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

One further thing to consider on top of @bullit_dodger advise, is that an EV typically needs a minimum of 1.4kW before the charger kicks in. There will be plenty of times when you will have less than 1.4kW surplus which will likely be going to the grid.

Case in point, the guy who made the recommendation for everyone's favourite rip off merchants just admitted to getting a 3kwp system, Eddi, no battery for.......

€11k!

Just bear in mind @[Deleted User] that for many batteries.....if you do go "heavy metal" on the discharge rates, you can affect the longevity of the battery. i.e. just cause you can discharge at 1C and get 5Kw, you might want the battery to last longer (more cycles) and discharge at 0.5C......albeit that might reduce your max current to 2.5kw.

Just a thought to be aware of incase your building a system in mind. There might be a few gotchas....

would prob go with the enniskillen crowd here is what I got off them last year- nearly 4k cheaper than most other quotes I got. In fairness I hammered them down!

-Solis Hybrid inverter 5kw to future proof extra panels later date and wifi dongle for inverter app

-4.8KW battery pylontech

-14 panels JA solar 330W on a west facing roof

-eddi water heater for immersion

-Zappi 2 car charger untethered and myenergie hub

7000e after grant net cost to me- Nearest quote was 3-4K ontop of this quote.

I think it's as much about the fact that @gomamochi1 haggled the hell out of them lol.

I had my install not that long after, before their workload exploded, and didn't get as good a price.

What part of the world are you in. That can sometimes dictate the costs.

I just dident use it all. the rest went into heating water. Only to of us in the house any my setup is oversized.

Go big or go home is my view.

The problem is more of the seasonal nature of the sun, and the fact that most of use have fixed panels. You have the (obvious) summer/winter differential, but I think you have to really size your arrays with spring/autumn in mind. Have enough panels to get a decent generation in say March. Naturally that equates to over-production for most people in Summer. If you plan for getting 8+ months out of the array then thats a realistic proposition.

Right now today and the last couple of days have been great for production - blue skies all day, and yet yesterday due to the orientation of my panels I produced 4.3Kwhr and my consumption was 30+. That's on a 5.3Kwp setup. Over-producing in summer is just something to live with.

Wish there was a better FIT, but it is what it is, so we just move on and solve the problem with batteries.

Really should be a sticky/FAQ for this - we talked about it, but haven't gotten around to doing it.

Well Liga33, the first thing to do is somewhat boring job of figuring out what your using. Your bills with ESB/SSE/Bord Gas is the usual start, this will give you an understanding of how much you are using. You can't really size the system you should get without first understanding how much you are using. The average however to give you some (rough) guidance is about 4000-4500 units a year for your average household.

For that type of utilization, you'd be looking at a 4.0 - 5.0 Kwp in panels. More is better with the logic being that while you may not use it now or next week, typically electricity utilization is going to go up with people using electricity more such as buying electric cars. Since people aren't always in the house during the day, some form of storage is needed (battery) and a decent size one for your average house would be 5 Kwhr.

If you were substantially deviant from the average you could change the spec up/down, but 5Kwp in panels and a 5Kwhr battery would solve most peoples need. I'd forgo the hot water diverter......it doesn't payback the cost, but it's also easy to add one in 6 months or a year seperately

Not a bad idea at all. Most regulars on here have the same strategy, including myself. The reality (which is worth setting expectations) is that in winter (nov, Dec, Jan and feb) while you will generate electricity from your panels, you rarely have more than your "base load" to massively charge batteries. So people charge it from night rate and then use the battery to keep the house running during the day when you have day rate running.

Sure, you have losses (approx 10-15%) as in if you put 10kwhr into a battery you won't get 10Kwhr out, but since night rate is generally half the price of day rate, it's economically viable. Expect 9-10 year payback for a battery of that size. Less if you DIY it - maybe 4-5 depending on the price you can setup at