The Solar Thread

Well, September is done.  5.5kWp array, south facing, in the SW with 20kWH of battery storage.

521kWh generated, 215kWH exported, 124kWh imported.

I started force charging for up to 3h a night in mid September to keep us off the peak rates.

My numbers have us at breakeven/neutral including the standing charge, but it could be a few pounds in our favour.

Total for the year to date is 4856kWh.

Morning,
Quick question, has anyone who has an existing solar installation with FIT payments had another solar installation with SEG. Can you have both if they are two separate installations?
Thanks

Can you have both

I looked into it and the clear answer was No.  The constraint is the MPAN, you only have one per property and that’s been used up on the FIT.  When you go to apply for your SEG on the 2nd/new array it’ll get rejected for that reason.

I heard whisper of someone somehow getting a 2nd MPAN to get round this but couldn’t see how that was feasible.  I decided I couldn’t drive payback on a 2nd array regardless so just dropped it

September Numbers:

Production: 725

Export 493

Import 360 (150 of this was hot water, 210 was charging the battery)

We only imported during the flux off peak period so average cost per unit was about 19p

We sold at an average of about 22p so I think that leaves us with about £13 after standing charge.

(10kw peak, E/W split, oxfordshire, 10kwh battery)

The new rates are lower and now we are hardly exporting anything most days during the 4-7 peak, the average price per unit sold will drop a lot. Yesterday it was ~17p for both so I’ll probably use the diverter to put excess into the water tank instead of heating it overnight. Next month, we’ll have to start thinking about putting the heating on and the buffer we’ve built up over the summer will get used up pretty quickly i fear.

I spoke to octopus about what other tariffs were available, but the only other smart tariff they would put me on was agile – all the others need an EV.

Agile prices are pretty good at the moment, but over winter i’m not sure how much of the time they’ll be below the cap.

Ok so my export wasnt setup until a few days in to september on octopus flux import export

3.9kw panels south facing, 10.2 kwh battery, controlled by predbat charging off peak and maximising peak discharge. Using 7-10 kwh a day

so my import bill runs 25th august – 27th September

Export 2nd September – 27th september

total import 103.7kwh at an average 18.46p/kwh – total cost inc standing charge £36.40

total export 417.1 kwh at an average 23.39p/kwh – total export £97.57 – this sounds very high so i wonder if since its the first export meter reading it has taken all of the previous un metered export

Flux is still much stronger for me that my calculated agile pricing

and so it begins 🙁

The shading from the trees local to me is starting to have a significant impact. It pains me every time i see this a without it it would cover my usage

Has anyone looked at, or done, the fitting of inset solar panels to an existing roof?

We live in a really windy area, Im quite keen on solar as I think in the medium/long term its the economic way to shift us off Oil and on to ASHP (house is a mid 00’s stone build, fairly well insulated but no underfloor heating, so we’ll never be a super efficient modern home).  I’ve been quite taken at how much pricing has reduced on solar in the last couple of years, a 7kwh array and Tesla power wall is now coming in around the £12k mark.

a 7kwh array and Tesla power wall is now coming in around the £12k mark

That seems very fairly priced. I’d have expected Power Walls to be about £11,000 alone now but see they’re <£8,000 with a quick google.

@prettygreenparrot yeah, they’re coming down a lot. You have to add scaffold etc on to there, but it’s a different world of pricing versus even 18 months ago

Has anyone looked at, or done, the fitting of inset solar panels to an existing roof?

We’re just about to – unusual roof design meant that adding a few hundred kilos of panels wasn’t the best idea so we’re going for an in roof system. It’s made more complex by us not having any felt under the tiles so as we’re taking most of the tiles off anyway we decided to strip the whole side, add felt then add the panels. That meant getting a roofer to quote for the sarking work and for them to be happy to work with the solar installers but I think we’re there now and have the roofer and solar installer coming this afternoon to finalise dates. Hopefully early Dec install, 4.8kwp array (West facing), 9kwh givenergy battery. Cost is around 10% more than standard on roof install.

@thepurist thank you. That’s really interesting. We have a really weird thing where the felt was laid wrong/wrong weight of felt for clay tiles so when it’s windy it flaps and is really annoying. Part of me is thinking to take this opportunity to fix the felt and then lay the solar at the same time. 

Hi, does anyone on here have Huawei solar equipment? In particular the inverter and battery setup?

I’m currently experiencing a few issues firstly with the Fusion Solar app ( intermittent loss of data ) and now unscheduled forced charging of the batteries up to full. The latter obviously is of most concern as it’s costing me money, but also is it pointing to some serious software issues with the inverter?

Unfortunately my installer went bust last year ( system is only 15 months old) so no help there, but Huawei Europe are proving almost impossible to get help or an answer out of.

Can anyone recommend a northern based installer with Huawei experience?

andy @footflaps is using huawei kit . IIRC he got them to give him full control and then put it on Home assistant as the software wasnt great.

^^ this seems similar to the givenergy stuff… the software control is absolute pony and the real solution is controlling it yourself

this seems similar to the givenergy stuff… the software control is absolute pony and the real solution is controlling it yourself

Tell me more… What issues did you have with the givenergy sw and what’s the alternative?

My array is inset and was done for weather proofing, looks and nesting birds.  It cost around £2k more than standard.  

Thanks @daffy. Exactly same reasons as us!

@thepurist

The Givenergy software, on my gen 3 inverter

has a smart tarrif automation setting, which reads the octopus tarrif api to get pricing, and solcast solar prediction.. description says it aims to charge by solar and mains to be at 100% before peak time, in reality it does some random charge discharge cycle overnight, givenergy basically told me it doesnt work. I saw a video saying it was in development.

other bugs, setting a max charge or discharge value, it baiscally gets disreguarded, and also does not resume eco mode afterwards, ie doesnt feed the house..

working solution is to use octopus R&D labs to control charging nad discharging.. works ok as long as theres no connectivity issues

real working solution is home assistant on a local server with givetcp and predbat, which calculates the required off peak charge, and can also do the max on peak discharge while keeping enough power to feed the home

Thanks @alan1977 – as I posted above we’re having a givenergy battery and inverter installed so it’s useful to have some first hand experience.

If you want reliable, configurable and real time data I would suggest setting up a Raspberry Pi and installing Home assistant.

Well I don’t think we will be getting much solar today… jeez it’s grim out there. 

So far in October we have generated c90% of what we used (217 generated solar vs used 238kWh).

Anyone on luxpower. Having issues with their webapp.

Hi, does anyone on here have Huawei solar equipment? In particular the inverter and battery setup?

I’m currently experiencing a few issues firstly with the Fusion Solar app ( intermittent loss of data ) and now unscheduled forced charging of the batteries up to full. The latter obviously is of most concern as it’s costing me money, but also is it pointing to some serious software issues with the inverter?

Unfortunately my installer went bust last year ( system is only 15 months old) so no help there, but Huawei Europe are proving almost impossible to get help or an answer out of.

Can anyone recommend a northern based installer with Huawei experience?

It’s very easy to take control of your own system and become admin.

You need two things, to become Admin of the inverter which just requires a reset (in the manual). You power down the battery and inverter in a certain sequence and then on power up after which you have something like 5 minutes to become Admin when you log in via the iPhone app. Once you have the Admin password set you can now log in and change settings yourself etc.

Reset Huawei Inverter by Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

If you want full details via their web interface, you then need an installer account with Huawei to add your system to. You just apply online and they give you one. I then added my system to my installer account and hey presto I have full control, access to all alarms etc via the App and via the Web interface.

The only PITA was I couldn’t use my main email address as Huawei lock that to my original installer so I had to use another email address to add me as a customer to my installer account in the Huawei cloud.

Re: intermittent loss of data, I had problems with the Wifi connection, so in the end I bought their CAT-5 dongle online which just plugs into the inverter and hard wired the system to the LAN. Dongle was maybe £65 just bought online. Configuring it with the dongle was very painful until I eventually discovered that if you add the Dongle your system behaves completely differently and the Dongle becomes the main unit and everything a slave off that ie you add the dongle to the account, not your inverter. Completely illogical but that’s how it works. Without a dongle, the inverter is the system’s main unit and everything else a slave off that.

Huawei Dongle here: https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/huawei-storage/huawei-smart-dongle-wifi-ethernet

Has anyone installed the bird mesh around their panels?  I was wondering how much it  would cost and any recommendations?

i had it done at install time, i think they quoted it as 250 around 8 panels, but that was obviosuly on the premise the scaffolding and installers were already there and doing it at the same time

I’ve had my panels up in a pigeon infested wood for 12-13 years and never had an issue, just saying.

Having said that, if I did it now, cost v risk I’d probably do it 

I didn’t bother and to be honest, if birds want to nest under them, I’m not that bothered.

I’m finally at the point of getting quotes for a solar system. It will be interesting to see how a ~10kw system performs in my part of Australia compared to UK setups.

We have some significant shade issues so held off for years, but are having a look now to see how the improved technology stacks up. Will probably aim for a system that can have batteries added later.

We have electric hot water and appliances plus a pool pump. No heating or a/c. One person working from home 3-4 days a week.

Thanks @Footflaps. I’ve got admin status, the trouble is the constant dropping out of data transmission. I think I will order a new dongle ( the Lan version is out of the question due to location ) and hope that solves it. 

quotes are around 500-600 so far for installation of bird protectors. Thanks for the input everyone

Has anyone installed the bird mesh around their panels?

I’ve 3 x arrays on two properties that have been there for about 10-12 years and zero birds nesting – I’m not sure it’s a thing at all.

If anything I’d be more worried about the mesh restricting air flow under the panels (they like to be cool) and letting stuff like leaves in but not out.

If anything I’d be more worried about the mesh restricting air flow under the panels (they like to be cool) and letting stuff like leaves in but not out.

If that were a real issue, then in-roof solar wouldn’t be a thing, would it?

my driving force for having the mesh installed was the whole idea of having nesting birds feet from my head when asleep.. a couple of nights lost sleep i’d be stressed

If that were a real issue, then in-roof solar wouldn’t be a thing, would it?

It’s less efficient than panels on top of the roof.

October update – 5.5kWp array, S facing in the SW.  20kWh of battery storage.
397kWh Generated
273kWh Imported
212kWh Exported
We changed the inverter pattern to import at 60A over the 3 hour window for Flux and export through the day as the rate difference is 1p (minus the efficiency loss) and this is less than importing a couple of kW in the peak periods.
Predicted electricity bill for ~530kWh used is £13 + the standing charge.
Running total for the year is ~5400kWh of generation.

10kwp E/W split, 10kwh battery, Flux

444 generated

379 imported (£69 @average cost of 18.3/unit)

238 exported (£46 @ average cost of 17.9/unit)

Net: 586 units cost us £23 +SC

All -electric house. Battery tops up between 2 and 5am, but is not set to export – just for consumption.

Water tank gets a few units at the same time and I have just set the underfloor heating to turn on between 2 and 5 as well. Will be interesting to see how much we can shift to the cheap(ish) window. Demand topped out at 12kW last night and the heating is not really working yet. We’d be better off on Go/Intelligent now, but no EV.

Also – Octopus doing odd things with our bill. Last actual “bill” came on 20th August. Nothing since then. Our account shows 12 separate credits and charges just for september, none of which seems to relate to use or generation. For a short period on the 21st august, our account was £1000 in credit, then a few hours later was down to £400. Hoping its just a glitch not something very wrong with our meter…

Looking for a relatively low cost upgrade to our current situation if that is possible but I think the answer will probably be stay as you are. As above I’ve looked into expanding the current solar but no dice.
– 5 panel ~ 1.25 KWp system (came as part of the new build so they put in the bare minimum)
– West facing and generated 572 units between 1st April and 12th September
– Currently getting 22p FIT
– PHEV with 30 mile range which is plugged in most nights
– On Agile Octopus as we are retired so can load shift
– LPG heating so heating water is more expensive than mains gas

My thinking is to bin off the FIT and get a small battery setup that can take the solar plus a HA system that can charge the battery when the Agile tariff is low and use when high. Also use HA to check the Agile tariff and use a smart immersion to heat the water when cheaper than LPG.

What will £5k get me?

The only problem with Agile is that it’s not regular (as you know) which may cause you problems with battery charging.

Week before last Agile wasn’t really much good but since the wind has picked up it’s been OK (I’m away ATM but looked earlier and I’d used 51kWh on Sunday at about 4p/kWh!)

@sharkbait thanks for the reply, I may just get a smart immersion and do the hot water. Just need an excuse to get started with HA 🙂