Domestic Solar PV Quotes 2022 - No PM requests - See Mod note post #1

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118971469#Comment_118971469

But wait - you will not be showering during the sunshine hours really. In addition, an EV would need to be there and plugged in during sunshine to get charged. All very well now WFH, but will you be fully going forward.

I see feel that you should investigate the 5kW battery and drop a number of panels to cover their cost if the installer would play ball.

You could generate massive amounts of power and save feck all annually.

CFC007

morning, looking for advise on the below I think it looks good. I’m leaning leaving the battery until later myself.

3.65 kWp solar & hot water diverter & hybrid inverter. East/West set up. Based in Dublin

• System is made up of:
• 10 x 365Wp Longi Solar panels – 25-year warranty
• 1 x 5kW Solis Hybrid inverter – 5-year warranty
• 1 x Eddi hot water diverter
• Tile roof installation with online monitoring
• SEAI grant of €2,295 available
• Cost €7,900 inc VAT @ 13.5% (€5,605 after grant)
• To add 5kWh battery and battery isolator and battery wiring +€2,600

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118971524#Comment_118971524

True , there is that.....that the €200 is the tax free amount and that you can of course go beyond that. Still I'd question your math there. Beyond €200 you'll be paying tax then on (say) €0.05c / unit FIT rate. So in effect getting €0.03 or something? And the actual legislation is that the suppliers can set the rate, and that rate (as mad as it seems) could be €0.00/unit! I know crazy that they set the floor at €0.00, but that's the legislation for you.

So, you'll have all that generation capacity and export a fair whack, and be importing during the day at some €0.20+ (or more in the future?). I get the thinking that it'll take awhile to payback the battery, but even a small one would eliminate the "cloudy day problem". Just right now, today is shaping up to be a record setter for me, yet here is my production so far today.

Your turn on the washing machine/dryer at any time, while there's good power being generated, the sun will go behind the cloud for a bit and you import from the grid, even though you have great production when the sun is out.

Lastly, batteries don't suddenly die at 5-10 years. My own one has a 10 year unlimited cycle warranty. After that, the capacity drops off. Maybe ~5%/year. I fully expect to be getting 70-80% of my capacity after 15 years.

Ultimately, it's your money....so your decision. If you go with your plan you've an excellent quote there for panels, but I think your missing a trick and I'd be pretty sure that most of the regulars here would agree with me.

Loubelles

Hi, I am dealing with a company in Monaghan who initially quoted €8,564, then €7,260 & now €5,250 for 8 monocrystalline panels with hot water divert, no battery providing 2,700 units of electricity p.a. The closest quote i've got to this is €5,339 for a Dublin based company who seemed "wise" but want a 60% deposit up front. The above quotes are after the €2,010 grant. The monaghan based company had a nice glossy brochure and their 3rd quote is the most competitive I've been able to source. However, I'm a bit nervous to use these based on previous comments here. Any feedback/comments would be gratefully received!

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118973514#Comment_118973514

Not greate prices Loubelles. 8x panels (let's assume 400w) would be 3.2Kwp in panels. This should be €3500-€4000. Add on an Eddi (water diverter) €500.......so (ballpark) you should be looking at €4500.

However, there is a better way for smaller installations like your looking for. "Solar as a service" (who I don't have a link for but I'm sure one of the regulars will help) offer a deal where you pay no money down, and they will install 8 panels. There is a regular monthly fee for 10 years of 40-50 euros or so and then after that it's yours.

I'm always slow to look at those deals where you sign up to monthly debits, but in this case it makes sense. The panels will ineffect generate 40-50 euros a month in savings on your leccie bill, so your "quids in" on the deal and after 10 years, it's all yours. Or you can "buy out" the deal sooner too.

engel44

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118971524#Comment_118971524

engel44

Hello all,

 6 kWp solar PV system 16 x 375 watt Longi Solar panels (16 panels on back roof, all portrait) High performance 60 cell monocrystalline black panels 25 Year Industry leading linear power output warranty 12 Year Product warranty on panel materials and workmanship Pitched roof mounting system Solis high efficiency string inverter (not suitable for battery storage) Eddi Hot Water Diverter used to heat water with excess power in summer Safety firefighter switches included Wifi stick for remote monitoring of system through mobile app After install BER assessment included (required for SEAI grant) Total Price €11,250 inc. vat SEAI Grant €2,400 Net Price €8,850 

- Add on 4 extra panels increasing array to 7.5kW’s = 1,000 euro extra - My energi hub so you can control the eddi from your phone and also monitor your eddi, your generation and your consumption from one device = 175 euro extra - Add on 5.3kW battery storage and change to 6kW hybrid inverter = 4,500 euro extra  

All in €14550

Well what do you Think.

Bobeagleburger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118973260#Comment_118973260

Agreed. Batteries are essential imo.

I'd be prioritising battery storage over a few hundred quid a year (if you're lucky) from a FIT.

It would kill me to be purchasing from the grid with such a big system,especially the way electricity rates are going.

idc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118973811#Comment_118973811

I'd say theres much better options available. My main comment though is why the need for myenergie hub? the latest version of eddi (and zappi) include built in WiFi and Ethernet.

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118973811#Comment_118973811

Thats a big fat no. Too much only a standard inverter so you can't easily add a battery at a later date without some expens.

Bakka

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118973260#Comment_118973260

God you're really swaying me. I'm so undecided now. I thought my decision was made and 100% sound. I'll have to sleep on things and give it further serious thought. I'm on a budget like most people here. It's just I went with extra panels over the battery. It's a great price I got allright. It's just down the road maybe I'll have an EV, so it'll probably soak up the extra power being generated. Decisions decisions.🤔

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118974701#Comment_118974701

Could get them to install you a hybrid inverter which will might bump the price a little, no more than 1000 extra and then add batteries at a later stage.

If going for pylontech batteries for example, you'd get 2.4kwh ones for around 1000 each (maybe less) and two will do you.

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118974720#Comment_118974720

At that price it should be included and at least 5kwh of battery

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118974720#Comment_118974720

I'd just be worried about you importing a unit at €0.20+ during the day and then trying to recoup that with your exports. That's a lot of €0.05 exports units if you have to import one of those €0.20 day rates units. More annoying as you actually will generate loads over the course of a day, but not in the way you want it.

The logic that you're thinking is sound regarding the actual units generated, however I can tell you the reality is actually a lot different in Ireland where clouds can mess up even the best laid plans. Following on from my mail this morning here's how the generation for me ended up today so far.

While there certainly are days of "nice smooth curves", the above is fairly typical. At no stage really today could I turn on the washing machine/tumble dryer and not import some units from the grid without a battery as you regularly have these drops in production where the sun goes behind the cloud. Other days like say October I might never get above 1.5Kw, but over a few hours I could charge the battery up.

By the way, I don't see it as me=right, you=wrong. Just trying to give you the benefit of another viewpoint. If your happy with the above and you already know this, nice one. The goal here is to get people with the best system for them. Sometimes they nail it themselves (and kudos) and other times it helps to think of things differently.

Bakka

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118974720#Comment_118974720

Thanks for that. I just might do that. I'll put my thinking hat on and sleep on it. It makes a lot of sense what you're saying.

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118974845#Comment_118974845

I paid around 2k extra for a similar system (not ground mounted) for a 5kwh battery and that was last year I mean it would be nice for sure to have it in that price but I doubt it will happen.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118974930#Comment_118974930

100% with you on this, I regret nothing by getting a battery since day one because as you said, clouds come in, you have washing/cooking on, you're paying for that power. This is just how it is in Ireland.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975155#Comment_118975155

The guys on the forums are always upgrading their batteries and sell their old ones. Some batteries (like the purdrevies) are plug and play and require no electrician to hook them up. Also an option and will save you a few quid compared to new as long as you have a hybrid inverter installed.

Ideally you would have the battery day one to maximize your self consumption but you will probably get sick of exporting so much and will get one shortly after you see your generation figures.

RobAMerc

Hi all, I asked this in the wrong thread previously I believe ....

hi folks,

I got 2 recent quotes which seem expensive compared to what I am seeing here.

1: 3.2kw and 2.~ (afair) battery, no water heating for 9750 before grant

2: 3.2kw and 5~ ( afari ) battery, no water heating for 10500 before grant

Dublin South area -

Could someone PM me the name of the Enniskillen guys ? Found 2 on Google but didnt get a response from either.

Thanks

Apologies for posting twice.

rob

Irish Steve

It's been an interesting weekend. I put a quote up for comment, but clearly chose the wrong time of day to post it, as no one has commented, but having spent a lot of time reading most of the massive hints tips and troubleshooting thread here during the boring bits of the F1 over the weekend, I won't be going for the quote I got, even though Bord Gais are offering an additional discount, the configurations being offered are just too expensive and restricting, given I have some special requirements due to an automatic generator in the mix that makes feed in a lot more complicated, and reading the hints tips thread has been very thought provoking. What's clear is that making a decision before sorting out some of the issues would be a bad long term move.

Seems I have a lot more research to do on what the correct configuration and type of inverter will be, in that the generator has to be protected from back feed, and I need to make sure that I can provide enough power to the house to minimise our grid usage, which will need the right inverter, or possibly combination of inverters, and the right battery capacity, with the added complication of finding ( I hope) an inverter that can provide the level of power I want for the house, and not get upset about the lower levels of current being drawn by the other phases, as I have 3 phase power coming in to the property, and even though I might not get much from the Feed in tariff, it seems it would make sense to be able to use it, unless there's a good reason not to . At the moment, we don't have the ability to charge an EV, though that will probably change before too long, and I think we'll end up heating water using Solar and or battery electric, rather than use oil as we have been for a long time.

I am also going to have to look very carefully at how I manage the system, and what software packages I use to monitor and control it all, as it's clear that the present state of play is somewhere between the cutting edge and the bleeding edge of software development, and i know from almost 50 years of experience in the computer industry, the only difference between the cutting edge and the bleeding edge is the pressure being applied. I don't want to end up having to spend several hours a day trying to work out what's crashed today as a result of another update, I get more than enough of that sort of hassle with Microsoft, and the last thing I need is an unstable power system that ends up costing me money because it's not working correctly. This subject alone is probably going to become the subject of a stand alone thread before too long.

In terms of monitoring things, I've ordered a Shelly EM3, so that I can get some more accurate usage figures, and it will for sure be useful later for keeping track of what's happening, though I'm not sure when it's going to arrive, it seems to be coming by carrier pigeon.

It's going to be a challenging process getting to a viable configuration, as for who then installs it, that's going to be another issue that may be a challenge, it's clear that there's a number of less than capable installers out there, and I'd prefer not to fall foul of them if I can.

Bakka

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975185#Comment_118975185

Thanks for that SD_DRACULA. You have given me plenty of food for thought to mull over.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975472#Comment_118975472

Dunno if this is strictly a "quotes" conversation, but in the context of people not giving your quote feedback, I think Steve that it might be more of a question of lack of experience. I'd be perhaps one of the more vocal people here, reasonably clued in with the technical aspects, but at the same time..... I'd be slow to offer advice/guidance on your layout simply because it's such an unusual platform. You start factoring in generators into the mix and I'm not comfortable in giving advice as it's not something that I ever had had to deal with. I'm sure others would be of the same mindset as me.

On a general level though, virtually all the solar makes/models are super reliable. Sure, if you want to get into the very technical side of things, there are people here doing some low level peeking/poking on registers via modbus. If that means nothing to you, you are not alone!

If you want to have a box sit there in the corner generate electricity and "fire-an-forget" on it - all the brands will do this. Pretty reliably too. If you want to spend time/effort (and for many here that's the joy) then some are better/worse for that. Not to sound like a "GivEnergy shill" but it's platform I've found to be fairly easy, becuase it's got it's own API and you can manipulate it over the Web. So it's fair to say that there is a make/model out there which is "right" for you. Depends on how much you want to do.

Again, probably more a conversation for the "Solar Tips & troubleshooting" thread.

Aside: Have you considered getting rid of the 3 phase? Unless you actually need it anymore, it would seem to be the root cause of some of your problems? Big fan of KISS (Keep-it-simple-stupid). I know you may have reason in the past, but now....? Being on single phase simplifies a lot of things. Albeit you lose out on things like the ability to export 11kw.

paddyk162

general question about solar panels...should/could an East/West facing house get solar panels. ???

thanks paddy

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975611#Comment_118975611

Yup. Have an east/west split myself personally. 1.5Kwp in panels on the East and 3.8Kwp panels facing west. With that you tend to get two minor power spikes. One in the morning and another in the evening .... rather than one big one at noon. This can be advantageous if for example there was nobody in the house at lunchtime.....but you might have people there at breakfast/evening eating, etc.

This will explain it better than I.

Is east-west the best for PV arrays? | Recharge (rechargenews.com)

There are some disadvantages of course, such as in winter east/west are pretty poor in Dec&jan, but if that's the roof you have to work with......you'll still get generally a pretty good outcome for 10 months of the year.

John mac

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975611#Comment_118975611

yes , east for morning and west for evening ,, winter is a different thing , my house is east west , and i have watched the sun on the roof last winter ( i am in the process of getting pannels in ) got a bit of sun but not as much as a the south facing garage ,

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975611#Comment_118975611

East/West split can work out very well and should not be dismissed.

Get some quotes, they can be easily be done via Google maps and then a site visit to firm up the details.

Baoithin66

Two questions!-thanks in advance.

Has anyone used a company called. ******. I chatted to the owner and he is very helpful and knowledgeable. No hard sell or pushing loads of batteries and also gave me one of the better quotes (as good as the lads from Enniskillen) . Still trying to make my mind up😔

Also has anyone connected a Wallbox Pulsar plus to Solar PV? If I couldn't use mine with solar pv I think I might forget about it for now

snor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118971457#Comment_118971457

Could u message me the details please also Bacca. Many thanks..

getting quotes of 9-10k after grant for a 4kw system with battery.

Bakka

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975966#Comment_118975966

Messaged you there.

Irish Steve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975578#Comment_118975578

Fair comment, I was kind of hoping that there might have been one or two people with some deeper experience, I guess I might end up having to talk to some of the "commercial" Solar suppliers to get some better ideas, as they will for sure have come across this sort of scenario.

The 3 phase, I don't want to get rid of it, in that over the next while, it will have advantages if we end up with 2 EV chargers, in that they take a lot of current, and they are not going to sit well on "standard" 63A single phase along side anything else, given the way sizes of batteries are going to go, so it will be a selling factor plus in the future. I do have a few 3 phase things here, until recently, we had to be able to run a substantial 3 phase pump to ensure that water didn't get into the house, and depending on what happens heating wise, a 3 phase heat pump will be easier to install in some parts than a similar capacity single phase unit, as the wiring won't have to be so heavy duty. And yes, being able to feed back in up to 11 Kw may help, I suspect that over the next while Feed in may become more attractive, as the suppliers become keen to get any supply they can that doesn't involve Carbon or Russia. depending on how day night/peak rates go, and I suspect there will only be one direction there, there may be advantages in having much larger batteries charged on night rate as well as solar to enable day time running of heat pumps, as well as larger inverters to enable less day time draw from the grid.

I don't see oil being a viable heating source for much longer, and with the way the Russia/Ukraine scenario is playing out, gas may not be popular for too much longer either, so that's going to put a lot of pressure on electric supply, and distribution systems.

Low level peek and poke, that brings back memories from a long time ago when memory was expensive and small, so couldn't be wasted, so if I have to go that route, I will. Been looking at Home assistant software, in that I have an Intel processor that it will run on, and it has a lot of memory and a large SSD, it's running Win 10 at the moment, but can't take Win 11, so ideal for a switch to a dedicated device, no fans, and pretty small. That with a 21" touch screen that's on another machine at the moment should hopefully be a powerful unit that can be used for other things as well as the Solar stuff, and yes, I should be capable of making it all work.

Did I want some of these challenges? Not really, my plan was to start making a small garden railway steam engine, but the flood scheme has massively delayed that, and with the way energy prices are going already, and no end in sight for some time, plans have to change, so yeah, I'll have to suck it up and get into action to make staying here for a few more years a manageable option.

For sure, it's not going to be boring!

Cheers

vmware

just a query is there a new rule in now that NO VAT is to be charged on PV hardware / install services, or is this due to come into force ?

thanks

Irish Steve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118976438#Comment_118976438

As far as I am aware, that's the case for the UK for the next 5 years, but the chances of our out of touch politicians coming up with something this helpful to huge numbers of people are I am afraid probably considerably less than zero.