get an install at the moment isn't going to be easy as suppliers and installers can charge a premium. Didn't here you mention which Electrical provider you are using, If people aren't aware Octopus are paying 15p per KW for anything you send back and if you are on economy 7 you can fill your 10KW battery for 16p per Kw at night making the system work for you even on days with no sun. Worth mentioning as our previous supplier only paid 1.5p eventually raising it to 5p just before we changed, definitely worth being with the right supplier to maximise the payback on your investment.
Great video. Totally agree that it is worth paying more for an integrated system and also for the quality of the install by Oval. Thanks for taking the time to explain this so clearly
I had my solar system installed last March, similar all black panels but as it’s a small bungalow could only fit 12 panels but all face south. I had them installed by the same company that fitted an Air Source Heat pump a year later (paid a deposit to let them know I wasn’t going with another company) so they gave me a hearty discount on the solar, costing £6000! Although the ASHP system for domestic host water and heating cost £18k to install. I get a government grant of £11000 paid over 7 years. We only have oil in the village and the cost of oil has gone into the stratosphere 😱 Scottish power has reduced my monthly bill to £20!
It is really important to give people this kind of detail and talk though your decisions and the cost implications. As you say it is an expensive capital outlay, but it is also a very savvy investment. Over the long term it will repay the upfront costs many times over and increase the value of your property. I’m looking forward to free miles in spring/summer once I get my solar and an EV. When a tank of diesel is £90 a pop, there are huge bonus savings to be had over and above the savings on home electricity
Our setup is very similarly advanced, happy to answer questions if you wish. A+ rated Energy Performance Home 7.2 kWp Solar Array (East / West) 5 kW inverter 27 kWh Tesla Powerwalls battery storage & gateway 2 3 Phase Grid with Smart Meter 2 x 22 kW car chargers (Zappi) 1 x 7 kW car charger (Zappi) for Solar 1 x 7 kW 32A Commando Socket (backup off grid) 2 x Electric Cars (Tesla M3P & Skoda Enyaq VRS) 1 x Solar Water Heater (Eddi) 8kW Heat Pump - Air to Air (4 wall units) 1 Gbps Fibre Broadband on 6E mesh Wifi 1 x SpaceX Starlink on 6 mesh Wifi House remains fully operational and connected during full Grid Blackouts.
I now see by looking at the installation in the garage that you mean it when you say you are very particular - very neat and clean job - no unnecessary unsightly conduits and cables running on the wall - neat job - very impressed. Just the way I like it too.
I invested early in solar back in 2012 with a 3.5kw system and it paid for itself twice over now as the original install was only £6k. There were no hybrid inverters or batteries back then. But now there is so I'm upgrading to a Solis 6kw hybrid inverter and four 4.8 kw 48v Pylontech US5000 batteries that were only £1,450 each. All told the upgrade with all the new wiring it will come to just over £9k but it will work in the event of a power cut but most importantly for me is that I can expand the system in the future. A lot of these systems out there have limited scalability or expansion possibilities so if you want to add to the system with extra batteries or panels you can't. The batteries I chose can string up to 16 but with a hub I can have many strings. I've oversized my inverter for 2 reasons, one is that I plan to add more panels and the second is that I want more power avaiilable from the batteries, inverters can only supply from the battery what it is rated at I've had to wait a long time though as the supply madness continues but it was worth the wait as I know it pays for itself fairly quickly.
This panel can put out close to 100 watts ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxOqI2yqX0XVrhR2BMJciTWrHJpG8FhJyg when positioned in the appropriate southernly direction, tilted to the optimal angle for your latitude/date, and connected to a higher capacity device than a 500. The built in kickstand angle is a fixed at 50 degrees. Up to 20% more power can be output by selecting the actual date and latitude optimal angle.The 500 will only input 3.5A maximum at 18 volts for 63 watts. Some of the excess power from the panel can be fed into a USB battery bank, charged directly from the panel while also charging a 500. This will allow you to harvest as much as 63 + 15 = 78 watts.If this panel is used to charge a larger device, such as the power station, then its full output potential can be realized.
Nice vid 👍. Been building my own 100% diy system, 3kw of panels on two shed roofs, off grid with pass through 3kw hybrid inverter, 14.3kw diy 24v eve grade a cell battery bank with jk bms. Is an awsome project. Total cost £4000... 💷💷💷😎😎😎
Hi, great channel and excellent content, can i ask a question please.. I am about to have a 6.88kw system for an east facing array and have been told the 5kw GiveEnergy invertor will be too small? I notice you have an 8kw system and a 5kw invertor, are you happy with the choice ignoring the electric car issue? My anticipated yearly production is 5100 kw, so my thinking is over the course of a year the 5kw will be more efficient more of the time to offset the clipping that may occur in the peak months. There seem to be so much difference of views when speaking to installers, they are almost just leaving it up to me to choose :) Thanks
Bird protection... I spoke with an amateur Ornithologist about this, specifically about Pigeons. He told me that Rock Pigeons / Feral Pigeons (Green/Purple necks) are hole seekers, very territorial and will live, breed and die under your Solar Panels. However, not all Pigeons are the same. Wood Pigeons (white necks), are not hole seekers, they prefer bushes & trees. So will walk on and around your roof, but never under the panels. This knowledge saved me thousands... as we have Wood Pigeons, and sure enough... we're safe.
Though all south-facing panels gives you more energy output, having panels in two directions like you have will give a longer production of energy over the day. We have 6.4kW of panels all south facing, solar edge optimisers and inverter, Tesla Powerwall 2 and gateway. Installed late last year for about £16k total including fees etc. We're heavy electricity users. It will charge the Powerwall overnight using cheap rate on days when the forecast is gloomy, but charges less when sunshine is likely. I've featured the system on my channel and will do a follow up when it's been operating for about a year. Trouble is with present lead times, people couldn't buy the system now.
I was quite surprised how many hours in the day my new 4.8 kwh south-facing system produces energy. Looking at Sept.19th, its first full day of operation, it started producing at 6.30 a.m. and stopped at 8 p.m. albeit at very low levels, but it reached a respectable 1 kw at 8 a.m. and finally fell below 1 kw at 6 p.m. But yes, in high summer when the sun sets further to the north-west I can see that installing panels on our west-facing roof would give us more power in the late afternoon/early evening.
YES my system is the same - split 90 degrees apart into the Morning array (2.5kw) and the afternoon array (5kw) - it makes the standard curve rise faster flatten for longer and drop slower than a standard (for New Zealand) Due North array.
Interesting video, I've just instructed an installer on a very similar sized system, 22 panels (split across 4 roof elevations so a bit more scaffold too) instead of 20 but mine came in within £1500 so when you gave your total figure I felt a lot better. The guys we have instructed are also really good with the aesthetics so seeing a neat install reinforces that that was worthwhile too.
Thanks for the effort put in to do the video, I appreciate it's not easy to give up your time to share your experience. Ignore any of the keyboard warriors comments. The installation looks neat. You must be exporting a lot to the grid though? That volume of solar production I reckon your export must be 50%? Getting a battery was a wise move. Solar returns little in comparison to backup storage. We had a similar system installed in April, smaller array but more batteries. Wish I had gone for a higher inverter as only 3.5kw hybrid would be my tip on reflection. Keep sharing your experiences 👍
Very kind comment thank you. It nice to response to sensible conversation with likeminded people. First month completed and we have only exported 20% out of 700kwh. Reason being, is I have an electric car. So alot of excess went in to that, Iv had around 1450 free miles is august. We also have planned a hot water energy diverter to heat our hot water via the emersion heater. So I think we will be close to maxing our production. The reason for such a large array, was in the winter months, my theory was, that “alot of little production” will give us atleast an element of useable production or atleast top the battery up with small amounts. I must say @oval renewables have done a fantastic job.
I am in the USA in Las Vegas and had solar installed just over 2 1/2 years ago, we went from spending $2,200 a year to $165 which is the standing charge for the electric meter and being connected to the grid. I liked your video and can honestly say having Solar panel & a Tesla Powerwall installed was one of my best decisions - I'm figure payback will be 7-8 years.
I've just had solar fitted. In Durham . It works perfectly. I'm quite pleased with it .the quality looks excellent. I don't think I got the cheapest and I didn't want it either. But I got a 12 panels plus 6k inverter plus a battery .all fitted .plus scaffolding. I was happy with the instalation .i thought these guys know what thfy are doing but I' was not too happy with the amout of instruction I received .prior . Mabey it was me but i felt it was not sufficient. As I'm learning more from UA-cam. The total I wanted to pay was about up to £10k but total cost ended up being just over £14k only time will tell whether I got ripped or what ..I had to wait 3 months to get it fitted .and I think the wait is even longer now . Good luck I'd say do it .but don't dilly dally any longer. As you will pay more and wait longer to get it . The Company I used was called Project Solar from the Manchester area
Although you don't give any details about the panels and the battery, and the prices for these vary enormously, as a non-expert the price you paid seems ball-park fair to me. I had very little discussion with my installers after the initial survey, and the installation team seemed to be working out the best arrangement of the various boxes and leads on the day, but that did not concern me. My Solaredge system seems to run itself without any need for my intervention unless I need to change battery charging times, which the installing company will do for me. I paid just under £12k for 13 x 370 w panels and a 10 kwh battery, but only have a 4 kw inverter. Installation costs were low because we have a bungalow and easy routing for cables, so it only took them a day and a bit. We waited about 4 months for installation. I have absolutely no regrets about installing solar - it's the sensible thing to do. Enjoy your system!
Impressive system pal 👍 ordered panels and a battery off eon in March only just had the G99 approved because the DNO’s are swamped with applications, but can’t wait to get it up and running, what energy supplier are you with and what tariff are you on out of interest?
@@DIYJourney1 thanks, do you charge your car overnight or can the panels + battery discharge at 7.2kW? Quite a technical rabbit hole these installations - no companies ever seem to offer a full service, do you have a solar iboost or similar to put excess power into the water tank? Heard they’re good
I do yes as I do a lot of miles. Currently the solar cant produce anywhere near enough but summer, absolutely. I have a tesla smart immersion, but eventually will have a solaredge diverter
Thanks for this video, we had someone come around to quote us today for panels. I am curious about your inverter comment, basically we would like to future proof our home, we don't have an EV now but the next cars we buy almost certainly will be. General rule of thumb is that inverter should match the output of the panels it seems, does having an EV change that?
I think that is a fair way to look at it. Match the inverter to panel peak output. Our peak is 8kw but our inverter is 5kw. I did anticipate we would reach 8kw as much as we do in the sunnier months. Probably advice I should of been given, but also we increased our panel array size from 5-8kw quite late on, so to do this would of meant, further delays, and more cost for another DNO approval.
Just to add to this... Your Inverter should be sized to your expected peak output... not the Solar Array Size. For instance, if you had two 4kWp arrays (East / West facing), the peak power would be LESS than a single 8kWp array (South facing). Also, during Summer Heat, your Solar Array can lose 20% of it's peak power due to heat buildup. So the inverter size needs to take these considerations into play.
Just a fraction under £13k for ourselves: 18 x 330W Trina panels, GivEnergy 5KW inverter, 18 Tigo optimisers, 2 x 8.2 kWh GivEnergy batteries, Bird Blocker, scaffold and installation. Not saying it is better or worse than your system, just a bit different for comparison. Like you, I would do some things slightly different if I was to start again: larger inverter and more panels on the garage south roof. I'll probably do this in the future! Our annual electricity consumption is around 7800 kWh (have a PHEV car).
Fantastic, thank-you for sharing, it certainly helps others see the pricing relative to different brands etc, so thank you for sharing. Our consumption is similar at around 12000kwh because of an EV.
Thankyou, I hope it helps. I personally think thats a question for a debate, some people hate them, some people like them, normally the hate cones from not fully understanding it, from what I’ve experienced. For me, it would make a house more desirable, in my instance without solar id have an electric bill in excess of £450 a month, with solar thats reduced down to £100, so would absolutely add value for me. If this helps, we do anticipate on moving house prior or at the break even point, so Im not concerned. Current housing market is slowing so any added value is a bonus to help sell a house too.
As 40 year electrician I can say that is a neat job from the bits I have seen. I have had 4kw if solar for 11 years now was a fantastic investment with the feed in tariffs at the time. These got the industry started as without it it was just not viable. Today is totally different with high energy the investment stacks up easily. Having said that I think your projection is in my opinion optimistic ( unless you have an electric car or something. Living in the middle of the country as a rule of thumb 4kw of panels produces 4000 units per year( newer inverters will be more efficient) the problem is 3/4 of this is produced in the 7 sunnier months and the remaining quarter in the winter months when you need it more. Strangle enough during the recent high summer temperatures the max output has dropped alarmingly. Cold sunny days produce the best output. I am sure it will have been a sound investment even if electricity prices drop back
As said in this video, and my other videos relating to solar, I have an electric car that does 35k miles a year. I am very comfortable that the pay back will be around the stated or sooner with reimbursed mileage element and energy prices.
@@DIYJourney1 sorry missed that. Yes going to be great with a car. Curious though as won’t your car be away from the house during the day when the bulk of the solar available? You then you’ll be reliant on the 10 kw battery to battery transfer, guessing this is only about a 1/3 of a tank, but robbing your nighttime energy store for the house. Not a criticism this is genuine curiosity! As just got another 10kw if nearly new panels and debating the options.
No, as I work from home/work nights, as Iv always said very specific to personal situation. My journeys are not everyday, but when I do one will be 200+ miles each time, so my car sits on charge during the day following solar production also reimbursed mileage has to be considered. Our usage is on average about 1100kwh per month
Never thought about bird protection, just had 14 panels fitted going to ask my installer for a quote, luckily i live in a Bungalow, so had no scaffolding charges to pay, really appreciate the heads-up 👌
Hi pal, Ive got a question regarding your solar panel system. You have 20 solar panels which the total power outcome is 8,100 watts and it is 2 string and you have a 5kw inverter. Are you able to put a 5kw inverter on the system because I bought a 5kw type of inverter and I have 20 panels as well, are you able to connect it? Is it not too much? Thanks Pal.
Hi, Excuse my knowledge, but I believe its subject to the inverter capabilities and depending which you have. The solaredge inverter allows for oversizing of 150% (if i remember correctly). Lesson learnt for me, if your likely to produce with the full array, I would match your inverter to the panel array size if you can. Of course you have your inverter so appreciate likely not doable.
For the system you have installed I think it sounds reasonable. Yes, you could have saved a bit on the inverter/battery, but Solaredge is a good manufacturer. If you watch Artisan Electrics based in Cambridge their installations/systems are between £25~50,000.
Wow - solar costs a fortune in the UK. We have 7.5kw in 2x arrays (with the smart isolators on 4x panels), a 5kw inverter and 12kw modular battery (expands to 24kw for an extra NZ$10k). All for less than NZ$27k installed. At the current exchange rate that is 14,149 pounds total. Now in good old New Zealand we have 83+% of our electricity supplied from renewables (so hydro, solar and wind) - and we have quite decent prices NZD$0.29 per kwh (incl. tax) and NZD$ 0.60 per day connection fee. But I get NZD 0.085 per kwh exported which is pretty low. In New Zealand we get ZERO government support for doing this and it is still worthwhile. We also do not get time of day tariffs either. In the end, we decided that we were setting our energy cost at a fixed price and that 40% of the system would last 15 years (the batteries) and the inverter and panels 25 years. Once we divided the cost to install over these periods and then applied average inflation in electricity prices, it was a complete no brainer - even without any export. Our only regret was getting the smaller battery - we should have gone for the full implementation of 24 kw. Also, The hardware we choose allows us to add another parallel battery and inverter and they use CANBUS to coordinate their activity - also an important feature as the plan is to add another 5kw array with a 2 kw wind turbine and more battery to deal with charging our next vehicle. So the important things are : 1. Buy as much panel capacity as you have roof space. 2. Buy as much battery as you can afford. 3. Get an extensible system so you can grow it using a wind turbine or more solar. 4. Do not get bogged down in trying to calculate whether it will pay for itself - the greed of the energy industry guarantees it. I was horrified at what your politicians are allowing to happen to the citizens of the UK - a legacy of inaction and endemic corruption in your parliament. Love and mung beans from down under guys - and we love what you have done to your house!
@@AthelstanEngland So kind, thoughtful and saving lives is bad ? You are really screwy in the head. Let me guess you identify as a Christian - with all that hate and venom. Your awesome.
what is the life of the battery and solar panels. how long do they garantee the system . also what will happen in winter when the sun very rarely shines .when the electric was at reasonable price my yearly bill would be 700 pounds a year average . if the price went up as it should 20, 000 pounds would supply me for 20 years .in the UK you can not rely just on solar or am i wrong . thanks for the video
All items come with a reasonable warranty, the battery is 10 years and they guarantee the energy retention to be 70% at 10 years. Solar panels are 84.8% at 25years. You cant rely on solely solar unless you have a large battery array. Maybe Solar Panels aren’t for you, Im currently paying around £4000 per year at today prices as I have an electric car. My aim is not to 100% remove grid but reduce my consumptions as much as possible and bring my p/kwh down. My first month ended with me averaging 6p/kwh instead of 28p/kwh at todays prices, what will the price be in 5 years time. I know 5 years ago I certainly weren’t paying over 10p/kwh.
Great video, thanks for sharing. I had a solar system installed in January this year using 12 x 370W JA panals, Solar edge optimizers, Solar edge 3.68kW inverter and a solar iBoost to heat the water. I got the quote and installation before the cost of leccy went mad so I think I was lucky to get the whole thing installed for £6k. My only complaint is the wifi in the inverter is very flakey as it loses connection one day and reconnects the next. This has been the pattern since it was installed but is not effecting the operation so I put up with it. At some stage I plan to build a DIY battery for it but will probably make that a separate system to the house electrics. Have you signed up with a company yet for generation repayments? So far we have generated 3MWh since February and I live in Northern Ireland which is NOT a sunny place. Most of the leccy generated has been either used by us or used to heat the hot water tank by the immersion heater through the IBoost.
Fantastic, thanks for sharing, good to hear your experience. I think £6k is very fair, before we considered more panels and a battery we was at £9k for the same products just less of. Iv not yet experienced any internet issues but we shall see, it is hard wired however to the router. We’re having a Solaredge Hot Water energy diverter fitted when they come into stock to use up that surplus like you have so looking forward to those savings on top.
@@DIYJourney1 The price would have been £5k but we needed the optomizers due to shading, I suspect the price would be much higher today. If you're hard wired then you shouldn't have the issues I am experiencing as they are WIFI related. The water heater has meant we have used zero oil all summer for water heating. I would estimate a normal summer we use around 3/4 litre per day so we will probably save around 200 litres of heating oil per year.
Great video, thanks for sharing. It's still too much for the "average joe", sadly. It's a shame companies, either energy or renewable providers don't offer low interest, long term loans, or even the government/banks. That would really help out a lot of people and attract a lot more people to adding renewables to their homes.
Their are currently many finance options out there, as naturally interest rates are low currently anyway. Im not one to recommend but even putting on our mortgage would still return us in our situation a quick return on investment. Im unsure how to take the average joe comment…Im pretty average lol
Seems Scotland gets a much better deal than the rest of the country. Aren't we supposed to be a "United" Kingdom? haha. Installing renewables in Scotland? If you live in Scotland, you can get up to £17,500 interest-free when you install home renewables with the Home Energy Scotland loan. Increased cashback is now available! Up to 40% cashback for some eligible energy efficiency measures and 75% for certain renewable heating systems (based on total costs and capped at a maximum value) is now available. Cashback is subject to availability while funds last or until the end of the financial year - whichever is sooner. Funds are reserved for customers when their loan is offered.
thanks for letting us no on cost please keep updates coming on the solar as we head towards the winter be interesting to see what its like in the darker days
No problem, absolutely. Its a huge topic at the moment and a bit of minefield, iv learnt so much since looking in to it all. Yes, Im keen to know too. Iv been impressed with the very dense cloudy days, as we have still been able to run the house, just not the car. Time will tell, lets hope the risk pays off 😃
Great video and thanks for taking the time to do it and share your experiences. I suspect that prices will rise exponentially.....maybe the Government could put money in to this (doubt it somewhat given the current administration)..
Love the video, looked at Solar last Christmas for a barn conversion I am doing and it was a perfect time to fit, Unfortunately I could not find a reputable company todo the job plenty of blokes saying they could supply and fit for £15,000 but no proper quotations no listing of equipment and no returning of telephone calls, this says tome its a mine field to get a reputable company,, probably making so much money they cant be bothered, still looking for a good company to work with......
Thank you, absolutely, huge issue currently isn’t it, exactly the problem we had. Right from day 1 Oval Renewables were great offering advice for all situations and working with us to get a system we wanted. Oval are nationwide so could be worth a chat with them, Im really happy with the work and support we’ve received.
Very interesting clear breakdown of costs and equipment..if you didn’t have an EV would the outlay justify the costs purely from a financial standpoint…the green issue’s are of course debatable..
Thank you, hope it helps. I think it would probably break even before warranty for us, without an EV, but payback would be I think at least 10-12years which makes it harder to justify the outlay, not knowing future pricing, however Im on the fence, as to whether a battery only system would be the better way to go in that instance. Im keen to see how it does over the next 12 months where I could make an assessments.
Can you explain how you use the energy in the home to achieve savings and what extra costs were incurred? Do you have electric heating and if so did you install this to use the solar benefits? What about hot water and showers? Have you installed electric amenities everywhere? As an example, if you installed say, an 11kW electric shower could a family of 4 shower effectively each morning using only stored energy?
For the house, the appliances we have: - Electric Fire - Induction Hob - 2x Ovens - Washer - Dryer - Dishwasher We are awaiting a Solaredge hot water diverter which will use excess solar to heat the hot water via the emersion heater. However, I have an Electric Car which has a 74kwh battery so we are pretty much at the limit and using everything, for our first month we put over 400kw in the car which is circa 1300miles of free mileage
Nice system. We already have a 4kW East/West system, and we're adding another 5kW next week (scaffolding already up), along with a Tesla PW. £17K for the new system - just over a grand of that is to remove and refit what is already there, as our original 4kW system gets in the way of the new install. Ordered in January of this year, and it's been delay after delay - finally about to see the light! Should be pretty much independent from the grid between March and September, and using mostly cheap rate at other times to charge the battery and EV's.
Sounds a fantastic system, Id like some more panels on the east, however we would require planning permission and because of the village we live in, I dont want to add an eyesore as the front of the house is visible, but Im shocked at how much east/west panels are for a full days production certainly a lesson for me. Your price seems reasonable doesn’t it, or comparable to mine.
@@DIYJourney1 We're happy enough with the price - particularly when you look at the ROI for such a system (not necessarily the full payback), there's little else to touch it as a vehicle to save money, particularly with the ever increasing cost of electricity. (Also tax efficient, as 'savings' aren't taxed). We're lucky in that we live in a long barn conversion, so the panels are all at one end of the roof, towards the rear of the house, so not really noticeable at all. We would have saved ourselves quite a bit of expense had we just plonked the second set at the front - but like you, we don't want the installation to be too obvious and in the neighbour's faces. While the roof could probably accommodate 20kW+ , if we choose to add more, we'll probably stick them in the garden - one of the advantages of living fairly remotely in Northumberland - land is cheap(er) than elsewhere! It wasn't what I was hoping to spend my pension on - but at least it should stop us getting any nasty energy bill surprises. Though if anyone knows how to produce your own heating oil, I'm all ears! 😁
Nice to see someone in the comments section, thinking of bigger picture such as tax on savings. So many variables isn’t there to how they are viable, but more so like you say, reducing/removing the risk of volatile pricing or even just giving long term security on production.
good comprehensive video. Thx!. I installed a bare bones 3.7kw solar edge with 5kw array for 6.3k installed (zero vat). But that was a few years ago. you can also use excess solar power to heat water using an eddi water heater. its a pretty good job, and only a few hundred quid.
Great stuff, hope your happy with jt. We have a solaredge hot water diverter planned but they are on back order, so haven’t included it until it arrives.
@@DIYJourney1 would you not go for the Eddie hot water and Zappi car charger as your getting electric car? They marry nicely to system and talk to eachother? Very nice install you had done. Lovely garden
They do, although I already have my EV and had a Andersen A2 charger installed way before solar panels were considered, so find it hard to justify more cost to swap them. We are having the Solaredge hot water diverter installed very soon, although my charger isn’t a great integration, it does the job, it just prioritises the home battery charging before car. Haha thank you, love a bit of stripey mowing
Lovely set up to dream of. House looks very spacious and clean. Congrats on a proper set up and best of luck for the future. This is the future and security against energy price hikes.
Does your system/any system have smart export? Ie setting rules like if the variable export price is more than 40p/kwh, export as much as possible from the battery until the battery gets to 45%.
Its not something iv looked at so unsure. Im using my system with thought of using as much of the produced energy as possible. I know our export rate sits at 4.1p/kwh currently so isn’t worth exporting. Iv not seen any at such a high level as you mention but do believe octopus do a tariff that tracks the pricing, so whether it can adapt to that Im unsure.
Thankyou, yes we are, purely because of the EV. However, this has reduced our usage down to around 70%. However we are only at the 4 months with most months being the worst time of year. I anticipate over the year this will be 45-40% coming from the sun. Take the car away and we would be self sufficient for 8 months of the year easily.
A very interesting watch. Thank you for that. I also contacted Oval about a potential installation. Unfortunately, apart from the fact that they aren’t taking on any new business, they wouldn’t be able to install fro me as I need the majority of my panels installing on a south facing wall and they don’t do that as yet. So my search continues. I look forward to seeing your follow up videos on they system.
I'm just starting my "DIY Journey" looking into solar for our house so thanks for sharing your experience. Did you consider roof-integrated panels at all? From my research they're 5% - 10% less effective but then there's no need for nest protection or uplift on the panels if there's ever any tile repairs needed. Thanks
I did yes, your absolutely right, I believe they are less effective. I didn’t actually consider that saving of bird protection with integrated. Im not sure what it costs but I don’t believe it could be substantially more but now you mention that saving, Id be interested to see how much. Lets face it, integrated looks drastically better, it we were to have a house built its the route id take.
@@DIYJourney1 I chose not to have integrated Solar Panels for two reasons. Firstly if I wanted to upgrade the panels to a better specification it's easier to replace panels on a rail system. Secondly, while the panels are on a rail system they act as a thermal barrier to keep the upstairs house cooler.
Sounds expensive in the uk 🇬🇧 I’m in Western Australia 🇦🇺 18 panels 6.8 kw system installed with the dual phase inverter . $4.2 k Australian we have a government subsidy . These no battery subsidies here yet but it’s $10 k for a 10 kw battery at present. Thanks for the video
Thank you, the battery is 10kwh with 9.7kwh useable capacity. Our house not including electric car uses on avg 10kwh per day. With the electric car and using august as my only example, we used on avg 23kwh per day if solar, putting about 1200miles in my car
Brilliant equipment and explanation. The only nit pick swopping video camera around and moving around. I listened and understood all 👍👍 but had to close my eyes it may sound petty but I was getting sea sick😂😂
@@DIYJourney1 Thanks for reply, understand nerves and wanting to put the info out there you can forget the little nuances. Mine was first time use of video camera thirty years back…… panning to quick or zooming in and out😂. My system is going in this October 15 panels and system equipment being fitted in the garage. Happy saving for the future
Great video - interesting stuff. Regarding the payback period though - if you're saying that your payback period is 5-6 years on a cost of £18,500 then when you do the maths on that it looks like this doesn't it (for simplicity these figures assume you use everything that you generate which should be possible with the battery, and feed nothing back to the grid): Total cost - £18,500 Payback - 5.5 years Saving per year - £3,363 Energy being generated per year to achieve that saving: 3363 / 0.34 = 9891 kWh per year. Is that right - are you generating nearly 10,000kWh per year with this setup?
Honest answer, I don’t know yet, I think it could be achievable. My experience so far from august as thats when our was installed, we saw regularly 35-45kwh of production in a single day. Currently we are seeing 17- 20kwh so will have to see how it pans out over the next 12 months. Even working it out at 7 years I feel 20kwh is very achievable as an average per day and is a good pay back. We need to also consider this usage is for an EV also so whether you could use an element of fuel savings if the car is priced like for like, in my instance it is, but as said, looking at it simply from a production point of view it “could” be possible lets see what the good old British weather throws at us 😃
We have a UK based (West Midlands) 7.2kWp Solar Array (East / West facing) with a 5kW inverter and produce 5.7 MWh per year. We actually used 98% Solar last year, exported 2% 27 kWh of battery storage with 10kW discharge capability, Smart Meter and low cost Tariff. An electric car with 75 kWh storage, a 22kW 3 phase charger and it does 15,000 miles per year. Our house uses about 16 MWh per year, with Heat Pump, Induction Cooking, electric showers etc. I calculated ROI being 4.5 years for Solar Array, 6 years for battery storage.
Great job with a tricky subject. It's very hard to tell people the costs of these sorts of things, because not only does the price of equipment vary, but also the labor around installation, AND the price associated with energy usage. We got batteries and solar over a year ago, and while the price has been the last thing on our minds, it's all other people want to know. Problem is, it's changed since we paid. We literally got a big unexpected check back, and now some of the people we told are walking around with outdated ideas of the cost. Further, energy prices can change so much the ROI reduces greatly. Just this week, I got the option to import/export grid energy with the battery, which could "save" another $1200-1500 a year... I am hesitant to even estimate that, but it seems like it could cut our ROI in half.
Hi, Fantastic, thats the dream right there 28x panels will do some great production. I will try and share as much data as I can. We are 5 weeks in however have a 2 weeks holiday in that so accurate data is limited at the moment.
@@DIYJourney1 not a cheap investment but looking at our current situation I believe it will pay for itself in a few short years and later down the line we could potentially have more as our roof isn't lacking in size... good luck.
@Mad Pete I have 27 kWh battery storage, and wish I had 50 kWh... They really need to get electric cars Vehicle to Home sorted out. I've now got another 150 kWh of battery storage over two Ev cars, that I can't access
Spent 1.5k on 15x 450w panels, 1.3k on a 6kw inverter hybrid on/off grid inverter that does a little more than what your 2 or three pices of equipment do. 1300 on a 7.5kw lithium battery. So approx 5k for equipment including cables and supports etc. Installation and certification 1k. Where I live the aystem anticipates historically enough sun to generate 10,200 kwh. Sunny where we live. Downside is generating companies only give you a monthly credit against any excess generation you put into the grid. Plus standing charges still apply and excess generation cannot be credited against them. Euros not pounds. Could have got a 70% grant against installation costs but probably would have to wait several yearscto get it back and probably pay 6k as against 1k. (90% of installation done by myself). 1k for wiring and certification.
In the interest of being constructive and assisting those wondering how your system differs for a direct comparison. - what country are you in? England isn’t Euro’s so assume Ireland or other. - what equipment did you purchase - As in brand and models? - What is the warranties that are included on those? - Does that equipment have the ability to be dc coupled? - What safety features does that system have, such as the solaredge being able to cut the voltage to the panels in the event of issues, like with optimisers, which you also haven’t mentioned whether you have. - Who certified a self installed solar pv system? Separate question, why is credit a bad thing for export generation?
@@DIYJourney1 Hi, I live in Spain. The main equipment I bought is the following. Risen monocrytaline panels RSM144-7-450M 450W. These were bought from an up market B&Q called Leroy Merlin and have a 20 year warranty. One that I wouldn't worry about. Growatt on/off line hybrid inverter via Alibaba. An SPH3000-6000 BL-UP. A 5 year warranty 10 year optional. WiFi It has 2 x MPP trackers 1 string per tracker. DC switch Reverse polarity protection AC/DC surge protection Battery reverse protection AC short circuit protection Ground fault monitor Grid monitor Anti islanding protection? ( No idea what that is to be honest.) Residual current monitoring. Insulation resistance monitoring. UPS No optimisers, other than what is built into the inverter system. Battery are three Growatt 2.56kw stackable batteries with BMS monitoring, system voltage,current, cell voltage, cell temp, PCBA air temp etc. and trip. Also purchased via Alibaba. The above are all CE certificated IEC62109, VDE0126... Site is a flat roof terrace with access via stairs. 9m x 9m, no shade issues. I did the physical installation of the panels (not wiring). Built the support framework. Built a store for the inverter and Battery etc. All on the roof, directly above the main electrical boxes to the house. 2.5m below the storage. Concrete walls and steel door. Wiring connections, runs and paperwork to connect to grid etc. All carried out by a Spanish registered electrician. Question on the credit. In Spain credit is on a month to month basis, nothing is carried over, so I will input around 2000 kwh for no payment or credit. I am not and do not profess to be an electrician and wouldn't touch any of the actual electrical work, I am however adept at many jack of all trade work as I was self employed for 15 plus years here in Spain.
Smoke alarm. I believe in some countries the solaredge batteries have built in extinguisher. Unsure if the UK has this however. A fire extinguisher and smoke alarm in close proximity
@@DIYJourney1 thank you, did I miss the part where you said how many kWh of total storage you fitted? I’d guess with 7or8 kWh of total generation you added some pretty big batteries?
Its a 10kwh battery with 9.7kwh of useable storage. Which Im finding allows the house currently to be pretty much self sufficient, because I have an EV I tend to leave that on charge constantly when at home and use that as a means of storage if you like. We are also having a solaredge hot water heater fitted soon so excess solar will heat our hot water also saving on gas.
@@DIYJourney1 Wow, I think you've built a great system. In my job we make solar powered pumping cabinets for the water companies. These have up to 16KWH of Victron Energy batteries, charge controllers and inverter etc inside but only small solar generation capacity. I'm itching to build something at home but there is a lot to consider like you already showed us,,,, many thanks😉
I have never been able to get my head around how to size an inverter as compared to the total panel power. So 20 panels at 400w is 8kw if my arithmetic isn't failing me. how does that work with a 5kw inverter? Love the video by the way.
Its hard, in hindsight id of gone 8kwh…but…its not actually much of an issue with having a dc couple battery (explained in my installation video), meaning the extra 3kwh can still be used to charge the battery if the house load is maxed. Im finding 5kwh is ample for the house usage, but limited for the car charging I just don’t get the 6mile an hour in my car charging when the system is peak. My reason for going for that number of panels was more for the duller days, as ‘a lot of a little bit’ maybe useable power for use in the house or charging the battery.
@@DIYJourney1 right. SO its kind of like a sink with an overflow yes? Doesnt matter how big the tap is, the bowl will only hold so much - but you can direct the overflow. Is that the right sort of idea?
One year ago in Adelaide Australia we had a 13.3kw solar system installed using REC 370 watt Alpha series panels, 2 Fronius 5kw inverters and a Tesla Powerwall 2 battery. The whole system cost A$24,000 fully installed on a single storey house. The only regulatory bodies that have to be notified are the governments, federal and state for the rebates to be paid and the state electricity distributor to monitor the amount of solar being installed. Our feed in tariff has recently been reduced to 6.5c per kwh, was previously 7.5c. What is the feed in tariff in the UK? Another point of interest is; we are now restricted to exporting no more than 5kwh per phase due to the amount of solar energy being exported at the middle of the day. This may change if other uses are found for the excess solar, eg hydrogen production. Thanks for showing us how it works in the UK.
For my situation the export is 4p/kwh. I believe other can get better but because of my energy tarriff where I receive cheaper over night rate that is the only rate I can get currently.
No its Gas. At the moment, no I wouldn’t until I see 12 months of solar generation. With my EV we maximise most of the energy produced so would just end up buying in with gad at a dearer rate than electricity. We shall see
What happens with the G99 application. Do you tell them what inverter you are going for or do they just simply say yes/no and another limit/ceiling is set for what size you can have?
I cant remember exactly the forms, but we had to notify the DNO about the inverter being bigger than 3.78kwh (or whatever the limit is), then they can assess local infrastructure to see if it is suitable for anything bigger. I was advised, if it isn’t then the export would just need limiting.
A little tip, If you want to upgrade your supply to your house to three-phase just ask for a fuse upgrade with your local DNO. Invoice will be free If you say you're going to be attaching batteries and solar. they will charge you for an invoice.
Given a base fuse upgrade request with our DNO is £140+vat, I doubt a full upgrade to 3 phase would be free. Could be wrong but I can only go off there website.
So do you envisage this saving you around £250 a month, every month for around 6 years to pay you back on the install? I've briefly looked into it for us and although it would be a lot lower cost of install with less panels, most online calculators said I would only get £3-500 a year saving on energy bills! It was a lot lower than I'd had hoped and with the energy price cap I put the idea on ice for now.
I do yes, the simple reason, our bill prior was £360 a month and after the first month was £60. I have a high mileage electric car, so that is ultimately the driver for us (excuse the pun), and thats at todays prices, we shall see where it goes in the future. Ill be honest if you don’t have an EV, I too would find it difficult to justify, and would probably try looking at a battery only option and a cheap overnight tariff.
Hi, thanks for the great video, Could you tell me how to adjust the export level of stored energy before it can be exported on Solis hybrid inverter as I'm losing energy going to the grid before I get to use it after for example
Hi Do you have a battery, if not, any energy produced by the solar panels and not used immediately will go back to the grid. You require a battery to store the energy. An inverter just converts to produced energy from DC to AC.
A couple of things to bear in mind. Batteries have a lifetime cycle. Unnecessary cycling or cycling to provide power to the grid is incredibly wasteful. Over the lifetime you will reach a point where your batteries need replacing. It might be ten years or more. That means you must factor the replacement cost of items that have lifetime limits. Panels also have limited lifetime. Therefore in say ten years, for sake of argument, you may need to purchase a new set of panels and a new bank of batteries. In ten years time, they might cost a lot more than they do today. I suspect that the technology has come to about as cheap as it will be. However, another factor, in ten years time, the same size panels are likely to be very much more productive. The batteries also will no doubt be bigger capacity. As for the electronics - the inverter - all electronics have a lifetime and can fail. If the equipment is made as in a lower integration of components then it will be easier to repair or replace board components. I'd be interested to hear what others think about this aspect of hidden costs over the term.
Im a little confused why people say this, firstly, what is the point if having a battery to store energy to be used at a later time if you cant discharge and recharge it. This leads in to my next point as in warranties, surely that is anyone port of call and people suggesting 10 years in the comments, are purely stuck in the past. As you say technology advances, manufacturers are happy to warrant these much more now so we all need to move on a forget about historic information. My panels have a 25 year power output warranty guaranteeing 85% at 25 years. Battery has a 10 year warranty with unlimited cycles and allowing 70% energy retention at the 10 year point. Inverter has 20year warranty with the ability to extend to 25 years. Now considering the above, and a payback sub 7 years for me, it is a very viable option, and as we move forward should improve, things do break and as long as the warranties cover it that should be the first decision and one of the reasons I chose the route I did and would recommend that for others also.
Hi Rob very interested in your solar installation .I have a 4Kw system installed about 7years ago and I was told the 4Kw was the max a domestic installation could be.As yours system is larger have the rules changed or is because you have storage battery as well.Is your installer just local to you or do they cover nationwide.Keep up the videos.TJ
Hi, 3.68kwh is the limit without requiring DNO assessment and approval, because we went above that we had to pay for that assessment to be done. Our installer is nationwide, but based in York, which was Oval Renewables. I am very happy with our installation and the build up to it also with advice etc.
We had the same problem: existing 4kW array (actual limit is 230V @ 16A = 3680watts which is why you'll see the 3.68kW figure bandied around). Ask your installer to contact the DNO who, if you are lucky, will give you a maximum additional generation value and export limit. Generation = what the panels can generate. Export limit = maximum you can feed back into the grid. We were allowed an extra 2.96kW of generation on top of the existing 4kW and a total 4kW export limit for the two systems combined. What you are allowed will depend on your local grid, other generation capacity in the area, and so on. As I understand it battery size doesn't come into it, you can have as much battery as you can afford. With Solaredge the limit is 3 Energy banks, each 10kWh, on a single inverter. Around £6.5k per Energy Bank at today's prices so we just have one! It doesn't matter if your export limit is less than the [old array] + [new array] generation total since your new inverter can be configured to monitor what is being exported and dial back its export to keep to the limit, so called "export limitation". You might ask why there is a limit on generation if the inverter can control its output (I did). The answer is that the inverter is allowed 5 seconds to scale back from overshoots and by limiting what you can generate the DNO protects itself from short term spikes of overload. You can actually see this happen from the real-time monitoring: switch off a large load (eg stop boiling a kettle) and the power your system was providing a moment before gets diverted to the grid until the inverter can adjust itself to the new lower load.
Hi mate, thanks for the video, i notice at the end of the video you mention your system is around 3x greater than what you need, with that in mind, and all that redundancy, would it be possible for you to come off grid all together? would you have the confidence in the system to do that?. If so, and you were saving your standing charge as well, then the pay back time would be even quicker. Thanks again, Chris.
Hi, I wouldn’t have the confidence to do that, from my short experience you would need a very large system and battery for those cloudier days. Always worth having the back up, its worth noting, this video was filmed in August, so our average production was about 40kWh per day, as we reach the end of October this is now around 15kWh so as we progress to darker days I imagine this will fall further, as expected. We are finding ways to use as much of the redundancy as possible, such as filling our electric car, heating our hot water and recently started using our electric fire to heat the downstairs. Hope that helps.
Its does indeed, which is why I wanted to do this video, to help demonstrate what we have and how much. The figures could be taken and used as a rough guidance.
@@DIYJourney1 I'm lucky my panels made me 300 pounds in last 3 months but I have the Old FiT tariff and even today I would install solar now as the savings and pay back is now a lot quicker with the price rises
Great video, couldn't help noticing the App screenshot showing 22kWh produced today, are you still exporting to the grid, or are you storing it to battery 🔋
Thank you, Our house uses around 10kwh per day, any spare is prioritised in to the battery, but I also leave my electric car plugged in when at home. In august we put 360kwh into the car which is around 1200miles of free mileage. From our minimal experience we average the production of about 25kwh per day with max of 40kwh and min 18kwh
Great Video, thanks Rob, I have a question on the Battery, I have a system with 12 x 2 volt batteries, each battery is approx 800 pounds, thats expensive, my system is 17 years old now, and replaced the Batteries ( all 12 ) and am now on the third ( 3rd ) change out now, seems ridiculous !!! But it is fact ! How Long is your Battery Guaranteed FOR ? CHEERS
Thank you. The solaredge battery has a 10 year warranty, this is placed at 70% of energy retention at the end of the warranty period. This also allows for unlimited cycles too. Hope this helps.
2 years ago got 5.4kw solar array. 7.5 kWh battery,Solaris inverter, plyontech batteries, zappie smart charger and eddie hot water unit. No scaffolding required.£7500 total. got great deal just after the first lock down prices are up. I have no shading two simple strings, not at same premium tear as this install. My pay back gets shorter every time they push electric up. I'm also saving on my gas usage, In N.I some one did quote me 12k at the time for exact same system. Know what your buying, do your homework.
Whilst the "payback" period is important to some, I will be looking at this from a return on investment 1st. If you assume a £15k cost and that you are fortunate to have the cash on deposit to finance it, your £15k in the bank will earn you c £300 (est 2% without compound interest). If your energy cost is c £2,000 a year then the return on your investment is over 13.33% - assumes that you are self sufficient. Your total return less what you were earning from the bank is 11.33%. That seems a very suitable return on savings put to better use!
I agree 👍🏼 and was a supporting factor for us. Now interest has increased slightly, it would be interesting to see the sums, to borrow the money at say 5% interest whether still a suitable options.
Looking into this for a new build..not sure if im correct in saying this but is there a grant from the government to subside the cost of installation? Thanks
Anyone here also considered adding a wind generator, I’ve just had my solar and battery fitted and seeing the benefit already, but feel a turbine would add an additional benefit for not a huge outlay?
very informative, but one query, you said estimated payback in 5 years, that would be a saving of roughly £3600 a year (yes you mentioned electric car costs) for a standard 3 bed house even now must only be under £1000 per year for electricity, then when my friend had them sometimes you used more than you produced, especially on winter days in the north east.. thanks
We have a 5 bed house and a EV that does 30k+ miles per year. The reason we have a battery is so we can be self sufficient at night where possible. During the early part of august were producing 35-40kwh per day, but the house only uses 10, so the aim is to charge the home battery also and then put rest in the car. My sums have many variables to which I believe it could be near 4 years but comfortable at saying 5-6 years. This video is not about payback on what it costs so please don’t use my passing comment on what our situation is to work yourselves out, it could be very different, and more 10-15years for a basic home with no other variables. It certainly demonstrates to me, how a switch to EV and solar have become a bit of a package that works
Thanks for the video Rob! Its not an easy task working out the payback on these things as it is based on so many variable. Weather, consumption and tariff changes to name a few. We are extremely happy with how much you love the system!
Absolutely, so many variables, from every aspect, and it is critical that people take the facts and apply it to their situation. Although you made it look easy, we know the routing was not so simple and its only the tools, experience that got it done in the timeframe.
I think, now is the perfect time to say Thank you, we are over the moon, even the wife is impressed. It is, so far worth every single penny.
Your guidance from day 1 has led us in to a system that so far has gone far beyond expectations, which is hugely appreciated.
…ill certainly be in touch for the next house 😃
Very interesting. Extremely neat installation. We (2 pensioners) had a system installed a few weeks ago on our bungalow which fortunately has a long roof facing directly south, give or take a degree. When we first contacted a company 4-5 months ago there were already equipment supply problems, but we had full confidence in the company (in Hereford) to do their best for us. We ended up with 13 x 370w panels (not black, but actually we really like what we've got), so a total of 4.81 kwh, along with a 10 kwh Solaredge battery system including a 4 kw inverter. Our installation was very straightforward, with the battery and inverter installed on a north-facing external wall just outside where our internal electricity meter is, the panel cables routed through the loft. The installation took a day and a half, three guys on day one, two on the second day. We paid just under £12,000.
I am certain that the decision to get a battery was the right one, even though it makes the cost recovery period years longer. The weather here just east of the Welsh border has been quite overcast much of the time since our installation (we missed the heatwaves) and our system has often been producing at a rate of just 1 kw or less - more than enough to keep essential background devices running but not enough to boil a kettle without drawing power from the grid. However, during the day the excess of this low productivity is stored in the battery and gives us a sensible amount to use overnight and on more power-hungry devices on occasion. Our least productive day so far was a paltry 5 kwh, but the best day was 24 kwh. Our battery generally recharges fully by mid-to-late afternoon. On one day we exported 14 kwh which we could not use, but on another only 0.14 kwh. I am slightly disappointed that a 4.8.kwh system often produces so little at this time of year, very late summer or vey early autumn, although I fully anticipated very, very low production in the winter, and correspondingly high production during sunny summer days. The Solaredge app is brilliant for showing you exactly what is going on, almost second by second - it shows that we are still using 0.25-0.5 kwh off the grid each day, for reasons I don't understand, and of course we still pay a daily standing charge.
Actually the real motivation to get a battery was to hopefully get on a cheap overnight tariff (albeit with a higher than normal daytime kwh cost). If we can do this when the power companies put these on offer again, I assume that in the low-productivity winter season for the panels we will be able to charge up the 10 kwh battery overnight at a very cheap rate and use the stored power through the next day without needing to use higher-rate units.
We are not a high-consumption family, and if we were I would probably opt for more panels and a bigger battery (or more batteries)? We have no regrets. It is nice to feel that you are in a small way contributing to reducing your own and the nation's need for energy produced from gas or whatever, while at the same time, in the long term, hopefully saving money. But it is a big up-front cost.
Absolutely fantastic comment. Thank you for sharing your experience and offering the facts to others.
I completely agree. We generally are using as much of our system as possible and having an electric car is allowing that, which is holding me back from considering more batteries, as in essence I have a 74kwh one in my car.
Really appreciate the comment.
I have similar set up but paid 15k, north east london
Could be worth listing what equipment and size system you have, to help people see the comparison
ua-cam.com/video/6Hs2-io-0tk/v-deo.html
You are probably using the .25kwh from the grid when a large load is switched on, like a kettle etc. Most inverters switch to grid power while it works out if it can ramp up solar production or use the battery, and then does so. These small grid charges add up over a day. My system does the same, albeit a different brand of inverter
Thank you. Finally someone giving an accurate example of cost. I am sick of seeing adverts for solar systems where they say affordable pricing and then want your personal details to quote. I just want to see a rough cost of an installed system without getting multiple calls and emails
I had a similar SolarEdge (SE) system installed this week, although a little smaller. 15 x Longhi 405W panels, 3.68Kw SE Inverter and SE battery. £14k. Quoted early this year. We had a long wait for the battery with an original estimated delivery of December. Almost a year from quote to installation, but fortunately the battery arrived August. System works great and pleased I went with SE. Looked at other systems and wasn’t impressed with monitoring applications (e.g Solar Man) amongst other factors. My installer only fits SE and Tesla as a rule but did offer GivEnergy as an option if we wanted it. In addition to the above price we added a Myenergi Zappi charger as we have an EV due.
As well as the equipment, spend time looking for a good installer. It sounds obvious but remember anyone can buy the equipment online. We had quotes from people who didn’t give me confidence they had the experience with Solar. Also avoid placing equipment in your loft, some installers will offer this but my research showed it was best to avoid due to heat affecting the inverter.
Hi, I was wondering how you are finding your Solar Edge monitoring, personally I cant see why the average user would need all that info + the extra cost for it.
@@dykey1234567 The monitoring is good, and I am told an upgrade is due in the coming months. I think as the data is available anyway then why not offer it to the user. You don't have to do anything with it and can readily view the performance of the system as it is relatively intuitive. You can download the data if required but mostly I just check the production and self consumption figures.
Thanks for sharing, we have had our system roughly two years now 7.5kw battery and 14 panels. Summer savings this year around 92%, winter savings around 50%, but it depends on sunny days mainly. Poor charge days are round about 38%, but in only takes the sun to come out to change that. Also changing the way you use energy, running dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer around mid day helps to save money by using the sun. We use a timer connecting to the immersion heater for water heating at optimum times, it’s not foolproof but it works for us. Now with energy prices rising, it comes into its own, just be smart when it comes to energy uses. The downside is your always looking for the sun being out and become a bit nerdy towards your own systems 🤣🤣. Good luck with your systems
Fantastic, thank you for sharing. You’ve hit the nail on the head for how we are finding its working.
Really appreciate taking the time to share as will help others understand 👍🏼
We may add a back up battery for power cuts, most of all the common systems fail all off in a power cut. This is to protect the power company engineers, working on the supply side from the grid, effectively stopping your system from shocking them. Some of the more up-to-date systems can have this built in from new, in effect isolating your house from the grid in that event . It also means your system would work in a power cut, as it does need a source of power to work the system. NB:- I was once told anything above 1kw will start to draw part of its power from the grid, as well as the battery. Just be careful of what you connect 👍👍
Thats it, I believe the essential circuits are separated out in this instance. Our battery would shut down in the event of a power cut, but to be honest I cant remember the last time we had a power cut, well one that lasted more than a few minutes. Something we’ll consider when the solaredge system can do it
@@DIYJourney1 Just a bit of an update, had two day’s of rubbish sun ☀️ due to heavy cloud cover. Powered into the battery only 20% per day so you will get disappointing days. I was thinking of power cuts that may happen , an item on the news recently of the probability. Just thinking you have all this power in the battery and no access to it.
Do you have a Solar IBoost installed? It will detect when you are exporting electricity and automatically divert that power to the immersion heater.
Great video! I like the way you’ve explained everything and it has brought us to decide it is for us also. Thank you so much
Very good of you to give an honest brake down of the costs of such an installation, We didn't need scaffolding as our panels are only on our garage roof. Obviously trying to get an install at the moment isn't going to be easy as suppliers and installers can charge a premium. Didn't here you mention which Electrical provider you are using, If people aren't aware Octopus are paying 15p per KW for anything you send back and if you are on economy 7 you can fill your 10KW battery for 16p per Kw at night making the system work for you even on days with no sun. Worth mentioning as our previous supplier only paid 1.5p eventually raising it to 5p just before we changed, definitely worth being with the right supplier to maximise the payback on your investment.
Thankyou, no problem.
Yes we are with Octopus, as I have a EV. My next solar video, it will be mentioned as didn’t feel suitable for this video.
Great video. Totally agree that it is worth paying more for an integrated system and also for the quality of the install by Oval. Thanks for taking the time to explain this so clearly
Thank you David
I had my solar system installed last March, similar all black panels but as it’s a small bungalow could only fit 12 panels but all face south. I had them installed by the same company that fitted an Air Source Heat pump a year later (paid a deposit to let them know I wasn’t going with another company) so they gave me a hearty discount on the solar, costing £6000! Although the ASHP system for domestic host water and heating cost £18k to install. I get a government grant of £11000 paid over 7 years. We only have oil in the village and the cost of oil has gone into the stratosphere 😱 Scottish power has reduced my monthly bill to £20!
Fantastic, thank you for sharing experience with everyone.
Thank you for sharing and being honest about the costs, and good to see the quality of work from Oval Renewables as well.
No problem, they have done a great job in my opinion, really pleased with it.
It is really important to give people this kind of detail and talk though your decisions and the cost implications. As you say it is an expensive capital outlay, but it is also a very savvy investment. Over the long term it will repay the upfront costs many times over and increase the value of your property. I’m looking forward to free miles in spring/summer once I get my solar and an EV. When a tank of diesel is £90 a pop, there are huge bonus savings to be had over and above the savings on home electricity
Really pleased you recognise this. This is exactly why In sharing this information, to try help others easily understand to make a decision.
Our setup is very similarly advanced, happy to answer questions if you wish.
A+ rated Energy Performance Home
7.2 kWp Solar Array (East / West) 5 kW inverter
27 kWh Tesla Powerwalls battery storage & gateway 2
3 Phase Grid with Smart Meter
2 x 22 kW car chargers (Zappi)
1 x 7 kW car charger (Zappi) for Solar
1 x 7 kW 32A Commando Socket (backup off grid)
2 x Electric Cars (Tesla M3P & Skoda Enyaq VRS)
1 x Solar Water Heater (Eddi)
8kW Heat Pump - Air to Air (4 wall units)
1 Gbps Fibre Broadband on 6E mesh Wifi
1 x SpaceX Starlink on 6 mesh Wifi
House remains fully operational and connected during full Grid Blackouts.
I now see by looking at the installation in the garage that you mean it when you say you are very particular - very neat and clean job - no unnecessary unsightly conduits and cables running on the wall - neat job - very impressed. Just the way I like it too.
I invested early in solar back in 2012 with a 3.5kw system and it paid for itself twice over now as the original install was only £6k. There were no hybrid inverters or batteries back then. But now there is so I'm upgrading to a Solis 6kw hybrid inverter and four 4.8 kw 48v Pylontech US5000 batteries that were only £1,450 each. All told the upgrade with all the new wiring it will come to just over £9k but it will work in the event of a power cut but most importantly for me is that I can expand the system in the future.
A lot of these systems out there have limited scalability or expansion possibilities so if you want to add to the system with extra batteries or panels you can't. The batteries I chose can string up to 16 but with a hub I can have many strings. I've oversized my inverter for 2 reasons, one is that I plan to add more panels and the second is that I want more power avaiilable from the batteries, inverters can only supply from the battery what it is rated at I've had to wait a long time though as the supply madness continues but it was worth the wait as I know it pays for itself fairly quickly.
Thank you for sharing
This panel can put out close to 100 watts ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxOqI2yqX0XVrhR2BMJciTWrHJpG8FhJyg when positioned in the appropriate southernly direction, tilted to the optimal angle for your latitude/date, and connected to a higher capacity device than a 500. The built in kickstand angle is a fixed at 50 degrees. Up to 20% more power can be output by selecting the actual date and latitude optimal angle.The 500 will only input 3.5A maximum at 18 volts for 63 watts. Some of the excess power from the panel can be fed into a USB battery bank, charged directly from the panel while also charging a 500. This will allow you to harvest as much as 63 + 15 = 78 watts.If this panel is used to charge a larger device, such as the power station, then its full output potential can be realized.
Its not portable
What a sensible, downtown earth, factual video.
Thanks
Thankyou I hope you find it useful.
Nice vid 👍. Been building my own 100% diy system, 3kw of panels on two shed roofs, off grid with pass through 3kw hybrid inverter, 14.3kw diy 24v eve grade a cell battery bank with jk bms. Is an awsome project. Total cost £4000... 💷💷💷😎😎😎
Hi, great channel and excellent content, can i ask a question please.. I am about to have a 6.88kw system for an east facing array and have been told the 5kw GiveEnergy invertor will be too small? I notice you have an 8kw system and a 5kw invertor, are you happy with the choice ignoring the electric car issue? My anticipated yearly production is 5100 kw, so my thinking is over the course of a year the 5kw will be more efficient more of the time to offset the clipping that may occur in the peak months. There seem to be so much difference of views when speaking to installers, they are almost just leaving it up to me to choose :) Thanks
Thanks for such a useful reply. With those facts in mind, it should make it easier for people to judge.
Bird protection... I spoke with an amateur Ornithologist about this, specifically about Pigeons.
He told me that Rock Pigeons / Feral Pigeons (Green/Purple necks) are hole seekers, very territorial and will live, breed and die under your Solar Panels.
However, not all Pigeons are the same. Wood Pigeons (white necks), are not hole seekers, they prefer bushes & trees. So will walk on and around your roof, but never under the panels.
This knowledge saved me thousands... as we have Wood Pigeons, and sure enough... we're safe.
Though all south-facing panels gives you more energy output, having panels in two directions like you have will give a longer production of energy over the day.
We have 6.4kW of panels all south facing, solar edge optimisers and inverter, Tesla Powerwall 2 and gateway. Installed late last year for about £16k total including fees etc. We're heavy electricity users. It will charge the Powerwall overnight using cheap rate on days when the forecast is gloomy, but charges less when sunshine is likely. I've featured the system on my channel and will do a follow up when it's been operating for about a year. Trouble is with present lead times, people couldn't buy the system now.
I was quite surprised how many hours in the day my new 4.8 kwh south-facing system produces energy. Looking at Sept.19th, its first full day of operation, it started producing at 6.30 a.m. and stopped at 8 p.m. albeit at very low levels, but it reached a respectable 1 kw at 8 a.m. and finally fell below 1 kw at 6 p.m. But yes, in high summer when the sun sets further to the north-west I can see that installing panels on our west-facing roof would give us more power in the late afternoon/early evening.
YES my system is the same - split 90 degrees apart into the Morning array (2.5kw) and the afternoon array (5kw) - it makes the standard curve rise faster flatten for longer and drop slower than a standard (for New Zealand) Due North array.
Interesting video, I've just instructed an installer on a very similar sized system, 22 panels (split across 4 roof elevations so a bit more scaffold too) instead of 20 but mine came in within £1500 so when you gave your total figure I felt a lot better. The guys we have instructed are also really good with the aesthetics so seeing a neat install reinforces that that was worthwhile too.
Yes, all dependant on equipment used for pricing but seems the figures are within the ballpark when Iv spoke to many about it
1500 quid? Count me in.
@@ThePoshPleb LOL, within £1500 of the total quoted in the video
@@DIYJourney1 Sooo much cheaper here in Australia. 6.6 kw system with 10kw battery fully installed 5000£. DIY solar not allowed here in Australia
@@chefgav1 typical rip off britain
Thanks for the effort put in to do the video, I appreciate it's not easy to give up your time to share your experience. Ignore any of the keyboard warriors comments. The installation looks neat. You must be exporting a lot to the grid though? That volume of solar production I reckon your export must be 50%? Getting a battery was a wise move. Solar returns little in comparison to backup storage. We had a similar system installed in April, smaller array but more batteries. Wish I had gone for a higher inverter as only 3.5kw hybrid would be my tip on reflection. Keep sharing your experiences 👍
Very kind comment thank you. It nice to response to sensible conversation with likeminded people.
First month completed and we have only exported 20% out of 700kwh. Reason being, is I have an electric car. So alot of excess went in to that, Iv had around 1450 free miles is august. We also have planned a hot water energy diverter to heat our hot water via the emersion heater. So I think we will be close to maxing our production.
The reason for such a large array, was in the winter months, my theory was, that “alot of little production” will give us atleast an element of useable production or atleast top the battery up with small amounts.
I must say @oval renewables have done a fantastic job.
I am in the USA in Las Vegas and had solar installed just over 2 1/2 years ago, we went from spending $2,200 a year to $165 which is the standing charge for the electric meter and being connected to the grid. I liked your video and can honestly say having Solar panel & a Tesla Powerwall installed was one of my best decisions - I'm figure payback will be 7-8 years.
Fantastic video (& part 1) with simple to understand advice. Much appreciated,👍
Very kind, thankyou
I've just had solar fitted. In Durham . It works perfectly. I'm quite pleased with it .the quality looks excellent. I don't think I got the cheapest and I didn't want it either. But I got a 12 panels plus 6k inverter plus a battery .all fitted .plus scaffolding. I was happy with the instalation .i thought these guys know what thfy are doing but I' was not too happy with the amout of instruction I received .prior . Mabey it was me but i felt it was not sufficient. As I'm learning more from UA-cam. The total I wanted to pay was about up to £10k but total cost ended up being just over £14k only time will tell whether I got ripped or what ..I had to wait 3 months to get it fitted .and I think the wait is even longer now . Good luck I'd say do it .but don't dilly dally any longer. As you will pay more and wait longer to get it . The Company I used was called Project Solar from the Manchester area
Although you don't give any details about the panels and the battery, and the prices for these vary enormously, as a non-expert the price you paid seems ball-park fair to me. I had very little discussion with my installers after the initial survey, and the installation team seemed to be working out the best arrangement of the various boxes and leads on the day, but that did not concern me. My Solaredge system seems to run itself without any need for my intervention unless I need to change battery charging times, which the installing company will do for me. I paid just under £12k for 13 x 370 w panels and a 10 kwh battery, but only have a 4 kw inverter. Installation costs were low because we have a bungalow and easy routing for cables, so it only took them a day and a bit. We waited about 4 months for installation. I have absolutely no regrets about installing solar - it's the sensible thing to do. Enjoy your system!
Thank you for your clear and helpful talk through your system and costs.
Thankyou for your kind words and taking the time to comment
Thank you. This was hugely useful, young man, for a number of reasons. We look forward to the lessons video.
Thankyou, really pleased you found it useful
Rob thanks for sharing. Excellent video and really good explanation of system set up and costs
No problem, I hope it helps
Impressive system pal 👍 ordered panels and a battery off eon in March only just had the G99 approved because the DNO’s are swamped with applications, but can’t wait to get it up and running, what energy supplier are you with and what tariff are you on out of interest?
Octopus Intelligent as I have an EV. Currently with low production to help support that I charge the battery
@@DIYJourney1 thanks, do you charge your car overnight or can the panels + battery discharge at 7.2kW? Quite a technical rabbit hole these installations - no companies ever seem to offer a full service, do you have a solar iboost or similar to put excess power into the water tank? Heard they’re good
I do yes as I do a lot of miles. Currently the solar cant produce anywhere near enough but summer, absolutely.
I have a tesla smart immersion, but eventually will have a solaredge diverter
We had solaredge Installed
27/10/2014 never had any problems best thing we ever done ,panels are Canadian Solar
Fantastic, Thankyou for the feedback, good to hear
Thanks for this video, we had someone come around to quote us today for panels. I am curious about your inverter comment, basically we would like to future proof our home, we don't have an EV now but the next cars we buy almost certainly will be. General rule of thumb is that inverter should match the output of the panels it seems, does having an EV change that?
I think that is a fair way to look at it. Match the inverter to panel peak output. Our peak is 8kw but our inverter is 5kw. I did anticipate we would reach 8kw as much as we do in the sunnier months. Probably advice I should of been given, but also we increased our panel array size from 5-8kw quite late on, so to do this would of meant, further delays, and more cost for another DNO approval.
@@DIYJourney1 Great, thanks so much for response!
Just to add to this...
Your Inverter should be sized to your expected peak output... not the Solar Array Size.
For instance, if you had two 4kWp arrays (East / West facing), the peak power would be LESS than a single 8kWp array (South facing).
Also, during Summer Heat, your Solar Array can lose 20% of it's peak power due to heat buildup.
So the inverter size needs to take these considerations into play.
Lot of good info in this video, many thanks.
No problem, hope you found it useful
Just a fraction under £13k for ourselves: 18 x 330W Trina panels, GivEnergy 5KW inverter, 18 Tigo optimisers, 2 x 8.2 kWh GivEnergy batteries, Bird Blocker, scaffold and installation.
Not saying it is better or worse than your system, just a bit different for comparison. Like you, I would do some things slightly different if I was to start again: larger inverter and more panels on the garage south roof. I'll probably do this in the future!
Our annual electricity consumption is around 7800 kWh (have a PHEV car).
Fantastic, thank-you for sharing, it certainly helps others see the pricing relative to different brands etc, so thank you for sharing. Our consumption is similar at around 12000kwh because of an EV.
That's a fantastic price. I'm getting much higher quotes for that sort of outfit right now.
good video lad. if you decide to move house in a year or so has the solar system added to the value of the house?
Thankyou, I hope it helps.
I personally think thats a question for a debate, some people hate them, some people like them, normally the hate cones from not fully understanding it, from what I’ve experienced.
For me, it would make a house more desirable, in my instance without solar id have an electric bill in excess of £450 a month, with solar thats reduced down to £100, so would absolutely add value for me.
If this helps, we do anticipate on moving house prior or at the break even point, so Im not concerned. Current housing market is slowing so any added value is a bonus to help sell a house too.
As 40 year electrician I can say that is a neat job from the bits I have seen. I have had 4kw if solar for 11 years now was a fantastic investment with the feed in tariffs at the time. These got the industry started as without it it was just not viable. Today is totally different with high energy the investment stacks up easily. Having said that I think your projection is in my opinion optimistic ( unless you have an electric car or something. Living in the middle of the country as a rule of thumb 4kw of panels produces 4000 units per year( newer inverters will be more efficient) the problem is 3/4 of this is produced in the 7 sunnier months and the remaining quarter in the winter months when you need it more. Strangle enough during the recent high summer temperatures the max output has dropped alarmingly. Cold sunny days produce the best output. I am sure it will have been a sound investment even if electricity prices drop back
As said in this video, and my other videos relating to solar, I have an electric car that does 35k miles a year. I am very comfortable that the pay back will be around the stated or sooner with reimbursed mileage element and energy prices.
@@DIYJourney1 sorry missed that. Yes going to be great with a car. Curious though as won’t your car be away from the house during the day when the bulk of the solar available? You then you’ll be reliant on the 10 kw battery to battery transfer, guessing this is only about a 1/3 of a tank, but robbing your nighttime energy store for the house. Not a criticism this is genuine curiosity! As just got another 10kw if nearly new panels and debating the options.
No, as I work from home/work nights, as Iv always said very specific to personal situation. My journeys are not everyday, but when I do one will be 200+ miles each time, so my car sits on charge during the day following solar production also reimbursed mileage has to be considered. Our usage is on average about 1100kwh per month
Never thought about bird protection, just had 14 panels fitted going to ask my installer for a quote, luckily i live in a Bungalow, so had no scaffolding charges to pay, really appreciate the heads-up 👌
No problem hope it helps
Really helpful video. Thanks for making this and sharing your experience and learning. I’m just starting to explore the solar option for our house. M
Glad it was helpful!
Good comprehensive step by step video thanks for your time.
Thank you for the comment
Hi pal, Ive got a question regarding your solar panel system. You have 20 solar panels which the total power outcome is 8,100 watts and it is 2 string and you have a 5kw inverter. Are you able to put a 5kw inverter on the system because I bought a 5kw type of inverter and I have 20 panels as well, are you able to connect it? Is it not too much?
Thanks Pal.
Hi,
Excuse my knowledge, but I believe its subject to the inverter capabilities and depending which you have. The solaredge inverter allows for oversizing of 150% (if i remember correctly). Lesson learnt for me, if your likely to produce with the full array, I would match your inverter to the panel array size if you can. Of course you have your inverter so appreciate likely not doable.
For the system you have installed I think it sounds reasonable. Yes, you could have saved a bit on the inverter/battery, but Solaredge is a good manufacturer. If you watch Artisan Electrics based in Cambridge their installations/systems are between £25~50,000.
Thankyou for this. Yes I think even for us if we were to have this system installed, it would be quite a large amount more.
Great video. Lots of detail to help with our own planning. Looking forward to the lessons learnt video. 👍🏻
Thank you, hopefully will have that one out soon
Wow - solar costs a fortune in the UK.
We have 7.5kw in 2x arrays (with the smart isolators on 4x panels), a 5kw inverter and 12kw modular battery (expands to 24kw for an extra NZ$10k).
All for less than NZ$27k installed. At the current exchange rate that is 14,149 pounds total.
Now in good old New Zealand we have 83+% of our electricity supplied from renewables (so hydro, solar and wind) - and we have quite decent prices NZD$0.29 per kwh (incl. tax) and NZD$ 0.60 per day connection fee. But I get NZD 0.085 per kwh exported which is pretty low. In New Zealand we get ZERO government support for doing this and it is still worthwhile. We also do not get time of day tariffs either.
In the end, we decided that we were setting our energy cost at a fixed price and that 40% of the system would last 15 years (the batteries) and the inverter and panels 25 years. Once we divided the cost to install over these periods and then applied average inflation in electricity prices, it was a complete no brainer - even without any export.
Our only regret was getting the smaller battery - we should have gone for the full implementation of 24 kw.
Also, The hardware we choose allows us to add another parallel battery and inverter and they use CANBUS to coordinate their activity - also an important feature as the plan is to add another 5kw array with a 2 kw wind turbine and more battery to deal with charging our next vehicle.
So the important things are :
1. Buy as much panel capacity as you have roof space.
2. Buy as much battery as you can afford.
3. Get an extensible system so you can grow it using a wind turbine or more solar.
4. Do not get bogged down in trying to calculate whether it will pay for itself - the greed of the energy industry guarantees it.
I was horrified at what your politicians are allowing to happen to the citizens of the UK - a legacy of inaction and endemic corruption in your parliament.
Love and mung beans from down under guys - and we love what you have done to your house!
As bad as our politicians may be at least they aren’t Arden!
And you probably get twice as many hours of sunshine!
@@nikkonch I am 41 degrees south in the windiest capital city on the planet. Rain and cloud are constant during winter.
@@AthelstanEngland So kind, thoughtful and saving lives is bad ?
You are really screwy in the head.
Let me guess you identify as a Christian - with all that hate and venom. Your awesome.
what is the life of the battery and solar panels. how long do they garantee the system . also what will happen in winter when the sun very rarely shines .when the electric was at reasonable price my yearly bill would be 700 pounds a year average . if the price went up as it should 20, 000 pounds would supply me for 20 years .in the UK you can not rely just on solar or am i wrong . thanks for the video
All items come with a reasonable warranty, the battery is 10 years and they guarantee the energy retention to be 70% at 10 years. Solar panels are 84.8% at 25years.
You cant rely on solely solar unless you have a large battery array.
Maybe Solar Panels aren’t for you, Im currently paying around £4000 per year at today prices as I have an electric car. My aim is not to 100% remove grid but reduce my consumptions as much as possible and bring my p/kwh down. My first month ended with me averaging 6p/kwh instead of 28p/kwh at todays prices, what will the price be in 5 years time. I know 5 years ago I certainly weren’t paying over 10p/kwh.
Great video, thanks for sharing.
I had a solar system installed in January this year using 12 x 370W JA panals, Solar edge optimizers, Solar edge 3.68kW inverter and a solar iBoost to heat the water. I got the quote and installation before the cost of leccy went mad so I think I was lucky to get the whole thing installed for £6k. My only complaint is the wifi in the inverter is very flakey as it loses connection one day and reconnects the next. This has been the pattern since it was installed but is not effecting the operation so I put up with it.
At some stage I plan to build a DIY battery for it but will probably make that a separate system to the house electrics.
Have you signed up with a company yet for generation repayments?
So far we have generated 3MWh since February and I live in Northern Ireland which is NOT a sunny place. Most of the leccy generated has been either used by us or used to heat the hot water tank by the immersion heater through the IBoost.
Fantastic, thanks for sharing, good to hear your experience.
I think £6k is very fair, before we considered more panels and a battery we was at £9k for the same products just less of. Iv not yet experienced any internet issues but we shall see, it is hard wired however to the router.
We’re having a Solaredge Hot Water energy diverter fitted when they come into stock to use up that surplus like you have so looking forward to those savings on top.
@@DIYJourney1 The price would have been £5k but we needed the optomizers due to shading, I suspect the price would be much higher today.
If you're hard wired then you shouldn't have the issues I am experiencing as they are WIFI related.
The water heater has meant we have used zero oil all summer for water heating. I would estimate a normal summer we use around 3/4 litre per day so we will probably save around 200 litres of heating oil per year.
Great video, thanks for sharing.
It's still too much for the "average joe", sadly.
It's a shame companies, either energy or renewable providers don't offer low interest, long term loans, or even the government/banks.
That would really help out a lot of people and attract a lot more people to adding renewables to their homes.
Their are currently many finance options out there, as naturally interest rates are low currently anyway.
Im not one to recommend but even putting on our mortgage would still return us in our situation a quick return on investment.
Im unsure how to take the average joe comment…Im pretty average lol
@@DIYJourney1 Haha fair enough, I guess I need to look into it more. :)
Seems Scotland gets a much better deal than the rest of the country. Aren't we supposed to be a "United" Kingdom? haha.
Installing renewables in Scotland?
If you live in Scotland, you can get up to £17,500 interest-free when you install home renewables with the Home Energy Scotland loan.
Increased cashback is now available!
Up to 40% cashback for some eligible energy efficiency measures and 75% for certain renewable heating systems (based on total costs and capped at a maximum value) is now available.
Cashback is subject to availability while funds last or until the end of the financial year - whichever is sooner. Funds are reserved for customers when their loan is offered.
Your lawn is absolutely stunning!
Thank you
thanks for letting us no on cost please keep updates coming on the solar as we head towards the winter be interesting to see what its like in the darker days
No problem, absolutely. Its a huge topic at the moment and a bit of minefield, iv learnt so much since looking in to it all.
Yes, Im keen to know too. Iv been impressed with the very dense cloudy days, as we have still been able to run the house, just not the car. Time will tell, lets hope the risk pays off 😃
Great video and thanks for taking the time to do it and share your experiences. I suspect that prices will rise exponentially.....maybe the Government could put money in to this (doubt it somewhat given the current administration)..
We shall see hey
Love the video, looked at Solar last Christmas for a barn conversion I am doing and it was a perfect time to fit, Unfortunately I could not find a reputable company todo the job plenty of blokes saying they could supply and fit for £15,000 but no proper quotations no listing of equipment and no returning of telephone calls, this says tome its a mine field to get a reputable company,, probably making so much money they cant be bothered, still looking for a good company to work with......
Thank you, absolutely, huge issue currently isn’t it, exactly the problem we had.
Right from day 1 Oval Renewables were great offering advice for all situations and working with us to get a system we wanted.
Oval are nationwide so could be worth a chat with them, Im really happy with the work and support we’ve received.
Went to contact them they say they have closed new contacts, I presume to high demand. Very depressing.
They are opening up very soon. I discussed this with them when our install was completed around 7 weeks ago
Very interesting clear breakdown of costs and equipment..if you didn’t have an EV would the outlay justify the costs purely from a financial standpoint…the green issue’s are of course debatable..
Thank you, hope it helps.
I think it would probably break even before warranty for us, without an EV, but payback would be I think at least 10-12years which makes it harder to justify the outlay, not knowing future pricing, however Im on the fence, as to whether a battery only system would be the better way to go in that instance.
Im keen to see how it does over the next 12 months where I could make an assessments.
Can you explain how you use the energy in the home to achieve savings and what extra costs were incurred? Do you have electric heating and if so did you install this to use the solar benefits? What about hot water and showers? Have you installed electric amenities everywhere? As an example, if you installed say, an 11kW electric shower could a family of 4 shower effectively each morning using only stored energy?
For the house, the appliances we have:
- Electric Fire
- Induction Hob
- 2x Ovens
- Washer
- Dryer
- Dishwasher
We are awaiting a Solaredge hot water diverter which will use excess solar to heat the hot water via the emersion heater.
However, I have an Electric Car which has a 74kwh battery so we are pretty much at the limit and using everything, for our first month we put over 400kw in the car which is circa 1300miles of free mileage
Nice system. We already have a 4kW East/West system, and we're adding another 5kW next week (scaffolding already up), along with a Tesla PW. £17K for the new system - just over a grand of that is to remove and refit what is already there, as our original 4kW system gets in the way of the new install. Ordered in January of this year, and it's been delay after delay - finally about to see the light! Should be pretty much independent from the grid between March and September, and using mostly cheap rate at other times to charge the battery and EV's.
Sounds a fantastic system, Id like some more panels on the east, however we would require planning permission and because of the village we live in, I dont want to add an eyesore as the front of the house is visible, but Im shocked at how much east/west panels are for a full days production certainly a lesson for me.
Your price seems reasonable doesn’t it, or comparable to mine.
@@DIYJourney1 We're happy enough with the price - particularly when you look at the ROI for such a system (not necessarily the full payback), there's little else to touch it as a vehicle to save money, particularly with the ever increasing cost of electricity. (Also tax efficient, as 'savings' aren't taxed).
We're lucky in that we live in a long barn conversion, so the panels are all at one end of the roof, towards the rear of the house, so not really noticeable at all. We would have saved ourselves quite a bit of expense had we just plonked the second set at the front - but like you, we don't want the installation to be too obvious and in the neighbour's faces.
While the roof could probably accommodate 20kW+ , if we choose to add more, we'll probably stick them in the garden - one of the advantages of living fairly remotely in Northumberland - land is cheap(er) than elsewhere!
It wasn't what I was hoping to spend my pension on - but at least it should stop us getting any nasty energy bill surprises. Though if anyone knows how to produce your own heating oil, I'm all ears! 😁
Nice to see someone in the comments section, thinking of bigger picture such as tax on savings. So many variables isn’t there to how they are viable, but more so like you say, reducing/removing the risk of volatile pricing or even just giving long term security on production.
good comprehensive video. Thx!. I installed a bare bones 3.7kw solar edge with 5kw array for 6.3k installed (zero vat). But that was a few years ago. you can also use excess solar power to heat water using an eddi water heater. its a pretty good job, and only a few hundred quid.
Great stuff, hope your happy with jt.
We have a solaredge hot water diverter planned but they are on back order, so haven’t included it until it arrives.
@@DIYJourney1 would you not go for the Eddie hot water and Zappi car charger as your getting electric car? They marry nicely to system and talk to eachother? Very nice install you had done. Lovely garden
They do, although I already have my EV and had a Andersen A2 charger installed way before solar panels were considered, so find it hard to justify more cost to swap them. We are having the Solaredge hot water diverter installed very soon, although my charger isn’t a great integration, it does the job, it just prioritises the home battery charging before car.
Haha thank you, love a bit of stripey mowing
Lovely set up to dream of. House looks very spacious and clean. Congrats on a proper set up and best of luck for the future. This is the future and security against energy price hikes.
Very kind of you, thank you
Does your system/any system have smart export? Ie setting rules like if the variable export price is more than 40p/kwh, export as much as possible from the battery until the battery gets to 45%.
Its not something iv looked at so unsure. Im using my system with thought of using as much of the produced energy as possible. I know our export rate sits at 4.1p/kwh currently so isn’t worth exporting. Iv not seen any at such a high level as you mention but do believe octopus do a tariff that tracks the pricing, so whether it can adapt to that Im unsure.
Now is the golden time to install panels and do business
great video, thanks. Wondering if you still ussing energy from grid. I guess yes since you mentioned elecrtic cars
Thankyou, yes we are, purely because of the EV. However, this has reduced our usage down to around 70%. However we are only at the 4 months with most months being the worst time of year. I anticipate over the year this will be 45-40% coming from the sun.
Take the car away and we would be self sufficient for 8 months of the year easily.
A very interesting watch. Thank you for that. I also contacted Oval about a potential installation. Unfortunately, apart from the fact that they aren’t taking on any new business, they wouldn’t be able to install fro me as I need the majority of my panels installing on a south facing wall and they don’t do that as yet. So my search continues. I look forward to seeing your follow up videos on they system.
Interesting comment. I'd be interested in a South facing wall mounted system as well...
I'm just starting my "DIY Journey" looking into solar for our house so thanks for sharing your experience. Did you consider roof-integrated panels at all? From my research they're 5% - 10% less effective but then there's no need for nest protection or uplift on the panels if there's ever any tile repairs needed. Thanks
I did yes, your absolutely right, I believe they are less effective. I didn’t actually consider that saving of bird protection with integrated.
Im not sure what it costs but I don’t believe it could be substantially more but now you mention that saving, Id be interested to see how much. Lets face it, integrated looks drastically better, it we were to have a house built its the route id take.
@@DIYJourney1 I chose not to have integrated Solar Panels for two reasons. Firstly if I wanted to upgrade the panels to a better specification it's easier to replace panels on a rail system.
Secondly, while the panels are on a rail system they act as a thermal barrier to keep the upstairs house cooler.
Sounds expensive in the uk 🇬🇧
I’m in Western Australia 🇦🇺 18 panels 6.8 kw system installed with the dual phase inverter .
$4.2 k Australian we have a government subsidy .
These no battery subsidies here yet but it’s $10 k for a 10 kw battery at present.
Thanks for the video
It’s the UK ….what do you expect?
We are not known as Rip off Britain for nothing. 😀
Great vid
What is the size of the battery, and what does your house use on a typical day?
Thank you, the battery is 10kwh with 9.7kwh useable capacity.
Our house not including electric car uses on avg 10kwh per day. With the electric car and using august as my only example, we used on avg 23kwh per day if solar, putting about 1200miles in my car
Nice neat system, professionally done. Thanks for taking the time to do the video, ignore the keyboard warriors.
Thank you
Brilliant equipment and explanation. The only nit pick swopping video camera around and moving around. I listened and understood all 👍👍 but had to close my eyes it may sound petty but I was getting sea sick😂😂
My apologies, will try improve in the future
@@DIYJourney1 Thanks for reply, understand nerves and wanting to put the info out there you can forget the little nuances. Mine was first time use of video camera thirty years back…… panning to quick or zooming in and out😂. My system is going in this October 15 panels and system equipment being fitted in the garage. Happy saving for the future
Great video - interesting stuff. Regarding the payback period though - if you're saying that your payback period is 5-6 years on a cost of £18,500 then when you do the maths on that it looks like this doesn't it (for simplicity these figures assume you use everything that you generate which should be possible with the battery, and feed nothing back to the grid):
Total cost - £18,500
Payback - 5.5 years
Saving per year - £3,363
Energy being generated per year to achieve that saving: 3363 / 0.34 = 9891 kWh per year.
Is that right - are you generating nearly 10,000kWh per year with this setup?
Honest answer, I don’t know yet, I think it could be achievable. My experience so far from august as thats when our was installed, we saw regularly 35-45kwh of production in a single day. Currently we are seeing 17- 20kwh so will have to see how it pans out over the next 12 months. Even working it out at 7 years I feel 20kwh is very achievable as an average per day and is a good pay back. We need to also consider this usage is for an EV also so whether you could use an element of fuel savings if the car is priced like for like, in my instance it is, but as said, looking at it simply from a production point of view it “could” be possible lets see what the good old British weather throws at us 😃
We have a UK based (West Midlands) 7.2kWp Solar Array (East / West facing) with a 5kW inverter and produce 5.7 MWh per year. We actually used 98% Solar last year, exported 2%
27 kWh of battery storage with 10kW discharge capability, Smart Meter and low cost Tariff.
An electric car with 75 kWh storage, a 22kW 3 phase charger and it does 15,000 miles per year.
Our house uses about 16 MWh per year, with Heat Pump, Induction Cooking, electric showers etc.
I calculated ROI being 4.5 years for Solar Array, 6 years for battery storage.
Great job with a tricky subject. It's very hard to tell people the costs of these sorts of things, because not only does the price of equipment vary, but also the labor around installation, AND the price associated with energy usage.
We got batteries and solar over a year ago, and while the price has been the last thing on our minds, it's all other people want to know. Problem is, it's changed since we paid. We literally got a big unexpected check back, and now some of the people we told are walking around with outdated ideas of the cost.
Further, energy prices can change so much the ROI reduces greatly. Just this week, I got the option to import/export grid energy with the battery, which could "save" another $1200-1500 a year... I am hesitant to even estimate that, but it seems like it could cut our ROI in half.
Your absolutely correct. Very difficult, I just feel this is the right thing to do.
Could I ask what your average daily use is please?
Great vid.
Thank you, the house is around 12kwh a day, with the EV can be anything upto 85kwh per day.
Cheers for breaking that down Rob. Something I am considering for our next house.
No problem, I hope it helps
Hi Rob I'm in the middle agreeing to have this very system but with 28 panels so I'm looking forward to see more updates on how yours goes 👍🏼
Hi,
Fantastic, thats the dream right there 28x panels will do some great production. I will try and share as much data as I can. We are 5 weeks in however have a 2 weeks holiday in that so accurate data is limited at the moment.
@@DIYJourney1 not a cheap investment but looking at our current situation I believe it will pay for itself in a few short years and later down the line we could potentially have more as our roof isn't lacking in size... good luck.
Get as much battery as you can afford - it cushions the bad days. I have 12kw and wish I had gone for double that just for winter capacity.
@Mad Pete I have 27 kWh battery storage, and wish I had 50 kWh...
They really need to get electric cars Vehicle to Home sorted out.
I've now got another 150 kWh of battery storage over two Ev cars, that I can't access
I just love your northern accent. It’s mint
Spent 1.5k on 15x 450w panels, 1.3k on a 6kw inverter hybrid on/off grid inverter that does a little more than what your 2 or three pices of equipment do. 1300 on a 7.5kw lithium battery. So approx 5k for equipment including cables and supports etc.
Installation and certification 1k.
Where I live the aystem anticipates historically enough sun to generate 10,200 kwh. Sunny where we live. Downside is generating companies only give you a monthly credit against any excess generation you put into the grid.
Plus standing charges still apply and excess generation cannot be credited against them.
Euros not pounds. Could have got a 70% grant against installation costs but probably would have to wait several yearscto get it back and probably pay 6k as against 1k. (90% of installation done by myself). 1k for wiring and certification.
In the interest of being constructive and assisting those wondering how your system differs for a direct comparison.
- what country are you in? England isn’t Euro’s so assume Ireland or other.
- what equipment did you purchase - As in brand and models?
- What is the warranties that are included on those?
- Does that equipment have the ability to be dc coupled?
- What safety features does that system have, such as the solaredge being able to cut the voltage to the panels in the event of issues, like with optimisers, which you also haven’t mentioned whether you have.
- Who certified a self installed solar pv system?
Separate question, why is credit a bad thing for export generation?
@@DIYJourney1 Hi, I live in Spain. The main equipment I bought is the following.
Risen monocrytaline panels RSM144-7-450M 450W.
These were bought from an up market B&Q called Leroy Merlin and have a 20 year warranty. One that I wouldn't worry about.
Growatt on/off line hybrid inverter via Alibaba. An SPH3000-6000 BL-UP. A 5 year warranty 10 year optional.
WiFi
It has 2 x MPP trackers 1 string per tracker.
DC switch
Reverse polarity protection
AC/DC surge protection
Battery reverse protection
AC short circuit protection
Ground fault monitor
Grid monitor
Anti islanding protection? ( No idea what that is to be honest.)
Residual current monitoring.
Insulation resistance monitoring.
UPS
No optimisers, other than what is built into the inverter system.
Battery are three Growatt 2.56kw stackable batteries with BMS monitoring, system voltage,current, cell voltage, cell temp, PCBA air temp etc. and trip.
Also purchased via Alibaba.
The above are all CE certificated IEC62109, VDE0126...
Site is a flat roof terrace with access via stairs. 9m x 9m, no shade issues.
I did the physical installation of the panels (not wiring).
Built the support framework.
Built a store for the inverter and Battery etc. All on the roof, directly above the main electrical boxes to the house. 2.5m below the storage. Concrete walls and steel door.
Wiring connections, runs and paperwork to connect to grid etc. All carried out by a Spanish registered electrician.
Question on the credit. In Spain credit is on a month to month basis, nothing is carried over, so I will input around 2000 kwh for no payment or credit.
I am not and do not profess to be an electrician and wouldn't touch any of the actual electrical work, I am however adept at many jack of all trade work as I was self employed for 15 plus years here in Spain.
Thankyou for the response, hopefully that helps gives context as to the cost difference.
@@DIYJourney1 I could have bought the same inverter locally for 2.5k euros and a 3 year warranty. So I don't mind buying direct.
What precautions have you taken if one of the batteries catches fire?
Smoke alarm. I believe in some countries the solaredge batteries have built in extinguisher. Unsure if the UK has this however. A fire extinguisher and smoke alarm in close proximity
Great Vid , Now i wont a system , Keep p up the good videos .
Very Kind thank you
Excellent and thorough very useful explanation. Thank you for taking the time to explain.
Thankyou for the kind words
Really interesting and well explained thanks. Can I ask, at what KWH rate are you charging your car?
Thankyou, I just set my car charger ti follow solar 100%. So varies between 1.4kwh and 5kwh. In august I charged around 1200miles from solar
@@DIYJourney1 thank you, did I miss the part where you said how many kWh of total storage you fitted? I’d guess with 7or8 kWh of total generation you added some pretty big batteries?
Its a 10kwh battery with 9.7kwh of useable storage. Which Im finding allows the house currently to be pretty much self sufficient, because I have an EV I tend to leave that on charge constantly when at home and use that as a means of storage if you like. We are also having a solaredge hot water heater fitted soon so excess solar will heat our hot water also saving on gas.
@@DIYJourney1 Wow, I think you've built a great system. In my job we make solar powered pumping cabinets for the water companies. These have up to 16KWH of Victron Energy batteries, charge controllers and inverter etc inside but only small solar generation capacity. I'm itching to build something at home but there is a lot to consider like you already showed us,,,, many thanks😉
That sounds interesting, you’ll have a good base knowledge then. Its been a huge learning curve for us.
I have never been able to get my head around how to size an inverter as compared to the total panel power. So 20 panels at 400w is 8kw if my arithmetic isn't failing me. how does that work with a 5kw inverter? Love the video by the way.
Its hard, in hindsight id of gone 8kwh…but…its not actually much of an issue with having a dc couple battery (explained in my installation video), meaning the extra 3kwh can still be used to charge the battery if the house load is maxed. Im finding 5kwh is ample for the house usage, but limited for the car charging I just don’t get the 6mile an hour in my car charging when the system is peak.
My reason for going for that number of panels was more for the duller days, as ‘a lot of a little bit’ maybe useable power for use in the house or charging the battery.
@@DIYJourney1 right. SO its kind of like a sink with an overflow yes? Doesnt matter how big the tap is, the bowl will only hold so much - but you can direct the overflow. Is that the right sort of idea?
Yeah thats it, what a fantastic way to put it.
One year ago in Adelaide Australia we had a 13.3kw solar system installed using REC 370 watt Alpha series panels, 2 Fronius 5kw inverters and a Tesla Powerwall 2 battery. The whole system cost A$24,000 fully installed on a single storey house. The only regulatory bodies that have to be notified are the governments, federal and state for the rebates to be paid and the state electricity distributor to monitor the amount of solar being installed.
Our feed in tariff has recently been reduced to 6.5c per kwh, was previously 7.5c.
What is the feed in tariff in the UK?
Another point of interest is; we are now restricted to exporting no more than 5kwh per phase due to the amount of solar energy being exported at the middle of the day. This may change if other uses are found for the excess solar, eg hydrogen production.
Thanks for showing us how it works in the UK.
For my situation the export is 4p/kwh. I believe other can get better but because of my energy tarriff where I receive cheaper over night rate that is the only rate I can get currently.
@@DIYJourney1 Thanks for your reply, slightly better FIT than here.
Is your boiler electric and if not would you consider it? Thanks
No its Gas. At the moment, no I wouldn’t until I see 12 months of solar generation. With my EV we maximise most of the energy produced so would just end up buying in with gad at a dearer rate than electricity. We shall see
Hi Rob, on your DNO application requirements, did u have to get 3-phase power? Thanks
Hi, no it was just a single phase for our supply, as thats what we have coming to the house
What happens with the G99 application. Do you tell them what inverter you are going for or do they just simply say yes/no and another limit/ceiling is set for what size you can have?
I cant remember exactly the forms, but we had to notify the DNO about the inverter being bigger than 3.78kwh (or whatever the limit is), then they can assess local infrastructure to see if it is suitable for anything bigger. I was advised, if it isn’t then the export would just need limiting.
Lovely tidy house and garden. 🥰
Thankyou
our full setup 100% offgrid, total price around 4000 quid ruff conversion from nzd. 1st question.... what do I actually need.... then go from there
Agreed and the reason I did the video to help people grasp a rough cost estimate for there situation with the equipment they need.
A little tip, If you want to upgrade your supply to your house to three-phase just ask for a fuse upgrade with your local DNO. Invoice will be free
If you say you're going to be attaching batteries and solar. they will charge you for an invoice.
Given a base fuse upgrade request with our DNO is £140+vat, I doubt a full upgrade to 3 phase would be free. Could be wrong but I can only go off there website.
So do you envisage this saving you around £250 a month, every month for around 6 years to pay you back on the install? I've briefly looked into it for us and although it would be a lot lower cost of install with less panels, most online calculators said I would only get £3-500 a year saving on energy bills! It was a lot lower than I'd had hoped and with the energy price cap I put the idea on ice for now.
I do yes, the simple reason, our bill prior was £360 a month and after the first month was £60. I have a high mileage electric car, so that is ultimately the driver for us (excuse the pun), and thats at todays prices, we shall see where it goes in the future.
Ill be honest if you don’t have an EV, I too would find it difficult to justify, and would probably try looking at a battery only option and a cheap overnight tariff.
We run a pool and heater so feel will hugely benefit us in the summer months that we use the pumps etc.
I’m not going EV car yet
Great review Rob gives us a good idea of expense etc
Thank you, hopefully it helps
Hi, thanks for the great video,
Could you tell me how to adjust the export level of stored energy before it can be exported on Solis hybrid inverter as I'm losing energy going to the grid before I get to use it after for example
Hi
Do you have a battery, if not, any energy produced by the solar panels and not used immediately will go back to the grid.
You require a battery to store the energy. An inverter just converts to produced energy from DC to AC.
@@DIYJourney1 yes I've two batteries FOX ESS 2 * 5.2 KW and thanks for your reply, much appreciated
@@amanuelablel3364 If your battery is full, then any produced energy will be exported. You will need more batteries.
A couple of things to bear in mind. Batteries have a lifetime cycle. Unnecessary cycling or cycling to provide power to the grid is incredibly wasteful. Over the lifetime you will reach a point where your batteries need replacing. It might be ten years or more. That means you must factor the replacement cost of items that have lifetime limits. Panels also have limited lifetime. Therefore in say ten years, for sake of argument, you may need to purchase a new set of panels and a new bank of batteries. In ten years time, they might cost a lot more than they do today. I suspect that the technology has come to about as cheap as it will be. However, another factor, in ten years time, the same size panels are likely to be very much more productive. The batteries also will no doubt be bigger capacity. As for the electronics - the inverter - all electronics have a lifetime and can fail. If the equipment is made as in a lower integration of components then it will be easier to repair or replace board components. I'd be interested to hear what others think about this aspect of hidden costs over the term.
Im a little confused why people say this, firstly, what is the point if having a battery to store energy to be used at a later time if you cant discharge and recharge it. This leads in to my next point as in warranties, surely that is anyone port of call and people suggesting 10 years in the comments, are purely stuck in the past. As you say technology advances, manufacturers are happy to warrant these much more now so we all need to move on a forget about historic information.
My panels have a 25 year power output warranty guaranteeing 85% at 25 years.
Battery has a 10 year warranty with unlimited cycles and allowing 70% energy retention at the 10 year point.
Inverter has 20year warranty with the ability to extend to 25 years.
Now considering the above, and a payback sub 7 years for me, it is a very viable option, and as we move forward should improve, things do break and as long as the warranties cover it that should be the first decision and one of the reasons I chose the route I did and would recommend that for others also.
Hi Rob very interested in your solar installation .I have a 4Kw system installed about 7years ago and I was told the 4Kw was the max a domestic installation could be.As yours system is larger have the rules changed or is because you have storage battery as well.Is your installer just local to you or do they cover nationwide.Keep up the videos.TJ
Hi,
3.68kwh is the limit without requiring DNO assessment and approval, because we went above that we had to pay for that assessment to be done.
Our installer is nationwide, but based in York, which was Oval Renewables. I am very happy with our installation and the build up to it also with advice etc.
@@DIYJourney1 what's DNO?
Distribution Network Operator i.e Northern Powergrid
We had the same problem: existing 4kW array (actual limit is 230V @ 16A = 3680watts which is why you'll see the 3.68kW figure bandied around). Ask your installer to contact the DNO who, if you are lucky, will give you a maximum additional generation value and export limit.
Generation = what the panels can generate.
Export limit = maximum you can feed back into the grid.
We were allowed an extra 2.96kW of generation on top of the existing 4kW and a total 4kW export limit for the two systems combined. What you are allowed will depend on your local grid, other generation capacity in the area, and so on.
As I understand it battery size doesn't come into it, you can have as much battery as you can afford. With Solaredge the limit is 3 Energy banks, each 10kWh, on a single inverter. Around £6.5k per Energy Bank at today's prices so we just have one!
It doesn't matter if your export limit is less than the [old array] + [new array] generation total since your new inverter can be configured to monitor what is being exported and dial back its export to keep to the limit, so called "export limitation".
You might ask why there is a limit on generation if the inverter can control its output (I did). The answer is that the inverter is allowed 5 seconds to scale back from overshoots and by limiting what you can generate the DNO protects itself from short term spikes of overload. You can actually see this happen from the real-time monitoring: switch off a large load (eg stop boiling a kettle) and the power your system was providing a moment before gets diverted to the grid until the inverter can adjust itself to the new lower load.
Hi mate, thanks for the video, i notice at the end of the video you mention your system is around 3x greater than what you need, with that in mind, and all that redundancy, would it be possible for you to come off grid all together? would you have the confidence in the system to do that?. If so, and you were saving your standing charge as well, then the pay back time would be even quicker. Thanks again, Chris.
Hi,
I wouldn’t have the confidence to do that, from my short experience you would need a very large system and battery for those cloudier days. Always worth having the back up, its worth noting, this video was filmed in August, so our average production was about 40kWh per day, as we reach the end of October this is now around 15kWh so as we progress to darker days I imagine this will fall further, as expected.
We are finding ways to use as much of the redundancy as possible, such as filling our electric car, heating our hot water and recently started using our electric fire to heat the downstairs.
Hope that helps.
Thank you, yes indeed it helps, I look forward to further videos. Thanks again, Chris.
Thank you, no problem,
Nice video, mate. I'm looking at getting a system fitted myself so it's given me an idea of what to think about. Thanks.
Really glad to hear 👍🏼 All the best with your experience
Depends like everything what panels you want battery size etc and as you say many Options etc
Its does indeed, which is why I wanted to do this video, to help demonstrate what we have and how much. The figures could be taken and used as a rough guidance.
@@DIYJourney1 I'm lucky my panels made me 300 pounds in last 3 months but I have the Old FiT tariff and even today I would install solar now as the savings and pay back is now a lot quicker with the price rises
Yes, in our first month at today rates we saved £340 on our electricity bill, absolutely crazy.
Great video, couldn't help noticing the App screenshot showing 22kWh produced today, are you still exporting to the grid, or are you storing it to battery 🔋
Thank you,
Our house uses around 10kwh per day, any spare is prioritised in to the battery, but I also leave my electric car plugged in when at home. In august we put 360kwh into the car which is around 1200miles of free mileage.
From our minimal experience we average the production of about 25kwh per day with max of 40kwh and min 18kwh
Great Video, thanks Rob, I have a question on the Battery, I have a system with 12 x 2 volt batteries, each battery is approx 800 pounds, thats expensive, my system is 17 years old now, and replaced the Batteries ( all 12 ) and am now on the third ( 3rd ) change out now, seems ridiculous !!! But it is fact ! How Long is your Battery Guaranteed FOR ? CHEERS
Thank you. The solaredge battery has a 10 year warranty, this is placed at 70% of energy retention at the end of the warranty period. This also allows for unlimited cycles too.
Hope this helps.
Batteries have come a long way in terms of longevity. E.g. with LiFePO4 batteries.
Did you finance it or pay cash? How much does it affect the payback schedule if you have interest payments in the equation?
Yes interest does increase the payback but dependant on what the interest is on that
2 years ago got 5.4kw solar array. 7.5 kWh battery,Solaris inverter, plyontech batteries, zappie smart charger and eddie hot water unit. No scaffolding required.£7500 total. got great deal just after the first lock down prices are up. I have no shading two simple strings, not at same premium tear as this install. My pay back gets shorter every time they push electric up. I'm also saving on my gas usage, In N.I some one did quote me 12k at the time for exact same system. Know what your buying, do your homework.
Absolutely👏🏼
Whilst the "payback" period is important to some, I will be looking at this from a return on investment 1st. If you assume a £15k cost and that you are fortunate to have the cash on deposit to finance it, your £15k in the bank will earn you c £300 (est 2% without compound interest). If your energy cost is c £2,000 a year then the return on your investment is over 13.33% - assumes that you are self sufficient. Your total return less what you were earning from the bank is 11.33%. That seems a very suitable return on savings put to better use!
I agree 👍🏼 and was a supporting factor for us.
Now interest has increased slightly, it would be interesting to see the sums, to borrow the money at say 5% interest whether still a suitable options.
Looking into this for a new build..not sure if im correct in saying this but is there a grant from the government to subside the cost of installation? Thanks
Currently there are 0% vat on solar panel installations and also battery if they are installed at the same time.
@@DIYJourney1 thank you....still got to get started with the big build but im thinking more insulation the better
Yes think the likes of the basics are key initially such as insulation, double glazing etc.
Anyone here also considered adding a wind generator, I’ve just had my solar and battery fitted and seeing the benefit already, but feel a turbine would add an additional benefit for not a huge outlay?
Thank you for a very honest video.
No problem at all, I hope it helps.
very informative, but one query, you said estimated payback in 5 years, that would be a saving of roughly £3600 a year (yes you mentioned electric car costs) for a standard 3 bed house even now must only be under £1000 per year for electricity, then when my friend had them sometimes you used more than you produced, especially on winter days in the north east.. thanks
We have a 5 bed house and a EV that does 30k+ miles per year. The reason we have a battery is so we can be self sufficient at night where possible. During the early part of august were producing 35-40kwh per day, but the house only uses 10, so the aim is to charge the home battery also and then put rest in the car.
My sums have many variables to which I believe it could be near 4 years but comfortable at saying 5-6 years.
This video is not about payback on what it costs so please don’t use my passing comment on what our situation is to work yourselves out, it could be very different, and more 10-15years for a basic home with no other variables.
It certainly demonstrates to me, how a switch to EV and solar have become a bit of a package that works
@@DIYJourney1 cheers for the clarification