Domestic Solar PV Quotes 2022 - No PM requests - See Mod note post #1

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120125164#Comment_120125164

That would drive me nuts too

Manion

Id verify they have the documentation prior to engaging them.

Abromavich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120125348#Comment_120125348

Yeah good idea! If they dont then I can just go with someone much cheaper.

Thanks for all the help! Now I just need to figure out how to monitor my PV usage and export amount 😁

dubsaab

Quote

9 X 415 panels

1 X 5KW Hybrid Inverter

1 X 4.5KW battery

Usual fittings & installation

€11,690 incl VAT (Before Grant) Incl BER

jkforde

expensive, consider dropping the battery, just export surplus and get deemed\metered CEG and install a hot water diverter - unless you can DIY\automate the diversion yourself.

and meanwhile, keep looking for better quotes!

Manion

The price difference between a 5Kw and a 6Kw inverter wholesale is 47 Euro excluding vat, they're doing you no favours underspecing the installation and you'll forever but limited by that. Not all batteries are the same for instance that 4.5 might only have 3.5 KWs usable.

D.flynn

my most recent quotes for Galway (3 options from the same company) are as follows:

all options use 14 X Bisol Premium 445w mono panels.

option1 : 6kw renac string inverter (non hybrid) €7050 final cost (inc vat and grant deducted)

option2: 6kw renac hybrid inverter (not including battery) €7450 final cost (inc vat and grant deducted)

option3: 5kw alpha inverter with 10.1kwh battery €12700 final cost (inc vat and grant deducted).

these seem good to me and coincides with the "rule of thumb" in post #1.

I'm still thinking of going the DIY route to save a good chunk on labour, but if anyone wants to know the name of this company, PM me. a friend living near by had them do an install june last year, and seems to be happy with it.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128348#Comment_120128348

Good to see there is still good value with some installers out there. If going with one of them and not DIY lock it in now before the price goes up!

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120125913#Comment_120125913

Is there a case for not bothering with batteries and relying on the FIT? Or is it specific to your own use case?

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128348#Comment_120128348

Is DIY a runner for most people?? Based on my experience, I’d caution on the DIY route as the starting point. Lots of people here have gone DIY to expand it once the initial setup is done by an installer. Our install was ~7 days onsite between roofers and sparks (small house so working on multiple small roofs slower them down, and they tripped themselves up on some stuff like running our of kit and needing to go to a supplier).

Getting heavy panels onto a 2nd story roof and not getting injured… Going onto roofs is beyond competent DIY in my mind – but each to their own. Our metal gutter broke when they were going up a ladder and very nearly hit one of them – scared the life out of him and me. Would have caused serious damage to him. Got lucky.

When I saw what was involved overall, I realised DIY wouldn’t have been an option for me personally. If I did go down the DIY route (which I looked at), I’d only have a very small setup. And just on my accessible flat roof (which would only give me 5 panels and I’ve 16 in total now).

No reason you couldn’t DIY another aspect yourself in time. So adding a flat roof say with a few panels and a microinverter for a grand. Or adding a large DIY battery which others have done here…Or, or…

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128348#Comment_120128348

Also, based on my experience and others here get as many panels on Day1 that 1) you can afford 2) the roof fits 3) and inverter can handle. Will be the cheapest to do now while they are onsite. You’ve 6.2kWp of panels and the 6kW inverter can take more. Ask the installer to see how to oversize that so they will sell you more panels. Scan the recent threads here and you’ll see that’s safe to do that up to ~1.5 times of panels to the inverter size - depending on the inverter spec and roof direction. You've good pricing there, which is great to see!

D.flynn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128904#Comment_120128904

Hi DC99, thanks for the info. Although I'm new to PV, I am a qualified electrician and have done many building works such as bathroom renovations, Complete central heating installs and extensions (including roofs)

I'm confident in my skill to do the complete install but for me the initial hurdle is ensuring i pick the correct hardware, for instance, with the exception of huawei, I never heard of any of the other brands prior to researching PV, so dont know whats a good reliable make as opposed to an "ok" one. I also dont want to get stuck with a single ecosystem as in i believe some hybrid inverters only play nice with their own battery whereas i may like to try a different manufacturer or even build my own battery.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128911#Comment_120128911

My roof measures 8900mm X 5050mm( i actually got up there with a tape). If going the grant route, I believe that regulations require the panels to be installed 500mm from any edge, therefore, giving me a usable space of 7900mm X 4050mm. either way, I think i'm still limited to 14 panels (2X7) if i want to maintain some buffer from the edge, so best i can do is maximize the wattage of the installed panels.

Tonight i'm going to go into the attic and mark out the truss distances on a drawing as i want to get as much planning correct earlier on before i pull the trigger.

Manion

Generally there is a ratio of size to output with bigger panels not necessarily more efficient than smaller panels. I think you're should be able to get 16 410watt panels up. Shadow from a chimney or vents might limit this.

D.flynn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129243#Comment_120129243

Ya, possibly. Shadows are my next problem as I know i will have a shadow from a neighbours chimney on some panels, but so far I dont know how many panels. this throws up another hurdle of would i be better off with micro inverters ? and this is a question i dont know how to answer just yet.

Manion

You definitely don't want panels in shadow as it will lower the power output for all panels on the same string. I think you should look at optimisers a head of micro inverters https://instylesolar.com/blog/how-does-a-solar-panel-optimiser-work/

im unsure actually when you would use one over the other.

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129348#Comment_120129348

I'd suggest get quotes and designs for that. So ask them to answer all the Qs you have here. Then you can cost up the exact same kit yourself and decide if you go DIY (as a qualified sparks so you've that part sorted). With DIY you're saving on labour with DIY but losing the grant. Might be interesting to see what the final gap is.

Shading will drag down every panel on that string, so it's bad. But if it's only for the start and end of a day, then output is lower then. So may not be worth it. Only need optimisers for the shaded panels. Look at your shading and what is causing it. Take photos. Shade from neighbours roof, neighbours chimney, tree... Bear in mind window sun is very low so causes shading you'll never see outside winter. It rises and sets in different places too (closer to S than E and W). So don't put optimisers on for just winter shading. You might have a photo of the roof from a few years ago. The date and time on that will tell you what light and shadows are like.

I've optimisers on 5 of 16. They are on a flat roof and all year round it gets shaded earlier in the day when the sun moves around the house. They are a huge benefit for me or they would drag all the panels on that string down. There’s always a lot of debate with people on when to get them. For me, in that situation, they are great.

Afaik microinverters are better suited to a smaller DIY with less panels. And won't need optimisers then as micro inverter manages that. PV installers are not using microinverters, we just don't see microinverters in the quotes threads here.

Bear in mind many installers want an easy life, so you may have to push for more info, a design that better suits you….

D.flynn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129416#Comment_120129416

Thanks for that. it was a good read.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129839#Comment_120129839

some good ideas there. id say i would only need 4 optimisers, possibly 6 if i ignore the shading in winter and just focus on the summer shadows.

what optimisers do you have ?

graememk

Re optimisers:

This is a very good video on it

https://youtu.be/9GvhDhCSJgo

(and part 2)

Tldw, if shading is diffuse(trees etc) optimisers help.

If a shadow is hard enough to trigger the bypass diodes in the panel, it won't help

Manion

That's a great video. I was weary at the start but didn't know about the Bypass diode wasn't. I wonder in that instance then if you're better off getting two smaller panels in area that will be shaded by the chimney so that the bypass diode kicks in earlier as I guess the diode is triggered by a voltage drop as oppose to current.

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120130024#Comment_120130024

Cool, I'll watch that.

Biggest difference I've seen is some panels on 15W and others on 130W. Ok, that's hardly the norm but it's a huge variance. Our optimised panels get some shading in the morning (rising sun). And afternoon (when sun moves around the hour). And it's different panels impacted by shade in morning V afternoon (due to where the sun and shade is)

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120130016#Comment_120130016

I've Huawei inverter so needed Huawei optimisers afaik, well installer used them anyway. I see you mentioned maybe getting Huawei kit. I wouldn't bother as they are dearer and have a few other 'gotchas'.

Nightmare to integrate with home automation (using free Home Assistant software) if you want to do that in time. It's actually much easier than it sounds. Or with other inverters you can even get Alexa to do certain basic things. Huawei won't 'talk' to any of that without a huge amount of work.

So say I wanted to turn on an electric rad (during the day) once there was excess solar going back to the grid. I could do that automatically and easily from certain inverters. And it could turn off automatically once the spare solar dropped again. Or auto turn on the washing machine if the battery had X% of charge left. At the start I couldn't imagine I'd want to bother with that. But would be good now the price of electricity is scary.

So while they only sell hybrid inverters (so is ‘battery ready’), they lock you into only 2 types of batteries. Actually 2, that's it! And they cost over 1 grand per 1kWh - which is hugely expensive. I don’t have a battery for that reason. Ok, battery is supposed to have less electrical losses due to being high voltage battery versus others like pylontech that are low voltage. Won't pretend to know more on how that = less losses - you're the sparks so understand I'm sure :)

And the warranty length is great on the Huawei kit but I don’t expect it to die before the warranty ends. But I’ve since come around to thinking that kit is kit, brand matters less once it does what you need. 

D.flynn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120130465#Comment_120130465

That's great to know as i'm a big Home assistant fan. Thanks.

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120130944#Comment_120130944

If you do get a Huawei inverter and get it connected to home Assistant, do please let me know how you set it up and I'll copy what worked for you :)

verizon

Two Quotes, all installed south facing

First:

- 5kw Inverter

- 13 panels

- After Grant €10,500 (vat inc)

Second:

- 5.6kW size Solar PV system, 14 400 Watt Solar PV Panels.

- Pitched roof mounting kit incl. retrofit kit, bracketing, clamps and remaining materials.

- Fireman Safety Switch (Shunt)

- DC Isolator switch

- AC Isolator switch

- Operation & Maintenance Manual Provided

- Fully installed & commissioned by a Safe Electric registered electrician.

"Special Features Included"

- Eddi Power Diverter. Diverts all excess energy towards your immersion heater.

- 3.5kWh Battery Storage. Stores surplus energy for later use.

- Wi-Fi Remote Monitoring. Allows convenient monitoring of system performance from

14,800 after grant.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120135107#Comment_120135107

Both seem very high.

I got a quote for 15 panel 6Kw/h system for 7,400 after the grant , adding a 5Kw/h battery and an Eddi took the quote to ~11k after the Grant.

verizon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120135142#Comment_120135142

Thanks for confirming, I was quite shocked but also unsure so I'll perhaps keep asking around

Manion

As a rule of thumb when you see people throwing standard equipment such as isolation switches and firemen switches it's smells. Every installation will have to exact same basic set of requirements. When that is combined with a total lack of details around the really important customizable and differentiable aspects of your install such as Inverter size, Inverter Model, Battery Make and Model, Panels Make and Model, shouts avoid. A quote should be 3 lines like this:

* 8.2 kWp - 20 410 Longi panels - LR5-53HPB-410M

* 10.6 kW - Waco 5k3 Batteries - DC Connected

* 6 kWh - Solis Invertor - Solis-RH1-6K048ES-5G

Clear, specific, comparable. Everything else other than maybe an Eddie thrown is the same from one vendor to the next.

tipping

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120101693#Comment_120101693

So have my 3 quotes from different people now and just clarifying a few points with them. I'm trying to maximise the south facing aspect and have had

Supplier B - Say they can fit 6-8 panels on the south roof

Supplier C - Say then can fit 18 panels on the same roof..

So I reckoned I'd do some calculations myself and it seems to come down to being able to fit a long row in landscape underneath the lower (fire escape) veluxes or not. The gap between the bottom of the velux and the bottom of the roof is 1.75m so allowing 0.5m edge clearance to the edge of roof you have 1.25 x 15m left which will take 8-9 panels in landscape. This isn't leaving much clearance to the bottom of the velux though.

Does anyone know what the recommended clearance to windows is? I can't see it in the SEAI documentation.

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120146423#Comment_120146423

I don’t know the SEAI distances. But..once you agree with the installer to hold back the final payment for the amount of the grant, it’s with the installer to ensure you pass the audit. You’re not telling them to breach the grant guidelines, they are designing the system. And get it agreed that if it fails the audit, the installer will correct at no cost to you. Not every premise will get audited in person. But all require the installer to submit documentation as evidence including photos. So if they submit something incorrectly to SEAI (knowingly or otherwise), they are at fault.

That’s some difference of 10-12 more panels on a single roof. If that installer that can fit 18 and the inverter can take it, you’re sorted. And you’ll have great output on that S roof.  

You need to request the SEAI grant application before the installer does any work.

OO7FITZY

from reading the comments on Huawei kit...the advice seems to be their hardware is priced at a premium that is hard to justify and they also lock you into their proprietary tech for any future upgrades - is that fair to say?

Couple of questions as I have cheaper quotes without huawei kit:

Any feedback on ERGOCELL hybrid inverters with CATL LFP battery - are these good brands / reliable?

Also - have a zappi charger connected to myenergi hub - will the above still work and communicate with Solarman app that is recommended with the ERGOCELL hybrid inverters / CATL LFP battery or how will it work so I can prioritize where the electricity generated from the PV panels goes or energy from the battery if charged on the night rate in winter?