Domestic Solar PV Quotes 2026 - No PM requests - See Mod note post #1

Folks, is there much of a difference between panels?
The quote I have is for 450w Ja panels monocrystaline.
From google that means that they are 20-25% better in low light than poly crystalline panels?

That’s probably a fair point but hopefully in the future we would be looking at getting a heat pump (if the house was suitable to do so) installed to go 100% electric and max out the batteries and solar panels etc.

Ok get ya.
I’m with EI, so if I stayed with them and exported I’d get 19c per kWh at all times during the day I think isn’t it?
So whenever I have excess at any time of the day my inverter could be setup to export anything up to 5KW at a time?

You can export all of your solar production at any time up to the inverter limit.

Can use grid to consume power and export at same time.

My apologies I was doing something else while replying and wrote it wrong. At the same time was meant more figuratively not actuall being able to do what you describe.

Although it is technically possible for a set up to do that and it would be highly beneficial in many cases but the standard installation will route solar production to household and then export/battery the excess.

What happens in island mode when an initial surge to start a kettle or something requires more than 5kw

I’m not sure of the model of my Solis but it’s capable of and is set to exporting 6kw,it’s usually doing a max of 5.8 or 5.9

Does that mean it can cope with a surge of up to 6kw ?

Does it cut power briefly if there’s a surge above that in island mode?

I’ll be testing it later today with grid power off

5kwh battery will be useless with a HP , ideally youd want 25kwh+ to load shift especially in the winter (to a cheaper electricity rate)

Yeah 100% this.
Fair play to him being honest.

no planning restrictions for a typical domestic or larger even

I’ve 26 520 watt panels in my ground mount (13 pairs)

Use 500 watt minimum and preferably bi facial,so they’re taking in a little solar for the underside aswell

The panels would be 1 above the other ie in pairs so only 6 across in a 12 panel ground mount Use

But put in 7 pairs or 8 if you have room

The more the merrier

Out of interest why not other sides of roof? Looking into an install ourselves and will only fit 4-7 out of up to 19 panels on south side and well worthile for us.

Extract from Cavan County Council Planning Department's website. Local councils would need to be contacted to obtain permission in other counties of Ireland if wanting larger than 25m2.

Ground-mounted solar panels in County Cavan, as in the rest of Ireland, are considered exempted development (no planning permission required) only if they adhere to specific strict regulations updated in 2022. If these conditions are not met, you must apply to Cavan County Council for permission. 

Solar Panels Cavan +11. When Planning Permission is NOT Required (Exempted)Ground-mounted panels are exempt for residential houses if they meet all the following criteria: 

• Location: Must be located within the curtilage (garden/yard) of the house. They cannot be placed between the front of the house and the public road.
• Area: The total footprint of the solar array does not exceed 25 square metres.
• Height: The height of the panels (including mounting structures) does not exceed 2 metres above ground level.
• Boundaries: The panels must be at least 2 metres from any property boundary.

2. When Planning Permission IS RequiredYou will need to submit a planning application to Cavan County Council if:

• The ground-mounted system is larger than 25 m² or higher than 2 metres.
• The installation is on a protected structure or within an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA).