Solar panels , would you ?

[PJ87]

Q … micro inverters??

I was never offered this.. a friend is now in the market for installing solar. Most are installing standard 'string' invertors (i.e. one big invertor at the end of the panels. Octopus is seemingly pushing micro invertors which means small invertors behind every panel on the roof which will convert DC to AC at the point of production. Apparently good if their roof gets a lot of shade. Will sit alongside optimisers

Any experience

Yes all of my panels are done on microinverters

People say the downside is if they fail it's scaffolding job, however the flip side is if one of my inverters failed the other 11 keep going until it's fixed where as if you have one inverter then they all fail until it's fixed

 

[cliveb]

Yes all of my panels are done on microinverters

People say the downside is if they fail it's scaffolding job, however the flip side is if one of my inverters failed the other 11 keep going until it's fixed where as if you have one inverter then they all fail until it's fixed

Don't Enphase microinverters have a 25 year warranty? I guess the question is whether the warranty covers the cost of the scaffolding.

I heard about one installation where the DC cables from the panels were brought into the loft and the microinverters mounted on a rail in there for ease of replacement.

But if your panels are oriented the same way with no difference in shading, then microinverters are significantly more expensive than a single inverter for no benefit.

 

[PJ87]

Don't Enphase microinverters have a 25 year warranty? I guess the question is whether the warranty covers the cost of the scaffolding.

I heard about one installation where the DC cables from the panels were brought into the loft and the microinverters mounted on a rail in there for ease of replacement.

But if your panels are oriented the same way with no difference in shading, then microinverters are significantly more expensive than a single inverter for no benefit.

I don't have a loft, I have a room so it will unfortunately be scaffolding, not sure if covered by the warranty, not something I've overly looked into. (Had a quick Google the warranty doesn't cover the cost of scaffolding by the sounds)

They do have 25 year warranty yes

I wonder if my parents micro inverters are in their loft as they have them

We get some shading off the chimney etc so was the right call for us anyways

 

[Mudball]

Yes all of my panels are done on microinverters

People say the downside is if they fail it's scaffolding job, however the flip side is if one of my inverters failed the other 11 keep going until it's fixed where as if you have one inverter then they all fail until it's fixed

Did you do with Octopus?

 

[PJ87]

Did you do with Octopus?

No I did via JPS renewables based out of Maidstone

Really liked them when they called / came round, I asked the guy like a thousand questions and went through every option available

Appreciated the extra mile they went

Must have been good as they impressed my parents with their work so they used them aswell

 

[larmen]

1st ever 20kWh day. But it’s a long and flattish 11 hour bell curve. Is it the temperature which stops us from hitting 3.2 kWh peak? We had a couple of those hours earlier in the year, but at the moment, while producing for much longer, I don’t think I have seen above 2.8 ish.

 

[cliveb]

1st ever 20kWh day. But it’s a long and flattish 11 hour bell curve. Is it the temperature which stops us from hitting 3.2 kWh peak? We had a couple of those hours earlier in the year, but at the moment, while producing for much longer, I don’t think I have seen above 2.8 ish.

That's my hypothesis. Like you, I see lower peak output during a day of unbroken sunshine. (See post #709 in this thread).

 

[PJ87]

1st ever 20kWh day. But it’s a long and flattish 11 hour bell curve. Is it the temperature which stops us from hitting 3.2 kWh peak? We had a couple of those hours earlier in the year, but at the moment, while producing for much longer, I don’t think I have seen above 2.8 ish.

27 kWh for us. Still producing ATM

Managed to export 10 kWh somehow even with the air cons on most of the day , steam mop / cleaner, washing and tumble the bed sheets

Impressed I exported anything

 

[chellie]

Most we've produced so far is 33.8 kwh on 18/05

 

[Mudball]

Most we've produced so far is 33.8 kwh on 18/05

Hold my beer…

43.5 generated (ath).. 36 exported

 

[chellie]

First full months bill for us.

Usage £34.50 including standing charges of £14.03

Export £64.51

 

[PJ87]

So the may bill landed yesterday

(one day I will remember the format I lay these out in.. or look)

The bill was
£50.47 (£14.46 of this is standing charge)

They paid me In export
£32.77 (really seeing the benefits of the higher export rate now)

I used a total of
766.1 kWh last month

Cost of that if on the standard tariff would be £207.80

Saving this month £190.09

#note charging costs out of this was £6.93 this month

Roll on the even sunnier months

 

[larmen]

This might be a weird question, but next road down about 15 houses got new roofs and all have these hooks on there, north and south.
Is that a mass solar install?

Today is the start of their solar journey.
Weird is, the picture shows their north side. Have not been out yet today, but they will likely have 4 north and 4 south. And as the road swings around the others will have east west panels.

I think there might be 20 houses now.

Just walked around and there are 28 so far.

 

[larmen]

Just got my email from Octopus that my Home Mini is on the way. Live data tracking.

 

[full_throttle]

Taken from my latest energy bill


We have charged youbBased on your meter readings.
VAT included.
Electricity 1st May 2024 - 31st May 2024 - £21.20
Gas 1st May 2024 - 31st May 2024 - £18.462.

We have credited you for your export
Based on your meter readings. No VAT on export.
Electricity 1st May 2024 - 31st May 2024 + £28.08


total amount owed £11.58

 

[larmen]

We used 196 kWh in May which should have cost £57.
We net exported 164 kWh for £30, giving us a saving of £87

Last year we used 345 kWh for £118, so on that we saved £148.


I got my bike back this weekend, so I am going to use an extra 9 kWh a week from now on.

 

[Mudball]

So ... Here we go... first full month, where everything is nearly normal.. not many builders, some good sunny days, EV in full use, gas still being used (and an odd day of C heating coming on in May!!). I guess everything averages out in the wash..

Electricity consumed: £61
Electricity credited £67!!
Gas: £50

So there you go.. I had about £400 quid in credit, so instead of taking more via DD, they took 0 and i am happy. As i mentioned before, we charge the EV every night, so this has eliminated our nearly 2 tanks of diesel every month. So about £150 per month savings.
Bobs your uncle

 

[Mudball]

So Octopus now launches BNPL scheme for Solar.. makes it slightly more affordable and accessible

 

[cliveb]

So Octopus now launches BNPL scheme for Solar.. makes it slightly more affordable and accessible

View attachment 53677

I wonder what the interest rate on the loan will be

 

[Mudball]

I wonder what the interest rate on the loan will be

Zopa Bank will finance the purchase and installation of solar panels for Octopus Energy’s nearly 7 million customers, with the cost spread over up to 84 instalments over seven years at a representative 9.9% APR.

Octopus Energy charges approximately £9,200 for installing 10 panels and a 5 kilowatt hour (kWh) battery.