solar panels

Latest Articles

solar panels
Page Previous 1, 2

Downsizer Forum Index -> Energy Efficiency and Construction/Major Projects

Author

Message

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15967

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 7:03 am Post subject:

Our next door neighbours have solar panels with batteries and they are very happy with the system. Battery prices are high, but are coming down in price quite significantly. It does make sense, particularly if you are supplied with overhead electricity, as you have your own backup then. I would suggest getting several quotes and trying to talk to people who already have a similar system in place.

Our neighbours have a Tesla battery, but that was all that was available at the time.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9881
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 8:57 am Post subject:

Slim wrote:

Clearly it's different for you, but here where we have net metering, batteries just don't make sense. We use the grid as our battery, but here is a just crediting kwh on to our account for use in the winter

that's a good system - here we can sell back to the grid, but the rate is less then the cost of buying electricity.

according the the solar guy - who yes, I do realise is essentially a salesman - some people are going battery way as they are trying to future proof against power shortages. For this... the (sales)man says you need a battery that you can use during a power cut - not all can. The only one they offered that can is the tesla.

I'm a bit done on trying to future proof things. I thought I was future proofing by installing woodburners - I didn't anticipate there would be ( imo wrong) backlash against burning wood.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9881
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 8:59 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

Tesla does not make the batteries, ...

I'm aware companies make the batteries for tesla - but I assumed tesla were still making money out of it somewhere?

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 9:52 am Post subject:

They certainly make money. There's are typically more expensive than others.
And others can absolutely be used as a backup power supply during a power outage, provided the system can be disconnected from the grid. Maybe the Tesla one is the only one (at least that your salesperson offers) that has an automatic grid disconnect that is approved for use by your grid?

I would try to find out if others sell other approved automatic disconnects, or if there's a manual disconnect option, which I would expect to be less expensive anyway.

Tesla systems tout the seamless grid disconnect, the fact that you may not even realize the power has gone out were it not for a notification on a smart phone, but I personally would be okay with flipping a switch

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8918
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 10:04 am Post subject:
I am trying to get my brother (waerloga on here ) to join in on this thread as he has solar panels, a house battery and charges his electric van and electric motorbike at home. All going well. He is in Somerset so not too far from you Nicky .

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 10:17 am Post subject:
Useful to get some local experience

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9881
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 3:23 pm Post subject:

gz wrote:

I am trying to get my brother (waerloga on here ) to join in on this thread as he has solar panels, a house battery and charges his electric van and electric motorbike at home.

All going well.

He is in Somerset so not too far from you Nicky .

that would be interesting

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9881
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 3:58 pm Post subject:
I'm going to get several quotes, and am researching local opinions ( slightly problematic as I think people are loathe to admit if they made a mistake, and are generally enthusiastic. But it does helpweed out the less reputable companies) Certainly going without battery is the more affordable option.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8918
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 24 8:22 pm Post subject:

Nicky cigreen wrote:

gz wrote:

that would be interesting

I have messaged him...not sure where he is at the moment

waerloga

Joined: 11 Sep 2011
Posts: 9

Posted: Sun Aug 18, 24 11:35 am Post subject:

I have about 6KW of solar panels feeding a 3.8KW inverter and a 9KWh battery (Givenergy). together with an EV charger and hot water energy diverter (eddy & zappy from MyEnergy)
I recently added 6 x 400W panels to arrive at this arrangement.

One less obvious advantage of increasing my installation from 3.6 to 6KW rated is that the minimum charge rate for most EVs is 1.5KW.
Through the winter the surplus generation didn't reach this for enough hours to be useful, though it was just short a lot of the time.
The Zappy can automatically charge while the surplus is available. The extra panels massively increased the charge going into the car.

The advice when I started several years ago was to match the panels to the inverter. Given that the panels are not always running at full power and have dropped in price (per KW) significantly I aggry with the current general advice to install up to 50% more pannel power than the inverter outputs (check inverter spec that this is OK).

A small tweak in the settings makes the GiveEnergy and Myenergy systems play nice together, so getting all from the same supplier is not vital. This can probably be done with other combinations, you will need to check. You can now get everything from MyEnergy but when I last checked I thought it was overpriced.

My house is fully electric (no gas) with night-storage heaters so with the EV as well I am on The Octopus Go tariff, this also works well with the battery which in the winter is topped up overnight on the lower-cost electric. If you don't have an EV Octopus have tariffs for homes with battery systems.

For a price guide, a friend recently had 10 x 400W panels and a 9KWh Givenergy battery & Inverter installed for £10,000 total.

In summary fit as much solar as you can and size the battery to match your daily consumption.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9881
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Sun Aug 18, 24 2:11 pm Post subject:
thanks for that I don't have an EV but I figure it is in my future. I was pondering the idea of using surplus to heat hot water - something not mentioned by recent salesman. he was suggesting, with the available roof, a 4.8 kw system 3.68 inverter and a 5.18 battery. I dont really know what that would mean for me. I need to gather more quotes/specs

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8918
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Sun Aug 18, 24 5:44 pm Post subject:
Thanks bro

waerloga

Joined: 11 Sep 2011
Posts: 9

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 24 10:01 am Post subject:

Nicky cigreen wrote:

with the available roof, a 4.8 kw system 3.68 inverter and a 5.18 battery.

I need to gather more quotes/specs

That is a sensible specification, 5KWh is good for most people, I am all electric so went for a bigger battery.

The hot water diverter makes the hot water tank act as a second battery with a considerable capacity.
Most diverters can handle two loads, so I connected one of my night storage heaters to it. In the spring and autumn when the is still plenty of solar and just a little heating requirement, this makes a remarkable difference. You can't do this with most modern storage heaters as the electronics in them doesn't like the regulated supply from the solar diverter.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 24 12:20 pm Post subject:
All good info, always good to hear from someone with real life practical experience

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9881
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 24 9:00 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

All good info, always good to hear from someone with real life practical experience

absolutely. Thanks Waerloga

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Energy Efficiency and Construction/Major Projects	All times are GMT Page Previous 1, 2
Page 2 of 2

View Latest Posts