Solar for Beginners [ask your questions here]

My apologies - I meant under NC6.

On an east west orientation how would you split your panel stsllation on the roof east/west, 50/50 ....60/40.

This is for a holiday home no battery exporting excess.

Well… I'd say that you're more likely to be consuming power in the evening rather than the morning, so logic would dictate that a 60% W and 40% E split would make better use of any light that there is in the evening. But that's just my 2c.

Congrats on the 10K 10-10-20

not necessaryits a holiday home we yse ourselves. Its will be empty for 70% of the winter from mid September to late April. Duringbthe summer at present its used 50-60% of the time. System will have a surplus all summer long.

Its.more about maximising power. I alwaysctaught East had a higher gain in that the pannels wete cooler in the morning and generated more power because of that.

Not such an issue in Ireland's climate.

If you just physically install an inverter and batteries initially off grid, then hire an electrician to make the relatively simple grid mains connection back to your consumer unit. It's just a run of cable from a specific consumer RCBO to the inverter isolator and from there to the inverter and battery stack. That constitutes a FIT or nightrate timeshift system, and would immediately give some (poor) return on Investment. It shouldn't require much time or cost the get it on grid and get the form signed.

You can add DC panels later, doing all that work yourself, as thats off grid side of the inverter. Maybe I'm wrong and theres a big checklist of items and components to submit? The conumdrum of grid tied firemans relay to disconnect the panels is still a mystery, as this technically prevents auromatic panel supported battery backup to an isolated off grid set of essential circuits. but thats another active thread.

I'd always imagined that a static properly mounted and located 5kw inverter is the only item that needs the NC nod, its the only component that can interact with the live grid. With that in you should be free to continue with your DC inputs, battery or panels, and of course implement a switched off grid backup plan that is isolated from the mains during a power cut, or permanently off grid like a UPS. Maybe there are few electricians able to do this willingly, like there are few heating installers/plumbers who have a clue about smart heating controls and thermostat configuration. At least you can DIY those.

That's the thing, even when someone is qualified in a field, it's subdivided into specialities, a sparks may have no experience of inverter installation, and in particular, the soft configuration of the devices to the panels, batteries etc

I suppose this discussion of self lnstall is as a result of the perception that labour charges for the hardware installation have in many cases been many multiples of the hardware cost, gobbling up the grant of course. Like if a tyre fitter asked for €200 to fit your new €100 Goodyear, or if Power city asked for two grand to swap in your new €1000 double oven (I think they charge €60-80).

The Australian comment is interesting. Their model is based on selling transferable credits for your system capacity to meet the energy companies solar source obligations. This results in significant discounts, like a grant. Check out this current Oz Aldi Package, installed with STC rebates presold and deducted.

Key Details of the Aldi Solar Offer (as of late 2025):

Package 1 ($6,999): Includes 6.6kW of solar panels (15 x 440W), 5.5kW hybrid inverter, and 10kWh lithium-ion battery storage.

That's about €4250. No one's going to self install at that price for that amount of kit.