The Solar Thread

Why is firm one only fitting 10 when firm two fitting 12? Ask firm one to fit 12

I’m not the OP but the two quotes use different panels. Likely the 405 panels are narrower than the 415 so more can be installed, I’m seeing this with my quotes coming in too, just depends which panels they can get hold of.

When we got quotes a few installers sent little diagrams of how they would put the panels on; they were slightly different with a different number of panels. I guess it depends on the size of the panels but also how they arrange them on the roof and how much space they leave around the edges.

It’s only lost if you don’t have a single neighbor in you side of the transformer

I did not know that. In the situation where the export wasn’t used on the LV side, I would have expected the transformer to step it up to the HV – but I’m not an electrical engineer. I can see why grid transformers might be more complex than the basic concept I learnt in school physics, but I’d be interested to understand more. Any search terms I’ve tried in Google only find articles about export limiting inverters.

It just goes the other way through the transformer.

In my experience the difference between panel outputs is down to whether they have black or silver frames.

I’m sorry if this has been covered before but is anybody using the Octopus Go tariff without an EV?

We are Octopus customers and our PV and battery is being installed on Thursday. Octopus tariffs seem at bit changeable and its not clear if they are enforcing the “must own an EV” thing. We dont have one so not sure how we can answer the specific charger and car model questions on signing up. This tariff would be perfect for charging our home battery overnight.

Recently they have been asking you to do a test charge so getting wise to folks not having an ev and claiming they do.

Folks really getting their knickers in a twist about the fact they are lying and in breach of.contract but somehow that’s octopus’ fault.

It just goes the other way through the transformer.

In an onpaper calculation perhaps.

240v at solar style low amperage arriving at a 10Kva inductive transformer will just make the low voltage coil a wee bit warmer.

Recently they have been asking you to do a test charge so getting wise to folks not having an ev and claiming they do.

Folks really getting their knickers in a twist about the fact they are lying and in breach of.contract but somehow that’s octopus’ fault.

Mmmm… as someone who is trying to reduce their driving and overall power use, as well as generating my own. I find it a bit rich that motorists are rewarded with cheap power but those wanting to store and use later to reduce demand on the grid are not.

Given the car tariffs are loss makers

You wonder who’s making the car tariffs exist.

You can access cheap charging tariffs but economy 7 and also if you buy a Tesla power wall.

Given the car tariffs are loss makers

You wonder who’s making the car tariffs exist.

Car tariffs exist to discourage peak time charging (1,000,000 get home from work at 6pm + plug car in = problems). I’m not convinced by Octopus’s claim that they “subsidise” EV owners who charge at night since for most of the year there’s a significant energy surplus in those hours.

The other way of doing it would be to have no cheap overnight tariff but instead apply an extra premium per kWh to all users who use power at peak times to discourage it. Which would you prefer?

I do think it’s disappointing that no energy provider will offer a cheap rate for battery charging (well, except Octopus if you choose IO or fib about having an EV), but then they’re in the market to make as much money as possible.

Even the new “reduce power” subsidy is a shit-show because anyone who isn’t using power at peak times is now encouraged to do so for the next six months in order to grab the payments down the road. If I didn’t have the cheap overnight rate, I would definitely be charging the car and house batteries at peak times, knowing that I get paid £1 – £10/kWh for shifting that load to the wee hours in the winter.

Even the new “reduce power” subsidy is a shit-show because anyone who isn’t using power at peak times is now encouraged to do so for the next six months in order to grab the payments down the road. If I didn’t have the cheap overnight rate, I would definitely be charging the car and house batteries at peak times, knowing that I get paid £1 – £10/kWh for shifting that load to the wee hours in the winter.

Who’s tariff is that ? Ovos is less than 12% of your daily usage between 4-7pm and you qualify for 20 quid payment each month.

As my wife put it. Fine if the battery has charge but we won’t be making the bairn go to bed hungry to achieve it.

It’s a fair point

I had my array and battery installed last week and yesterday received access to the inverter software (after paying the bill…) so was able to start tinkering. Yesterday was a good day for solar and our array (5.6kWh) generated enough power to run from sun up until bedtime. The battery (8.7kWh) was at about 80% when the sun went down. Our overnight tariff kicked in last night so I charged the battery fully at the lower rate and given our daytime use is quite low in spite of us both being home all day then it will be interesting to see how the battery fsres today and if it is topped up enough by solar to again run through until midnight.
Yesterday was very clear and sunny but we used around 17kWr on Monday down to around 4 yesterday so I am very pleased with that.

@surfer

I have been trying to get on Go without and EV for a while but they want to see a V5 to prove you have the car.

It’s very frustrating – we have solar and a 10kwh battery as well as electric-only heating and hot water.

We could use the cheap electricity to charge the battery, fill the hot water tank and give the underfloor heating a boost. The battery and solar would offset the higher price of usage during the day. This would save us money and help them cut peak time usage.

But they are sticking to the rules and say it is because “it messes up their data” when non-EV owners are connected. No real idea what this means, but it seems they are sticking to it. I am sort of considering ordering an EV with a long lead time from Octopus (my company car provider), getting on Go for the winter, then cancelling it all in the spring when we are back in energy self-sufficiency.

Utilita – my current supplier, won’t put me on E7. Green Energy used to do a good one called TIDE, but it’s not open at the moment due to price fluctuations.

But they are sticking to the rules and say it is because “it messes up their data” when non-EV owners are connected.

The main reason is that at the moment they are losing money on the cheap overnight rate, but the benefit to them of not charging an EV at peak times outweighs this. If they let you join without an EV, all that happens is you get cheap electricity all day at their expense.

It’s pretty short-sighted, but then look at the new schemes that directly penalise people like you who are already reducing their peak time use by fitting battery storage.

This would save us money and help them cut peak time usage.

You saving money would cost them money, and I guess they don’t think it’s worth it for the peak saving from your usage compared to the saving from avoiding an EV being plugged in.

@lodger how are you even applying to get on that tariff. I’d like to get on it as eon next are pants and we do have an eve to charge but cannot find any sign up form currently.

I asked OVO to put me on economy 7

They said i couldn’t have it as my property had central heating.

I asked how they came to that conclusion – as i do not have gas.

I said im moving from Oil to electric heating for green reasons – and they said still it would not be possible to go on E7

They are actively blocking it without good reason.—> this is a different discussion to those lying about having an electric car to get on an electric car tariff.

Will probably move next year once the winter OVO move payments stop.

@lodger

I dont have an EV so switched to Economy 7 with Octopus. I already had a smart meter but when Mrs Surfer called they said the switch would take weeks. She challenged them politely for a few minutes and by the time she came off the call the switch had been done and was appearing in the app…

But they are sticking to the rules and say it is because “it messes up their data” when non-EV owners are connected.

I suspect its a bit different. I would imagine that their tariff is benefitial for them when the overall usage is high – ie you’re charging your car overnight on cheap electricity, but still using a normal house worth of electricity during the day, which is now priced higher than you would on a normal tariff.

if you just whack a battery and use cheapo elec, they’re not getting the house-worth of expensive electricity during the day to offset the cheap electricity at night.

Hi

Just had a quote for 12 panels providing 4.75kWp of solar and 4.8kWh of DC side storage for £9,200. Think thats quite competitive?

I still have an old analogue meter which will run backwards in export, do I keep quiet or tell suppler 😉

In terms of battery size, do you think I have got it right, my house consumption is approx 6-7kwh per day, should I go up a battery size to 7.2kWh for an extra £600?

I drive EV – high mileage and plan ASHP next year..

THoughts welcome

how are you even applying to get on that tariff.

Ringing up and badgering. Emailing.

I already had a smart meter but when Mrs Surfer called they said the switch would take weeks.

We have a 1st gen smart meter and they said it would need to be replaced. They said this would take a while and in the interim we’d be on a temporary tariff that was about 75p a unit (and this was before the last lot of price rises!)

One of the quirks of utilita is no standing charge (first 2 units are more expensive instead), so when we’re running off the roof/battery, we aren’t paying. So even economy 7 is more expensive in the summer.

@djglover

Sounds pretty good. A battery that size is good for absorbing the spikes throughout the day. If the clouds come over and you’ve got the oven and tumble dryer on etc, it discharges for a bit and smooths out demand.

When the nights draw in, it will be exhausted pretty quickly and as soon as the ASHP is in it will be gone in a flash. However, what we found with a bigger battery is that (in the winter) there’s not enough sun in the day to fully charge it anyway, especially when we’re trying to heat water, so a bigger capacity may not give you much return on investment.

I still have an old analogue meter which will run backwards in export, do I keep quiet or tell suppler 😉

are you sure – dont assume cause its analogue it will run backwards . mine didnt 🙁

it has to be reeaaaally old to go backwards . mines was tagged 1987…..

@djglover I have had 1 quote slightly above that for a 14 panel 5kWh system with 5.2kWh battery using solar edge panel optimisers and inverter. It is less than any other quote so far but they want to install on the SE roof and I want the SW one done (which is what every other supplier has quoted on).

how are you even applying to get on that tariff.

Ringing up and badgering. Emailing.

Thanks @lodger

So even economy 7 is more expensive in the summer.

Yes we will likely change tariff again early spring. I expect the solar will be providing so much (and given we have no EV) we will have to find the best feed in tariff available and won need the overnight rate (which has a correspondingly high day rate)

What I am learning is how it cant really be set and left alone. I am sure it will settle down a bit but estimating the next days solar and making small changes to how you use the solar and battery makes a big difference.

is approx 6-7kwh per day, should I go up a battery size to 7.2kWh for an extra £600?

That sounds quite cheap for an extra 2.4kW battery. I would grap the larger one for that price but its very dependent on your usage (which is low) and how and when you use it. I added an extra battery to our setup at install and it was £1,500 for a 2.9kW module.

@djglover

That quote sounds fair to me

As you drive high EV mileage get yourself a smart meter and get onto Octopus Go ASAP. Also consider doubling the battery size at least so in winter you can fill the battery at night time cheap rate with enough power to get you through the next day

Thanks, I will probably add another battery module to it. They are the Pylontech 2.4 units stacked

Any pointers for a solar and battery company in south wales, ideally Cardiff?

@mrmchammer

I used a company called UPS Solar based in Chorley, Lancashire. I live on the Wirral near Liverpool which isn’t too far away but I was surprised that the team who turned up on the day to mount the panels were from Leeds and the electrician was from Manchester. I have no other affiliation with them but the whole process was quite smooth and although the installation took an extra morning (due to one of the roofers having a sore back) it did give me time to chat with the electrician and he helped with some prep for a future EV outlet which was very welcome!
The price was pretty good (I had 5 comparable quotes) and I liked the equipment they used (Fox ESS cube) plus they had stock and arranged the install quite quickly so all in all I would recommend them.
I think it is worth giving them a call (or adding to you list to request quotes from) point being many companies dont discriminate on distance. They can only say no.

So mine got installed yeterday. The weather was terrible and it took them from 8:30 to 4:30 to get it on without any breaks.

Got 11x 400W panels, luxpower invertor and one US5000 battery (was 2x usc2000 but they swapped it) Im a bit worried that PV2 isnt running yet.

Obviously its cloudy today so its trickle charging the battery. Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

If anyone has a mortgage with Barclays you could potentially get some money back with their Greener Home Reward, up to £1000 if I read correctly. There are terms and conditions but worth applying if you meet the criteria.

Greener Home Reward

Hey, Shropshire based here and looking to get quotes for our family home. The first one has come in from Genfit and it seems at the higher end compared to some on here: £7k for a 4.92kWp solar panel install and£14.8K for the same with a 10kWh battery. Or is this in the right ball park?

I’ve contacted a couple of other companies but have had no reply as of yet. Any other suggestions for Shropshire?

So – how’s everyone’s installs doing at this time of year? Mild weather, but still, low solar altitude.

1. What’s your location?
2. What’s your array capacity/azimuth/inclination?
3. How much are you generating/using?

Not much to compare it with as I only had mine installed a few weeks ago.

I am surprised that they have been so effective this time of year. We have a 5.6kW array and yesterday (which has been the best day yet) I was getting 3kW for quite some time. My battery was fully charged at 7:30 and had dropped about 15% until we got a burst of sun at around 11am. With the battery at 100% soon after our iBoost heated our tank fully (first time I have seen this) and we were feeding around 2kW back to the grid. I did a machine wash and tumble dried some towels ( we would have struggled to dry these given we have not been using the heating much) to make good use of the excess. I dont have an electric car at the moment but I have no doubt we could keep it fully charged (even a 2nd…) from around March onwards…

I’ve got lots of data! Here’s a comparison of my two systems which shows quick clearly that, although an E/W* split is good in the spring/summer, a S** facing array kicks butt during the winter!
I’m hoping to add an 2Kw to the larger array but ground mounted and angled purely to maximise winter production.

* Chester
** NW coast

@sharkbait how are you collecting the data? I use the foxess app and Web interface but it is not as accurate as home assistant I understand.

Each inverter has a Raspberry Pi attached to it and they run an app every 5 minutes to collect the data and upload it to pvoutput.org.

Works well and has lots of different ways to view the data.

New inverter fitted in sept to play with the batteries.

Sitting at 87kwh for November so far which is down on last year but a waterwheel would have been better so far this year.

4kw array south facing 8 miles west of Aberdeen.

Plans to install another 2kw east facing on top of the garage which will capture the morning sun up till when it swings round onto the south facing aspect.

I’ve also just about nailed down the specifics of my solar thermal system which should remove a significant portion of our dependence on heating oil….

Thanks.