Solar panels , would you ?

[PJ87]

@cliveb following on from the irritation thread. It's that time of year now where the heating has gone off in the evening and only morning but it's so warm now just turned it off for mornings and set up the air cons to do downstairs for an hour each morning to get it warm for the kids.

Solar provides enough most times now to charge the battery so it's cheaper to run than the gas this time of year

Use the gas in really cold to keep the walls warm (otherwise one corner gets condensation from the tumble,)

 

[larmen]

Unfortunately I think I m slowly developing Solar envy…

Out on a walk yesterday and saw a big newly built house. Instead of admiring the usual bits and bobs, I counted 52 panels on top!!

I m generally happy with my size, but his must be charging a few batteries .

Doesn’t excessive solar become commercial and taxable?

 

[chellie]

What provider are you with atm?

Octopus. So there is Flux or Agile I think.

 

[PJ87]

Octopus. So there is Flux or Agile I think.

Flux id say, agile is a lot of work to keep on top of , unless you can auto set it up with home assistant

Flux keeps it simple

 

[Mudball]

Doesn’t excessive solar become commercial and taxable?

No idea.. but I hope it is not… we need more domestic generation rather than kill it.

Wasn’t there a house on grand design this season where he was generating 4x of what he needed.. could power half the village ..

 

[larmen]

Maybe it is not, after all. I thought I had seen it somewhere.


As new to solar guy I must say I enjoy the numbers since middle of March onwards. I am basically generating what is used or more. Currently producing 20% more in April than we use.

Do you experienced people know how long it last? When does it get dull again?

 

[PJ87]

Maybe it is not, after all. I thought I had seen it somewhere.


As new to solar guy I must say I enjoy the numbers since middle of March onwards. I am basically generating what is used or more. Currently producing 20% more in April than we use.

Do you experienced people know how long it last? When does it get dull again?

Normally September is the last amazing month then tales off in October, November lower then December is bleak

 

[cliveb]

As new to solar guy I must say I enjoy the numbers since middle of March onwards. I am basically generating what is used or more. Currently producing 20% more in April than we use.

Do you experienced people know how long it last? When does it get dull again?

Not sure if I properly understand what you're asking, but if you want to know how long you'll keep interested in what's going on, then here is my experience.

Only had this system since October. Still in the honeymoon period, checking performance every day.

The system we had on a previous house (installed in 2011) kept me interested for several months before I just let it do its stuff and only downloaded generation figures every month or so. Back then I had to fire up the laptop and connect to the inverter over Bluetooth. This new system has an app on the phone which encourages more frequent monitoring. Which is a bit sad, I guess.

 

[Mudball]

Last week data (Sunday not updated as yet) .. clear (inverse) link between import and export.

 

[PJ87]

Last week data (Sunday not updated as yet) .. clear (inverse) link between import and export.
View attachment 52729

Because of our high usage I try and keep the bill below a certain £ per month

In the sunny months it's £50
Winter is about £75
In-between £60

This doesn't include any export tho



Ignore the price cap January, I haven't added April's prices yet , also the £685 is slightly out because intelligent charging isn't reflected on that app but is on the actual bill

With export and smart charging that bill is about £530 per year for electric .. sounds a lot but that 6350 usage of kWh is only what I took from the grid

My actual usage last year was 9600 kWh



If I pay £530 for all that I'm pretty happy

My gas it says is roughly £800, but I aim to go on tracker like Clive said and take a gamble on lower that bill a bit

Quick add, this is before the second EV arrived which based on its usage will need a charge every month so that's 767KW at 7.5p a unit that's an extra roughly £60 a year on electric

So my aim is to keep that bill £600 for electric and hopefully get the gas down to £700 odd

 

[Mudball]

Because of our high usage I try and keep the bill below a certain £ per month

In the sunny months it's £50
Winter is about £75
In-between £60

This doesn't include any export tho

View attachment 52730

Ignore the price cap January, I haven't added April's prices yet , also the £685 is slightly out because intelligent charging isn't reflected on that app but is on the actual bill

With export and smart charging that bill is about £530 per year for electric .. sounds a lot but that 6350 usage of kWh is only what I took from the grid

My actual usage last year was 9600 kWh

View attachment 52731

If I pay £530 for all that I'm pretty happy

My gas it says is roughly £800, but I aim to go on tracker like Clive said and take a gamble on lower that bill a bit

Quick add, this is before the second EV arrived which based on its usage will need a charge every month so that's 767KW at 7.5p a unit that's an extra roughly £60 a year on electric

So my aim is to keep that bill £600 for electric and hopefully get the gas down to £700 odd

What app are you using to get this visualisation?

 

[PJ87]

What app are you using to get this visualisation?

Octopus compare, it's £5 a year or something like that

That's the top app

The bottom app is the enphase app that comes with my system

Octopus compare is useful for showing you the difference between available tariffs , can even make your own to compare to say OVO tariffs

You give them your octopus API and it gets your meter readings when octopus upload them

 

[chellie]

Fitters were here just after 7:30. It's absolutely lashing down and the wind has got up. It's got steadily worse since they arrived.

 

[PJ87]

Fitters were here just after 7:30. It's absolutely lashing down and the wind has got up. It's got steadily worse since they arrived.

Are they going to install in the conditions or come back another time?

 

[chellie]

Are they going to install in the conditions or come back another time?

Still installing as I left. Said it's just a bit of weather! HID will update me if they have to call it off

 

[PJ87]

Still installing as I left. Said it's just a bit of weather! HID will update me if they have to call it off

I guess these guys and girls are used to this kind of thing.

That's what the scaffolding is for aswell keep them safe

My parents system goes up in a couple weeks I think , they are very excited

 

[larmen]

Still installing as I left. Said it's just a bit of weather! HID will update me if they have to call it off

I once had a roofer not fixing a couple of tiles because of a little rain, but they didn’t have scaffolding.

The solar guys had bad weather but they did all the electrical stuff on the 1st day instead and then panelled after. That’s why I had battery a week before solar.

 

[larmen]

I guess these guys and girls are used to this kind of thing.

That's what the scaffolding is for aswell keep them safe

My parents system goes up in a couple weeks I think , they are very excited

Are they as exited as you are for them?
Do they get their app or are you just doubling your fun?

 

[PJ87]

Are they as exited as you are for them?
Do they get their app or are you just doubling your fun?

Lol I'm less excited because there's will be just boring. No EV so just standard eco 7 , not as big saving

I could log into their Tesla account when it's live I guess

 

[chellie]

All up and running now. There was a delay due to a problem with the earth and needing Electricity NW to come out.

Just waiting now for Octopus to do their bit.

We used Heron Electrical who have been great from start to finish. Their communications have been fantastic and any questions answered very quickly.