[Dubstar07]

Originally Posted by championc

Is your roof south facing ? Work out your available space and then look at the approximate size of panels to get an idea as to how many will fit.

Be aware of potential shading, especially during Winter sun.

And what is your baseload during a standard afternoon ? Ideally, you want to try and cover the base load on a semi crappy day. That's why you should install as many panels as you can fit - and even more so if you ever have plans to go with an EV

Yep, south facing roof, should have minimal shading, chimney on west side of the roof. Annual consumption is approx 4,600 kWh, need to work out base load. No EV on the horizon just yet, but it will arrive at some point.

[championc]

Originally Posted by Dubstar07

Yep, south facing roof, should have minimal shading, chimney on west side of the roof. Annual consumption is approx 4,600 kWh, need to work out base load. No EV on the horizon just yet, but it will arrive at some point.

So be planning for installation starting in the bottom right hand corner, and with two strings, make sure that one is going to be 100% shadow free.

Look currently at where the shadow is thrown, and work out where it will be roughly later in the year.

[minnow]

Originally Posted by minnow

Hi all, great thread.

I'm looking into getting solar PV, ~6kW split approx 70/30% on South/West facing roof based on available space. Annual consumption 10,000 kWh, 35% night rate, heat pump system. I'm going relatively large on the install to maximise the output in winter when we need it most. Planning to move to an EV in coming months which I will charge on night rate during week and from the solar at the weekends.

Based on the advice on this thread I won't be considering a hot water diverter or battery. I believe we'll have a FIT sooner than later so will hopefully be making a few Euros in the summers.

I have a number of quotes and would appreciate your thoughts:

Quote1: 5kW, 14x360W Longi + Solis 5k inverter: 7377 Eur incl VAT
Quote2: 6kW, 370W Trinasolar + Solax inverter: 8430 incl VAT
Quote3: 4.2kW, 14x320W Amerisolar + Trannergy inverter: 7000 incl VAT

I will be asking all to add in panels to bring up to 6kW.

House 5 yrs old, no grant applicable.

Thanks in advance

Just an update to this post.

I went back to these suppliers and another suggested through PM. I ended up with a 25% reduction on a per kW basis.

I'm going ahead with a 6kW system for 6700 EUR (no grant applicable). Installer from NI. At about 1100 EUR/kW installed I think it's a reasonable price.

The moral is: get plenty of quotes and don't be shy to go back to them for their best price.

Thanks for the feedback and PMs.

[Boscoirl]

Just have to the go ahead to the for the following quote

5kw Array of 340w panels (will add more down the line. This is all that could be added due to SEAI regs and odd shaped roof on the garage)
5kw hybrid inverter - Solis
4.8kwh Pylontec battery
Iboost for water.
And all associated bits and bobs.

€8300 before grant. Happy enough with that.

Thanks to Slave1 for the details.

[KCross]

There is a FiT just around the corner(this summer). Why install a battery or the iBoost? Just utilise the FiT and get paid for all the excess.

At the very least get a few quotes without the battery and diverter included.

[Boscoirl]

TBH, I’m not sure the FIT rate is going to be that great. would rather make use of the excess myself.

Haven’t been able to find any confirmation or information of it but on Newstalk last week they were discussing it and they mentioned something along the lines of only A rated houses would be able to avail of the FIT. Ours is far from that. Only 90% sure certain I’ll make the C rating.

The diverted to the water is just for pure laziness and comfort.

The ROI on the install wasn’t a major consideration in our choice.

Would like to get to the stage where the grid is there as a backup for our power needs.

[slave1]

I hope not A only as I had a right barney with my Assessor and I was B1 and held back due to my old inefficient oil burner.
He said I'd get a A if I got a new burner with 86%+ efficiency but what pissed me off is I get my burner serviced and tested regularly and had all the efficiency readings kept and not one of them was below 86% so I should already have the A rating.
His story was the BER system was "hard coding" a less than 86% rating for my model of burner given it's age and it could not be changed.
What a load of boll1x.
The other way for me to get to an A rating was to go mad with deeper insulation in my attic but that's a no no as I have it laid out for storage.

[Deagol]

If it's only A rated houses I'm going to go nuts. I've spent 1000's getting my house to B3 - I don't see why it matter what the rating of house is if we're giving power back to the ESB.

[Boscoirl]

Found the news talk segment. It was Eamon Ryan on Pat Kenny.

https://www.newstalk.com/news/househ...r-ryan-1134758

From around the 22nd min

It was actually Pat Kenny that mentioned the A rating requirement

[MAULBROOK]

I think Eamon Ryan said B2 and higher.

[KCross]

Originally Posted by Boscoirl

TBH, I’m not sure the FIT rate is going to be that great. would rather make use of the excess myself.

Haven’t been able to find any confirmation or information of it but on Newstalk last week they were discussing it and they mentioned something along the lines of only A rated houses would be able to avail of the FIT. Ours is far from that. Only 90% sure certain I’ll make the C rating.

The diverted to the water is just for pure laziness and comfort.

The ROI on the install wasn’t a major consideration in our choice.

Would like to get to the stage where the grid is there as a backup for our power needs.

It’s not A. The proposal, like the current SEAI grant, is a minimum of C BER and they plan to increase that to a B over time.

The FiT looks like it will be reasonable. Maybe something like night rate. Better than paying out money for a diverter that won’t pay for itself.

[slave1]

There are non financial benefits of a diverter too, app control, temperature monitoring, remote access etc

[Deagol]

Originally Posted by slave1

There are non financial benefits of a diverter too, app control, temperature monitoring, remote access etc

Indeed, I have a temperature probe connected to mine that allows me to see if there's plenty hot water for a shower PLus I can remotely set turn on the immersion heaters if I want hot water when I get home from a cycle!

[SlowBlowin]

Originally Posted by Boscoirl

The ROI on the install wasn’t a major consideration in our choice.

This is a point that often overlooked on here, I am the same.

The main consideration for me was being independent as far as power goes, the ROI was further down the priority list.

Totally agree ROI is very important for a lot of people (the majority), but not all, for some the ability to survive happily without grid power is above ROI.

[Deagol]

Originally Posted by SlowBlowin

This is a point that often overlooked on here, I am the same.

The main consideration for me was being independent as far as power goes, the ROI was further down the priority list.

Totally agree ROI is very important for a lot of people (the majority), but not all, for some the ability to survive happily without grid power is above ROI.

Biggest bugbear I have is that people are calculating the ROI on current energy prices - and I don't remember electricity prices NOT going up!

Plus, I've seen people do ROI calculations using capital costs for the solar equipment but then doing a comparison against running costs only (i.e. kerosene or gas price) without taking into account servicing / capital expenditure.