Domestic Solar PV Quotes 2020

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117971967#Comment_117971967

Most likely a hybrid inverter too.

Proach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117971967#Comment_117971967

I think you're right. Good catch, seems like they're going for around 1000 online.

garo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117961819#Comment_117961819

This is not a bad quote at all! If I were you I would go for the 2.6 kWh battery option. That second battery will never save you 1300. Also is 11 panels the most you can fit? Ask for more panels if you can fit them.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117972528#Comment_117972528

Actually, assuming you can use the units stored in the battery daily, a larger battery will usually payback quicker. The logic is that normally when you double the capacity, you don't double the price. e.g. 2.4Kwhr battery might be €1200, but a 4.8Kwhr battery wouldn't be €2,400 but something like ~€2200. Meaning your payback time is shorter with a larger battery....but again that's assuming you can utilize all the units stored.

People will have differences of opinions here I'm sure, but I reckon 5Kwhr is probably a good sweet spot for most houses. I went for a 8Kwh myself, but I've a lot of computers on and use a fair bit of juice.

Alkers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117969792#Comment_117969792

I disagree IF you're looking at this solely from a financial perspective, an optimality sized system will break even before an oversized one.

Also, for cash flow and competitiveness for a small system SaaS is the best option.

This is only basing your decision off finances

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117972695#Comment_117972695

I'd also add that your really getting a 10kwh battery, but marketed (and rightly so) as an 8kwh useable one.

So the 5 kwh battery is really only a 4 kwh usable.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117972812#Comment_117972812

Still would like a 20Kwhr one though :-)

garo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117972695#Comment_117972695

I disagree strongly. About a third of the year you won't fill the second battery because there isn't enough sun. For 2 months in the summer - unless you are a heavy user the second battery won't be empty by the time night rate starts. Yes for the first battery you have to also pay to go from a normal inverter to hybrid but you also get ane extra 1200 in grant. You don't get any additional grant for the second battery so that makes the second battery more expensive.

Do the sums and you will find that the payback for a second battery if costing 1300 is close to 15 years at current electricity prices. Of course, there are always special use cases where this payback may be less. If you are going for the Energia EV rate and intend to charge at night rate this may make the payback shorter. Still it is going to be 10 years at least. I've looked at your calculation tool and I think your numbers are too optimistic. Once you get a solar system installed and use it for a year you will see why I think so.

EriktheRed

Hi

Very new to solar idea. We are looking for pv options too, however we have plans to convert attic with a dormer which results a flat roof. What's the minimum angle required for pv panels to be effective? There will be some roof space at the original angle on both sides of the dormer, hopefully for 1 in each side. Semidetached, back roof, south facing. Any recommendations for good installers with good advice for north County Dublin? Please pm if you can, thanks in advance.

Is 12 square meters of panels free of planning application? What about adding another 2 panels, let's say after a while/original installation, application required for 2 extra?

Sorry loads of questions 😇

Thanks

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973386#Comment_117973386

First things first, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT PLANNING PERMISSION.

Virtually nobody on this forum has it. No one will come looking for it.

Re the flat roof, any competent supplier will have a solution for that.

Lastly fitt all the panels now.

SouthWesterly

I've just been onto the seai. They say if I get more panels and a battery I'll only get a grant for the battery and not the additional panels.

That puts a hammer blow to adding to my system

EriktheRed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973434#Comment_117973434

🙏

I contacted the crowd you recommended, light speed reply within literally 30sec 😲, thanks a million

the-island-man

Have received a quote from the Enniskillen boys of €10,500 INC.VAT (excluding the grant) with the following outlay:

12 PANELS 340 WATT 4KW JA SOLAR 25 YEARS GUARANTEE 

4.8 KW PYLON TEC .BATTERY

5KW SOLIS HYBRID INVERTER

EDDI WATER DIVERTER

WI FI DONGLE 

Also waiting to hear back from the Saas company people have recommended on here.

Just wondering where people go for information on the equipment quoted? Also someone I know who has solar seems to think some of the components listed (Solis Inverter, Pylon Tec. battery) may not be that good. Just wanted to get peoples opinions? Also one other concern I'd have with the Enniskillen crew is how good their support would be if there were issues down the line? I'm located in Galway.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973275#Comment_117973275

Not 100% sure where the 2nd battery comment is coming from garo, miscommunication here?

Everyone usage is different of course, but in my case I use about 17-20 units a day. Even forgetting solar and using the battery as a simple way to get night rate during the day (which I've got the consumption to use it), for 365 days a year my payback is ~10 years.

If i could fill the battery 100% everyday (365 days) a year from solar, which we know is completely unrealistic, the payback is about 6 years, so obviously the payback is somewhere in between the two outliers , 6 years and 10 years. We can argue how many days a year you will fill (or even partially fill) the battery but I went for 200 days. That works out for me about approx 8 years then to recoup the battery costs. If you want to drop that to 150 days, then it's like 8.8 years......to be honest, I don't really care too much about 6-8 months. Its in around that general ballpark anyway.

The point I was making is that with a smaller battery and a lower price, your payback time is longer. Plugging in the same consumption and rates but with a 2.4Kw battery @ €1300

17 Years payback. So for me, it made sense to go for a larger battery....not everyone would be like me, but I think for most people with average usage I think a 5Kwhr is probably the "sweet spot".

Proach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117974024#Comment_117974024

Someone able to PM me the details of the infamous Enniskillen boys?

DrPhilG

Bear in mind there is more than 1 solar installer in Enniskillen lol.

@Proach I'll pm you now.

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973751#Comment_117973751

No you understand why I hold them in high regard.

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117974024#Comment_117974024

Absolutely no issues with the Solis inverter and batteries.

The Solis is probably the most installed inverter in Ireland i would guess.

Proach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117971241#Comment_117971241

Enniskillen quote, fair?

20 PANELS 340 WATT 6.8 KW. JA SOLAR

6KW HYBRID SOLIS INVERTER.

5 KW.PURE DRIVE BATTERY

EDDIE WATER DIVERTER.

10 OPTIMISERS

WI FI DONGLE

PRICE 11900 EUROS

bullit_dodger

Can we assume that the 11900 was pre-grant reduction? Look on the good side to me if that's the case. You might (might) get it cheaper elsewhere by couple of hundred euros, but the lads are well renowned/regarded.

toushea

I received a quote this week for below system

12 Panels 400W Trinasolar Tallmax

Solis Hybrid Inverter

2* 2.4kW Batteries.

Eddi iBoost

Smart Battery Saver that allows you to top off battery from time with best rate.

Total was €8500 after grant.

I am thinking the iboost and the battery saver may be unnecessary. I work from home and already have a zappi car charger so I think I would send power that way before I would use to heat water.

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975209#Comment_117975209

Too expensive

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117974855#Comment_117974855

If thats the before grant and you can get the grant is a brilliant quote.

Did you contact the company I sent you.

Send them that spec without (preferably with) the price and see what they say.

Or leave the price and ask them to beat it.

Its the same approach Ryanair does with Boeing and Airbus to get a good price.

Proach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975470#Comment_117975470

Yes and yes. Talking to your crowd too, very helpful. My house was build post 2011, I believe it's a hard no in terms of receiving a grant.

randomname2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975209#Comment_117975209

From my perspective I think there are too many 'gadgets' in that bundle, although your circumstances might be very different to mine. If you are working from home, what is your daily usage? Are you going to produce enough energy (on days when you are home, ignoring times when nobody is home to use more than trickle power) to power everything in the house and charge the batteries to max and heat the water and charge the car? The iBoost costs about €500, you can get them installed after installation and they just require a wiring into the existing cables. I would consider leaving that out for the start and see if you have enough power being spilled to the grid to justify it.

garo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117974067#Comment_117974067

The case we were discussing was whether to makes sense to go with a 2.6kWh battery or a 5.2 kWh which I assume is a second 2.6kWh battery added on. Here is the original post:

4.2 kW with a 5.2 kWh battery

11 Panels

3.6kW GivEnergy Inverter

5.2kWh GivEnergy Battery

EDDI diverter

Quote Total € 9,820

€ 6,820 after grant

A 2.6kWh battery would cost €8,512, which works out at €5,512 after the grant

I am saying that the 2.6kWh option will have a shorter payback than the 5.2kWh option for the majority of people. Going from 2.6 to 5.2 will cost €1308 extra. While this is an ok price for the battery I would reiterate that the second battery does NOT give the same payback as the first in the context of a solar install.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975758#Comment_117975758

Ahh right. The wonders of text, I see what your saying mate with the "2nd battery" - it was a bigger capacity. Sorry about that , gotcha now.

No, the way that i was looking at it was more that typically the battery capacity doesn't increase linearly with cost. As in if you have 2.5Kwhr battery for €1000, then your 5Kwhr doesn't (normally) cost €2000, but they'll usually flog it for €1850 ... or something. The grant confuses things a little as there's a cap on that.

But in general, if you have the consumption, bigger capacity = faster payback normally as your getting more capacity / € spent. But again, you have to be able to consume it. Doesn't matter about number of sunny days of the year, it's irrelevant as that just improves on that baseline. Course, if you buy a battery that's too big for your consumption, then the reverse occurs. It takes you years longer to payback - hence why I reckon 5kwhr is probably a good generalization for most houses.

Ultimately the 2.6 or the 5.2Kwhr are decent/good quotes. If you have the €€€ , I'd future proof myself with the larger battery - but I'm generally in the "bigger battery camp" anyway, so biased there. :-)

garo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975904#Comment_117975904

How do you come up with a 1850 price for a 5kWh battery? Similarly your payback example says 2500 for a 10kWh battery. I cannot see any commercially available 10kWh option at that price. DIY doesn't count. Everywhere I have looked battery cost rises linearly with capacity. Now if you compare a 2.4kWh Pylontech with a 10.2kWh Aliexpress job then of course the cost does not increase linearly but that's not a like for like comparison.

In a solar PV set up, in the summer you will be using PV for most of your needs. On those days you won't use the full capacity of your larger battery. For instance on sunny days in May/June I have been able to get to midnight (or at least 11pm) with my 2.4kWh Pylontech. On those days, your extra capacity will only save you the night rate. I don't think your Model 2 accounts for that.

Also, the grant doesn't just confuse things a bit, it completely upends the financials in favour of a small battery. This is the route I went. I got a 2.4kWh Pylontech at install time and now have a 10.2kWh Aliexpress DIY which I will be connecting shortly and selling on the Pylontech to recoup some of the cost. The upgrade from 2.4 to 10 will cost me ~800 EUR and several hours of my time.

There are non-financial reasons to get a bigger battery. But if your sole criterion is to minimize payback then a smaller grant aided battery is the optimal route at current battery prices. If you could get a commercially available 10kWh for 2,500 then yes your argument would be correct. But I want people to size a battery with their eyes and ears open. 5kWh will make sense for most people's use case but the extra 1300 you pay over a 2.4-2.6kWh doesn't make it fnancially worthwhile as your own example shows.

SouthWesterly

A question regarding hybrid and standard inverters

What is it with a hybrid that makes it capable of having a battery or why can't a battery run on a standard inverter.

There's probably a simple answer but it eludes me.

garo

The hybrid can output both DC (for charging the battery) and AC (for house load). A standard inverter can only output AC.