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

Have to agree here. Not picking on Cathal but he's a great example of someone rubbishing a company in multiple posts before they ever even visited him for install. People have zero patience and online bashing is just too damn easy.

Another fella on the Facebook page just paid a deposit for a system priced at €12k when it should cost around €8k.

It's funny there are always a load of people defending the price gouging. A bit of digging and you usually find that they're either installers, or people who have been skinned in the past and are trying to justify it to themselves.

LOL - "Father Ted" is a personal favorite of mine - so I got the joke. All good buddie. No, you raise some good points Cathal, and as I said your actually not the first person to remark the same. I've no dealing there myself, so I can't remark with any 1st hand knowledge and I do feel for you too being in the situation that you are. Not good. My comments were more to the community at large, as you maybe aware their has been a debate going on here about naming companies. The thinking started off on the line

"Ohh well it can't be bad to remark on the positive ones, right?"

But even doing just the positive ones is a slippery slope and what can start out as a well meaning process can quickly transgress into "Why are you defending these guys? They're useless!" etc. We can get two different (legitimate) experiences from the same company.

In fact we can virtually guarantee that for EVERY supplier out there in the market (yes, every last one of them!) that we could find at least 1x customer who's had a bad experience with them be it on pricing, after sales service, damages caused by install, lack of comms, etc There's so many ways to let people down and fall through the cracks. It happens with the best.

That said, there are plenty of good reliable, hard working suppliers out there who'll give customers, myself included, a fair price and good service. i wish there was a better way in actively highlighting the ones to avoid (eagle eyed people will see what I did there) but PM's with personal recommendations are what we have, and it's working (somewhat)

I also got SAAS done last year and find them grand. Email Trudy as she will get things sorted generally if no joy from Sacha. Pm me for her email address if you need it.

Also did DIY route for my second array and if you feel competent at it then may be better option

Nope your thinking isn't flawed at all necstandards. It's come up a few times. There's a couple of different viewpoints on it. I personally I don't think it's a clear cut answer for battery = "yes/no". With the EV, you have a good dump/storage for your production for this 6-7 months of the year when we get decent production in Ireland. This on the surface would suggest that you don't need one, makes sense to use the car for it.

However, when you start to think about it, there's a couple of questions you need to answer yourself, or at least think about. With a 6Kwp system, your going to be making on average 20+ Kwhr a day for 5 months of the year. Your current consumption is 4500kwhr/year, so let's call that and average of 12.5 Kwhr/day, but since it's summer light/heat (pumps) won't be on as much, so your average in summer is probably 10Kwhr/day. Then it's a question of will you be driving enough to consume that 10+ Kwhr every day. That's 350Km/week? If you are then I think a house battery is probably not needed. If on the other hand you don't do that kind of mileage then perhaps a 2.4Kwhr or a 5 Kwhr would help you self consume some more?

Otherwise you'll be exporting a fair bit and FIT, while not offically announced, is likely to be pittance.

• Comp 1 - Array is too small really to support an EV, and it's over priced.
• Company 2 - way over priced. All options
• Company 3 is the best quote in terms of value/money that you listed, but its still wiggle room there I'd say. I think I know the company.
• Company 4 crazy over priced.

You talk to those boys from Enniskillen?

Unless you are prepared to do a DIY battery, then in my opinion, the likes of Pylontech batteries are not worth it, unless you live in an area prone to power failure (which would need extra kit to support such a setup).

The likes of a 2.4 or a 5 kW battery will be feck all use for the likes of a 40kW EV.

Thought she was more accounts for the parent company but will certainly do no harm or he could just phone the boss.

In principle I agree with this, but my point was more around the utilization of said EV. Picture the scenario where it's May/June and you have a sunny Tuesday. Lets say the EV's battery is 50Kwhr battery and you managed to dump 25 Kwhr into the car, so it's now full. Awesome - (and I really like the fact that you can drive in essence around on sunshine).....but the weather is also good Weds. However the car is now full and unless you've driven 50-60Km in that evening time you won't have created "space" in the battery to take that excess on Weds. That's why I was asking about the utilization.

Tought one. I don't think I'm "more right" here, it's hard to call, but I'd be inclined to get a small-mid sized battery for the house. You could also use that for night rate in winter of course.

Aside: I don't have an EV, but can you not reprioritize the ZAPPI over the EDDI. Seems like a better usage of power. The leccie going into the car will get use, while the energy going into the immersion, you could lose a fair chunk of that if the hot water wasn't used. No?

It is a tricky balance alright and one that I am tweaking and playing around with at the moment, solar just installed over two weeks ago.

Almost 8.3kW array, 5kw battery, Zappi and Eddi, D/N Meter and an EV.

I have started charging the battery for 90mins at 06:30 which gets me to about 90% before the day rate kicks in. As the solar output increases I hope to have the battery to 100% before the excess goes to the Eddi and then come 12:00 I should have the excess for the Zappi to kick in (not these days with this stubbornly low cloud hanging around). I find a 100% battery will take us to about 23:00 before night rate kicks in again.

I find that if the EV is not at home plugged in and it's a good sunny day then this is where the excess can be a problem and too much excess will be going back to the grid. For this reason I have an oiled filled electric radiator on a smart plug which I have linked to Loxone that detects if more than 850w of energy is going back to the grid then turns this on to use this energy.

Have the radiator on a mid setting which pulls about 850w as I find the top setting pulls about 1500w which covers too few hours for the solar to power, figure 850w will give me a bigger spread throughout the day. I might set up another radiator and if hitting 1600w excess then it will turn on the second one.

Amazing how obsessed you become with energy and weather after getting solar 😂 and how to stop that energy going back to the grid.

Agreed - it's a tricky problem....but an interesting one what with all the various strategies that can be employed. I would spin back here to the question of "Should i get a battery if I have an EV?" and while it very much depends on the specifics of the house, i think "in general" having a battery is a good thing to get and gives you more options to fully utilize your panels, inverter, etc that it would reduce your overall payback time. What size to get is also tough to call! I'd say probably about 5Kwhr. Anything more might be a bit pointless unless your burning through units like I am (32.8Kwhr yesterday) as your EV really should be your "big storage" solution, assuming that you drive enough to "burn it off".

I like your smart plug and radiators idea - although I assume you actually have need for the heat? Sure, don't like giving the grid free energy, but you would be helping your neighbor to consumer green energy, so there is that.

Flip side is get yourself a couple of mining rigs! I've one which heats my office to the point that I don't have to turn on the heating, and I get some crypto coins to boot. However, good luck in buying a GPU in this market, but if you have a decent one already like a 2080Ti, then it's quite profitable. Most PC's and GPU's will do ~300w a pop.

He's talking bollocks is the short answer...

The battery isn't "far superior" to any other. And even if it was, I'll bet you could buy it for about €2.5k yet he is charging you €5.5k for it (€4.9k plus €600 grant).

Tell them to take a run and jump.

This forum can only catch few fish. Its a big ocean out there.

I have a personal mission to prevent one Active company ripping people off. I will promote the installer i used and I will promote other companies to stop them.

I would like to think we have saved many people thousands of Euro.

So 5.28kWp with 2.4kWh battery, €8k after grant? Or €7.25k without battery?

High by between €1.5k and €2k.

New to forum & PV...glad I looked before committing to anything. EV user, Zappi and hub in situ already. Have solar hot water heating already. 

Quote from company in Cork: 7699e for 5kW hybrid Sonnen Battery

5649e for 12 Q Cell panels 4kWh & 500e or so quote installation bits and pieces

Total for installation 14,800e then 3k off for SEAI grants. 11,800e.

I have a few questions:

1. value of Sonnen battery>other options...seem to be expensive+
2. Need for battery at all in first place if have EV (though not WFH so will mainly be dependant on night meter except weekends) 
3. Thoughts on quote and what ball park estimate should I be looking at!?

Thanks in advance.