Domestic Solar PV Quotes 2020

I'm entirely unimpressed with Dutch inverters. They're built by accountants not engineers.

idc

OK so I posted recently about solar installer planning to buy back any excess electricity generated. They never provided me with details but noticed a Facebook ad from them today offering buy back scheme. The ad didn't state how much you'd be paid though. I'd already picked a different company so don't know anymore.

worlds goodest teecher

Was speaking to a mate of mine this evening, he is in management in one of the electricity suppliers. I asked him if they were offering solar PV packages. He wasn't overly familiar with domestic solar PV but that he mentioned a company which he thought that they hire to install, the company with the number in the name. Did I previously read negative comments about this company?

irishchris

idc wrote: »

OK so I posted recently about solar installer planning to buy back any excess electricity generated. They never provided me with details but noticed a Facebook ad from them today offering buy back scheme. The ad didn't state how much you'd be paid though. I'd already picked a different company so don't know anymore.

Had a look at their Facebook page but can't seem to find the ad. Could you pm me a link. Cheers

Ah facebook the most reputable source of information on tinternet...

idc

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Ah facebook the most reputable source of information on tinternet...

It is an ad from the company in question so dont see why that would not be reputable?

I only looked into this company as a regular contributor here sent it to me as they had got a good deal when they had system installed.

Seems like an odd place to advertise.

py

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Seems like an odd place to advertise.

Facebook advertising is extremely targeted so quite a good way of getting qualified leads if you know the demographic/interests of your potential customer.

Exactly my point.

Likes: Cute cat photos
Dislikes: white papers & peer reviews.

Zing!

garo

Honestly it sounds like a scam or a hoax. There is no way that company could use the electricity you out back into the grid. And ESB sure isn’t paying them. I am puzzled how they can offer something like this.

idc

garo wrote: »

Honestly it sounds like a scam or a hoax. There is no way that company could use the electricity you out back into the grid. And ESB sure isn’t paying them. I am puzzled how they can offer something like this.

Garo it is the company you PMed me!

Not sure why so many people think this is not real? Its more the installation companies are doing deals with electricity suppliers. I see it having two advantages for the supplier (I assume the install company must get something out of the deal too though) -

1. a new source of customers who'll move to you as you will pay for their excess
2. if your trying to promote the fact you produce green energy how better advertise by saying you've 1000+ farms/business and 4000+ homes all feeding you with there excess clean green energy (or whatever marketing words they come up with!!) (ignore the fact that possibly a quarter/half of the year they won't be generating much excess from all these houses!!!) (checking a comparison website today it listed 4 electricity suppliers who provide 100% green energy!)

Why else would SSE buy 40% ownership of one the large well known Solar PV installation companies ? And ESB is also doing solar panel installs?



I can PM people the ad, make up your own mind if its real or not!

** figures for farms/houses made up - based on news articles about SSE partner company stating it has 7000 installs already!



***** Based on comment from Garo, maybe this all just a marketing promotion, the ad is very lacking on info around buy back scheme, it offers various discounts for the next 15 installs till end of December! So its possible the buy back is the same and only applies to these customers and for a limited period, its not very clear from the ad (maybe I should stop posting and just observe again!)

unkel

idc wrote: »

Not sure why so many people think this is not real?

Because you can not measure the electricity exported to the grid unless you have an export meter or a smart meter. 99.99% of households do not have either.

(that's assuming this scheme does not use the data from your inverter - which can easily be manipulated )

garo

unkel, this company installs a complete monitoring system so it is easy to monitor export. As idc said in his edit, I think this is a clever marketing promotion. It only applies to the first 15 installs so is a way of saying here's a 200 Euro discount for the next n years - where n has not been specified yet. So worst case it costs the company 3000 per year.
They don't actually buy back the electricity. It just goes back to the grid.

graememk

garo wrote: »

unkel, this company installs a complete monitoring system so it is easy to monitor export. As idc said in his edit, I think this is a clever marketing promotion. It only applies to the first 15 installs so is a way of saying here's a 200 Euro discount for the next n years - where n has not been specified yet. So worst case it costs the company 3000 per year.
They don't actually buy back the electricity. It just goes back to the grid.

Yeah and 200 euro would be generous, I done some napkin math on a 5-6 kw system and exporting most of it (on an outfarm) on a feed in tariff rate and came up with a figure of 350 euro.

Nice incentive to not get the customer to worry about exporting to the grid as much.

unkel

If they installed for me I would manage to export 10MWh to the grid. According to their my inverter. Anyway that would be an interesting challenge :pac:

idc

unkel wrote: »

Because you can not measure the electricity exported to the grid unless you have an export meter or a smart meter. 99.99% of households do not have either.

Fair point but according ESB Networks website: https://www.esbnetworks.ie/existing-connection/meters-readings/smart-meter-upgrade



While the initial focus will be on areas with the oldest meters, customers can apply to ESB Networks or their electricity supplier for a prioritised installation of a smart meter.

Surely if you exported a lot would you not get a smart sooner if it meant your supplied did pay you for it rather than given away for free?

Just curious what do people expect when FIT does arrive?

1. a standard price for all households
2. each supplier will come up with there own FIT deal similar to how we pay for grid electricity? ie different standing charges/price per kWh depending on who your provider is ?

Winterman1234

I know not directly related to quotes and it may have been posted before in here, so remove if not allowed. But I would assume these would be a good price for the DIY setup. Thinking I would like to add a second west/north west facing string in the near future. At this time of year even with sun shining I only making 250 watts after 5 while the sun shies directly on the other side of the house.

https://midsummer.ie/buy/trina/trina-splitmax-275

Ballylad

DrPhilG wrote: »

On the way

Me too please thnks

rx8

Ballylad wrote: »

Me too please thnks

Sent now.
(In before Phil)

gomamochi1

Recent update on my myenergie system. Got the eddi installed and the ct clamps configured correctly. Enjoying free solar pv charging the car from surplus pv along with heating the water....query howndonyou prioritise house hold usage over the eddi as I dont want to be importing any elec no matter how small on such a day as today generating 4kWh?
Thanks

SlowBlowin

Can someone enlighten me, does the new smart meter isolate the household (stop export to the grid) in the event of a power cut ?

DrPhilG

gomamochi1 wrote: »

Recent update on my myenergie system. Got the eddi installed and the ct clamps configured correctly. Enjoying free solar pv charging the car from surplus pv along with heating the water....query howndonyou prioritise house hold usage over the eddi as I dont want to be importing any elec no matter how small on such a day as today generating 4kWh?
Thanks

That doesn't look right. You should be showing the house consumption and that will only send excess to the car or the Eddi.

Also why is the car only pulling 1.4 when the Eddi is getting 3kw? The car priority is above the Eddi so unless the car is almost full and slowing down, that doesn't make sense.

DrPhilG

You should have something like this:



Car should take priority due to its position on the app, and the Eddi should only take whatever the car isn't using which in most cases would be nothing, unless excess drops below 1.4kw in which case the car will stop and the Eddi would use it rather than lose it.

What is your system, panels, battery, inverter etc?

championc

gomamochi1 wrote: »

Recent update on my myenergie system. Got the eddi installed and the ct clamps configured correctly. Enjoying free solar pv charging the car from surplus pv along with heating the water....query howndonyou prioritise house hold usage over the eddi as I dont want to be importing any elec no matter how small on such a day as today generating 4kWh?
Thanks

As @DrPhilG says, your house usage should be showing. The house will ALWAYS be prioritized over everything. The Eddi and Zappi are designed to use the Surplus. So the Eddi is pulling a huge amount because you are missing the "Grid" CT Clamp.

You do have one on the incoming cable from the Grid ??? It then needs to be configured as Grid on whichever device (Zappi or Eddi) is hard wired into

SlowBlowin wrote: »

Can someone enlighten me, does the new smart meter isolate the household (stop export to the grid) in the event of a power cut ?

I'm assuming your Inverter is a Grid-Tied inverter. This means than it needs the grid in the first place to operate. Once you have a power cut, you're dead in the water, irreespective of whether you are generating kw's or have a battery as part of your setup.

Some inverters will have an Emergency Power mode, but there are very rare, and more specialized

graememk

championc wrote: »

Some inverters will have an Emergency Power mode, but there are very rare, and more specialized

The some hybrid inverters with a battery have a "UPS" mode, or output, that most people wire into a double socket,

But this socket is isolated from the grid. Most of the time its just wired into a double socket,

idc

Next option above the 2-3 dedicated sockets is where the Fuseboard is split and 2-3 circuits are moved into a sub board which is connected into backup power system. In this case normally lighting and maybe sockets in one or two rooms are moved to sub board. Thus in power cut and with sufficient battery you can have lights and some other devices running. 2 of the companies I spoke to included the 2-3 sockets backup as standard when doing a battery install, but for additional expense would install the sub fuse board (although that was subject to how complicated existing fuses/wiring was!!)

championc

idc wrote: »

Next option above the 2-3 dedicated sockets is where the Fuseboard is split and 2-3 circuits are moved into a sub board which is connected into backup power system. In this case normally lighting and maybe sockets in one or two rooms are moved to sub board. Thus in power cut and with sufficient battery you can have lights and some other devices running. 2 of the companies I spoke to included the 2-3 sockets backup as standard when doing a battery install, but for additional expense would install the sub fuse board (although that was subject to how complicated existing fuses/wiring was!!)

I'm planning to run the house, using one of these connected to both the mains and the EPS output

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3enEGXv_TTk

championc

rx8 wrote: »

Sent now.
(In before Phil)

Question - I read through the forum rules regarding the posting of company names, and all I could see was rules against promoting a company for which you have some form of association. Maybe I missed something but I couldn't find anywhere a rule to stop a company being named.

It could be said that there's not much difference in mentioning particular inverter brands like Solis, or batteries like Pylontechs, and the mentioning directly of installers for whom you would recommend.

unkel

Agreed. I think the problem historically was people promoting their own companies. I think we are past that now. The forum charter is very old and needs to be revised.

And credit where credit is due. If an installer consistently installs systems that are fully compliant and better value than other installers and the customers are happy, don't they deserve being named here so they might get more business out of it?

maxdevious

DrPhilG wrote: »

The guy that myself and a number of others have used is based in NI but covers the whole country. I'm Donegal, and I know he has done jobs in Kildare, Dundalk, Dublin and Limerick recently.

PM incoming.

Hi Phil could you recommend your installer please

SlowBlowin

championc wrote: »

I'm assuming your Inverter is a Grid-Tied inverter. This means than it needs the grid in the first place to operate. Once you have a power cut, you're dead in the water, irreespective of whether you are generating kw's or have a battery as part of your setup.

Some inverters will have an Emergency Power mode, but there are very rare, and more specialized

I was not asking for me, I was wondering about the "offer" earlier in the thread. I wondered when it was mentioned that a new smart meter was required, and was curious if the isolation function was incorporated in the new meters, or if it was just the metering of the reverse flow.

I don't use grid power.

worlds goodest teecher

DrPhilG wrote: »

You should have something like this:



Car should take priority due to its position on the app, and the Eddi should only take whatever the car isn't using which in most cases would be nothing, unless excess drops below 1.4kw in which case the car will stop and the Eddi would use it rather than lose it.

What is your system, panels, battery, inverter etc?

DrPhilG, can you send me details of your installer?

championc

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

DrPhilG, can you send me details of your installer?

As unkel confirmed earlier, the name can now be publicly revealed. It seems fair to promote good installers

worlds goodest teecher

championc wrote: »

As unkel confirmed earlier, the name can now be publicly revealed. It seems fair to promote good installers

Thanks.

I have a quote from a contractor for 2kW 8 panel system €4800, which I posted about. I was told it was expensive and told to contact a company in Enniskillen, they gave me a quote of €7000 for a similar size system.

Ballylad

I also contacted that enniskillen crowd today and they were very expensive.

Geeyfds53573

unkel wrote: »

Agreed. I think the problem historically was people promoting their own companies. I think we are past that now. The forum charter is very old and needs to be revised.

And credit where credit is due. If an installer consistently installs systems that are fully compliant and better value than other installers and the customers are happy, don't they deserve being named here so they might get more business out of it?

I agree but there are some installers on here or at least people associated with them ...and there are a few more getting perks for their recommendation which I don’t mind ... but it can influence things

Mickeroo

championc wrote: »

As unkel confirmed earlier, the name can now be publicly revealed. It seems fair to promote good installers

The forum mods would want to give the green light before that is taken as a given. This is a sub forum of Construction and Planning and it's specified in the charter there that you aren't supposed to name companies.

Define good?

Punctual?
Talented?
Amicable?
Good Value?
Accommodating?
Tells you what you want to hear?

...any system performance data from external monitoring?

DrPhilG

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

Thanks.

I have a quote from a contractor for 2kW 8 panel system €4800, which I posted about. I was told it was expensive and told to contact a company in Enniskillen, they gave me a quote of €7000 for a similar size system.

If it's the people in Enniskillen that I used, are you sure that isn't pre-grant? Because they installed a 6kw system with a battery for less than that with me.

I'll ask a mod for confirmation on naming names.

garo

Even pre-grant that’s a bad price as you get 1800 grant so end up paying 5200. Terrible price for a 2.4kW system.

lightson

Would seem totally crazy to take private msg off the web and consider it a legit recommendation. Especially if it’s not in public view for scrutiny. Seems crazy all people looking for pms of installers. There’s a list of installers on SEAI get quotes. No disrespect to anyone but turned into a bit or a sales spree thread

Seems crazy recomending a system/installer without any data to validate it/them.
- Fast and friendly service. It works!
- How well?
- What's that mean?

garo

@lightson: The point of this thread is for people to post and compare quotes. If you think ringing someone off the SEAI installer list is likely to give you better quotes then go right ahead.


Just because someone PMs you the name of an installer doesn't mean you have to go with them. Always get at least three quotes and compare. Post here to see if the price quoted is reasonable. The installer in Enniskillen has been good for a few people. Doesn't mean they are good for everyone as they have quoted a rather high price for an 8 panel install and I let that poster know when they asked over PM.


But sure. On the Internet no one knows that you are a dog.

I tried everyone on the SEAI list with an email. Then I DIY'd for a fraction of the after grant applied cost.

garo

If only everyone here had the time and skills of Sir Liam....:D

lightson

By now we should be looking at price per watt.
€1 and under per watt after grant ok.
€2 per watt after grant rip off.
Something like that? Yes no

Bigger the system the cheaper it should get also.

Batteries and other extras a another story.

It was €1.20 per watt installed pre-grant. Now it's through the roof.
Garo, if you ever need yer boat/camper/cabin/bunker seen to you know where to look...
Regards time versus money...I'll never be a rich, I work so I don't have to work..:pac:

garo

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

It was €1.20 per watt installed pre-grant. Now it's through the roof.
Garo, if you ever need yer boat/camper/cabin/bunker seen to you know where to look...
Regards time versus money...I'll never be a rich, I work so I don't have to work..:pac:

Got it!

I like working with my hands and building stuff too. But I know the limits of my admittedly increasing competence and have a possibly different range of interests. We all have to make the call on what we think is worth doing and what is worth paying someone to do.

A lottov what I take on is about quality control as opposed to wanting to do everything myself.
I rather do it myself than pay someone and have to fix it after them.

garo

Yes and that works fine if you know you are likely to be more competent than the installer. That isn't true for most of the rest of us.