HOW MUCH DOES A SOLAR & BATTERY SYSTEM COST?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- HOW MUCH DOES SOLAR & BATTERY COST
In this video, I take you through the costs we incurred to have solar panels and a battery system installed in our home.
Equipment:
- 5kw Solaredge Inverter
- 20x 400w Perlight Solar Panels
- 10kw Solaredge Battery
- Solaredge Modbus
The great guys from @OvalRenewables who installed our full system.
Instagram
Oval Renewables - ovalrenewables?...
DIY Journey - the_diyjourney?...
TH-cam
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 😃
This panel can put out close to 100 watts th-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
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.
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
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
th-cam.com/video/6Hs2-io-0tk/w-d-xo.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
What a sensible, downtown earth, factual video.
Thanks
Thankyou I hope you find it useful.
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.
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
Thank you, I appreciate the feedback
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
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
Fantastic video (& part 1) with simple to understand advice. Much appreciated,👍
Very kind, thankyou
Thank you for your clear and helpful talk through your system and costs.
Thankyou for your kind words and taking the time to comment
Rob thanks for sharing. Excellent video and really good explanation of system set up and costs
No problem, I hope it helps
Excellent and thorough very useful explanation. Thank you for taking the time to explain.
Thankyou for the kind words
Nice video. Very clear. Thanks.
Cheers for breaking that down Rob. Something I am considering for our next house.
No problem, I hope it helps
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
Your lawn is absolutely stunning!
Thank you
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.
Great system , well done .
Good comprehensive step by step video thanks for your time.
Thank you for the comment
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.
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 😃
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.
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
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.
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...
Lot of good info in this video, many thanks.
No problem, hope you found it useful
Great video - thank you!
Thank you for a very honest video.
No problem at all, I hope it helps.
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.
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
Great review Rob gives us a good idea of expense etc
Thank you, hopefully it helps
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.
Nice neat system, professionally done. Thanks for taking the time to do the video, ignore the keyboard warriors.
Thank you
Excellent detail, thanks
Hope it helps 😃👍🏼
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... 💷💷💷😎😎😎
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
Now is the golden time to install panels and do business
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.
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
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.
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 tidy house and garden. 🥰
Thankyou
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.
Really helpful, Thanks!
No problem
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!
Thank you. Very interesting and informative video. 👍
Thank you, I hope it helped.
Thanks for such a useful reply. With those facts in mind, it should make it easier for people to judge.
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.
Thank you for this information 👍
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
Very informative. Thanks for sharing
No problem, I hope it helps
Great video. Thank you.
Thankyou
Thanks again for sharing this very interesting video.
It would be interesting to know how much it has been producing since the installation.
No problem, we have used 938kWh since its install 5 weeks ago, however we have been on holiday and with the DC Coupling it could of produced more potentially maybe more 950-960kWh
@@DIYJourney1
That's very... very impressive!
Well done man! That's about 2K worth of electricity.
Thanks for answering and genuinely happy for you.
No problem at all
Love it! What direction is your roof facing?
We have one south facing (garage) and the rear is south west
Thanks for the interesting content.🙂
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
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.
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
Great explanation thank you 🙏👍
No problem, hope it helps
Great video and thanks for sharing the costs. Is there any particular reason for the inverter being 5kw, when you have a theoretical output of 8kw from the panels?
The reason was in winter when production is low, the more panels that produce little amounts will overall produce more. Also the installer explained in my last video the system is dc coupled, meaning I can still use 8kwh if thats produced in summer months. If im honest If I was doing it again, I would go bigger inverter but its not been an issue at all so far. We had already had our dno approval for 5kwh before I decided or knew we could afford to have more panels
@DIY Journey Sorry, I don't understand. If you have an 8kWp solar array, and a 5kW inverter... then the maximum power you can use is 5kW. As that is all the Inverter is capable of.
If your Solar Array is producing 8kW ... then 3kW is dispersed as heat (called Clipping)... and you still ONLY get to use 5kW.
If this isn't how yours works, can you explain please, so I understand your setup.
@@JustMeTalking i think thar the battery is DC coupled so the excess above 5kW is fed into it to use later in the day/evening.
Thats my understanding anyway.
great video not sure what boiler you have, was looking at solar immersion as well?
We have ordered a Hot Water energy diverter to heat our hot water via immersion. Unfortunately they are on back order so not sure when it will arrive and be fitted.
Great video thank you
Thankyou, very kind of you 👍🏼
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
Well done!
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.
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
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.
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.
no backup unit? how come? the price is fair. we would do 8.8kW (22x400W) with 8.25kW inverter and the backup unit for about 32k AUD down here in oz. im surprised UK solar is so cheap now. nice tidy install they did too. we would charge about $300/kW extra for the tiled/steep roof, which we generally wont do unless its a big 3 phase system. tiles are annoying. great vid. thankyou. perhaps the SE backup unit is not approved in UK yet? not sure but we generally install them with the backup panel also. no point having a battery without islanding function.
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 TH-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!
Honest video. Like that 👍👍
Thankyou, hope it helps.
Very similar price to what we're installing. 20x REC Twinpeak 4 panels split over 2 elevations, 5kW SE Inverter, 10kW SE Battery, SE Modbus and Zappi 7kW charger.
Thank you for sharing. Looks a great system.
Good information for others to be able to use.
Hey thanks for posting this, I had a solaredge 18 panel, 5kwh inverter and 10kwh battery installed almost exactly the same config as yours! What do you think of the software? I'm super happy except for these being no battery management! I have to call my local installer to get settings changed (eg I don't want the battery discharging during off peak period) - do you have the same concern?
To add, I had mine done 18th August, must be similar to when yours went up? Max 35kwh in a day and 12kwh lowest, I'm also charging my ev so bar the software niggle I'm super chuffed. Heating and hot water next....have you solved that yet?
completely agree with you regarding the management, is the only downside. I am told it is in the works and to be expected at some point. Seems strange that its not already available but seems the battery is fairly new in the UK.
Im seeing about the same outputs as you and very happy with it all.
As for hot water, they are on back order for the solar edge, but I Oval do have one on order for us, just waiting for it to arrive
@@DIYJourney1 I wasn't aware solaredge had a water heating option, I was heading for an Eddi, will now look into the solaredge and compare - cheers!
@@TheVedabuss We have just installed a 3kW Solaredge PV array + 10kWh Energy bank + Eddi to heat hot water. We already have a 4kW plain grid-connected array so an extra 3kW was all the DNO would let us have.
The Eddi and the Solaredge kit don't communicate at all, as you'd expect, but in fact getting them to work together has not been a problem at all since the Eddi is highly configurable. Obviously both compete for spare export, the Eddi for water and the SE system for battery charge, and while the SE system is a black box you can tell the Eddi not to grab excess unless there is xx watts excess power and/or that power has been present for at least yy seconds. So in practice the SE battery wins until it is full, which is what you want, and only then does water get heated.
My installer tells me that you might be in for a bit of a wait if you want the integrated SE kit.
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.
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.
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
Good video Thanks.
Thank you
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.
Be good if you can do a video after the winter to see how it ran. Top work
Thank you, yes absolutely, I think the 12 month mark will be the best assessment, but ill certainly try share as much info as I can. Already this month has seen a lower production, still covers our house usage but the next months will be interesting.
Hey Rob Bril breakdown of your solar panels, I ve been thinking about installing some myself
Thank you, hope it helped, any questions you know where I am 👍🏼
Great video!
Thankyou
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
Great Vid , Now i wont a system , Keep p up the good videos .
Very Kind thank you
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
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.
Hi, how accurate do you find your app? I have a Growatt system with batteries and the amount imported from the grid bears no resemblance to my electricity bill. I have asked if my electric provider can check the meter however they want £200 to do so!
Hi,
At the moment it seems very accurate in relation to what the car charger is telling me and the first bill Iv received. Ill keep monitoring but all well after first 5-6 weeks
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
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
I just love your northern accent. It’s mint
Very good video, buy cheap buy twice.
I agree, or I hope so, we shall see 😀
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.
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.
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.
How does the inverter work what size would you recommend with an ev?
If you have a big enough solar panel array, then 7 or 8kwh would be ideal with an ev if your charger is a 7kwh
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.
Did you get Island use as well. What I mean is does it work in a power cut
Not with this system, I dont believe Solaredge currently offer that, but will next year with the home hub. I dont “think” we’ll go for that, as power cuts are rare
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.
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