Milk that FIT for every penny you can; it will pay for my system; then I’ll enjoy it for free for the next 20 years.
SSE now offering 10c extra on export rate when PV is installed by Activ8.
https://www.sseairtricity.com/ie/home/home-services/solar-panels/
With the prices activ8 charge youd be better off going with someone else and no FIT
Great, pay several grand more to earn 50 quid more a year.
Bord Gais finally got their finger out and added my microgen payment to my account. Money not yet in my bank account so will see how many months that'll take. Total of 216 euros worth of exports over the past year.
Makes sense that they'd big themselves up considering SSE owns a fair chunk of Activ8. Bought them 5-6 years back.
SSE Airtricity to acquire 40% of Activ8 Solar Energies – The Irish Times
Yes, Active8 sent round a salesman, who quoted 16K for 4KW of panels, a Solis inverter and a 5KW battery. My local installer installed 6.4KW of panels, a KStar inverter with a 5KW battery for 13K. More for less. You pay extra for the salesman's commission. In this case, someone who knew next to nothing about what he was selling. My local installers all appear to be electrical engineers with a passion for solar. Although not qualified enough to solve my inverter's software problem, which I solved myself.
If you are a new customer to SSE then you can get a 15% discount (ebills and direct debit) on a Night Boost account (10.55c per KWh). They offer 24c per KWh in FIT so effectively, if you were a light user and bought back (between 2am and 4am) what you export in the summer, you'd be paid 13.45c for each KWh you used at night to charge up your battery.
Alternatively, if you extend into another 2 hours of the night rate (27.35c per KWh) you'd pay an average of 18.95c and still be paid 5.05c per KWh you used. My rural rate spreadsheet has SSE the best choice for a new account, charging up your 5KW battery once at night and once again before the peak rate.
My spreadsheet assumes you are exporting 1.5MW per year and charging your battery twice per day, 365 days of the year. In my case the export is greater and the battery charging is non-existent outside of winter so I'd expect a lower bill. Others might pay more but the spreadsheet is a good starting point for evaluating suppliers. I update it once a month to see how suppliers are reacting to each other and will use it next February to either stick with SSE or jump.
About to go for what is probably the most straightforward 4kW system with a basic inverter, so we're either importing or exporting to the grid rather than sending excess power to a battery to recharge. The battery idea seems to just add significantly to the payback period, add to the complexity and and I just don't really like the idea of having it.
The only other possible system I would consider is having a hot water divert, Between upgrading the inverter to a hybrid and adding the hot water divert, this adds about €1,700 to the cost.
Anyone have any strong opinions as to whether it is worthwhile or not? We have gas heating.
If you have an installer putting the system in then a grant would just about pay for the battery so no difference in cost but you get free power at night.
No divert here. I prefer to export than generate too much hot water. Most of which dissipates before it gets used. I heat to 60C+ once a fortnight and barely over 40C the rest of the time.
I've seen quite a few small systems springing up around the village, 3 panels max. I doubt they have a battery and I wonder what they are getting out of their system. They'll still have a sizeable electric bill. Panels are the cheapest part of the install. I'd get as many as the inverter can handle and as big an inverter as can be afforded. As aforementioned, the battery is free with a grant.
A hot water diverter made sense 2 years ago when we didn't have a feed in tariff, but now that we do, it is cheaper to export your surplus electricity (~€0.20) and heat the water on night time/off peak rate (~€0.12 ?) . Any half decent water tank will hold the water temp for 12 hrs with only 5-8C loss in temp, so heat it up at 8am and you should be good to go for the day. So on that grounds a diverter will never (that's right...never!) make back it's money in savings.
That said, I have one and if I was buying again in the morning, I'd buy another. There's something very liberating about having loads of hot water which I didn't have to pay for (on a ongoing basis). Yes, you forked out for the initial kit for the Eddi, but that's it your enjoying hot water for 7-8 months a year for hopefully 10+ years or however long it lasts before a failure. Fiscally doesn't make sense, and if that's your thing, that's a good way in looking at it - but convenience is a plus too! :-)
Can you explain how the battery is free with the grant?
Id rather put up more panels than spend it on a battery. Batteries increase the cost alot. Extra panels not so much.
Panels will be there decades later. The battery and more expensive hybrid inverter will need replacing long before the panels will.
The other thing I've been thinking about is what happens if you sign up with an electric only plan, and dont use gas for say 8 months of the year. Would you get disconnected and need to pay for reconnection?
I don't know if the rules have changed but when I applied for the SEAI PV grant it was dependent on getting a battery, which was worth the price of the grant. No battery. No grant. So, I got the battery, knowing it was paid for with the grant.
No requirement for a battery now to get the grant.
Ah right, that’s long since gone.
A battery is no longer part of the grant criteria. it’s now simply
€900 per kWp up to 2kWp
€300 for every additional kWp up to 4kWp
Total Solar PV grant capped at €2400
Example: €2100 for 3kWp solar panels
I think @unkel was trying to do that. AFAIK you could just close your account with the gas company and close the valve at the meter
You'll get the love letters from Gas Networks Ireland every so often telling you there's no gas supplier but unless you're actually using gas then I don't think there's any issues
I see. That might account for the tiny systems going up around the village. Hopefully, they'll see the benefits and build on it.
I see a lot of them 3-4 panel systems; and they have installed them centrally on the roof in such a way that they would need to be moved to accommodate additional panels. It annoys me. Rant over.
thanks, yeah I'm wondering if they would apply a reconnection fee. They might invent one. I'll need to look at the standing charge savings..
I think the main issue (and @unkel can confirm) was that they wanted to charge €800 or something for "disconnection" fee. So you might save €200 or so a year in standing charges, but it'll take you a good few years to get that €800-900 back.
Seems a bit odd when you think about it. That you would require that sum of money to effectively put a cork in something. Sure, €800 to connect a house may make sense .... if you have to lay a pipe etc, but to simply cork an existing one?
Maybe I don't understand what's required though......
Had a similar discussion about an outfarm and the esb at a point in time, can't remember the fee but our response was "what if we just stop paying the bill... You'd come out and disconnect us for free"
Didn't actually go through with it though, and we aren't renting that farm anymore either.
I suppose one option would be to cancel the contract in April, pay the €50 penalty, then sign up to a new contract in October (or whenever you need to turn the gas supply back on)
Probably cheaper than paying 8 months of standing charges for a gas supply you don't use
Don’t forget you need a BER to
reflect the panels in order to get the grant.
so the grant is actually the calculation as
detailed minus the cost of a BER. This could be €500 if it’s a large enough house and is useless to you unless you are selling up. Well they can be used to apply for some mortgage products.
if you have a recent enough BER then that company may give a good price just to add the solar to the calculations.
Just got bill: it’s all correct. I’m shocked. No estimated usage. And they accounted for all the export.
View from home assistant (note these costs are not factoring in standing charges / vat etc…):
View from huawei:
got my EI bill today as well but for Jan to March.. had everything including microgen.. curious when they will bill for March to May.. should be almost nothing if my FIT estimates add up.. wonder when you cross the 200 euro for FIT do EI flag it on your bill or is it something you have to track? I thought EI FIT was 24 cents? its showing as 21 on my bill.. and yours?
I'm an EI subscriber, got some "compliance" solar panels installed by the builder back in the day.
I just got a 40 EUR cheque from ESB and they call me "Dear Supplier".
Am I enrolled in some microgen scheme it appears? Is this payment for 3 months - there's no meaningful info attached?
Thank you.
Do you have a smart meter or a standard
It's a day/night meter - digital. Not a smart meter.
It was probably a deemed export payment then. It's supposed to cover unused power you exported to the grid.
Also, if it is the first payment that you have ever received, it may be backdated. How many panels do you have?
