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

I'm still learning about the pro/cons of the solar panels. My thinking we that now we use the gas for heating the water all year round. The front of the house is facing south so I could use Eddi in the summer time to heat up the water and therefore reduce the gas usage. But you are right, probably with a small system like this I will consume most of the electricity to fulfill the house needs and the rest will fill up the battery.

The angle of the roof is another thing, two engineers already said that I could put few panels on the north side but they wouldn't recommend this as the cost of putting them there will never pay off.

I live in Galway city on one of the estates so the back garden is quite small. I do however have a small utility building with a flat roof. I could research if there is an option to install a few panels there.

Cheers for ideas !!

If you have gas heating, the Eddi isn't very financially viable. Gas is so much cheaper you'll never save the extra cost if having the Eddi installed. For a small system like that, try it without a battery first and then you can always avail of the battery grant at a later date, not need to get up on the roof for that so not a big deal

The answer depends on a few things.

First of all an inverter will only "draw down" to the limit, so if you have 8Kwp in panels and only a 5Kw inverter, then you won't damage the inverter with it being less, but then again you effectively have wasted buying panels in the summer as you can't get 100% of your production. The other thing is are all the panels in the same string? If you have say 4Kwp facing south east, then they will max out in the morning about 10-11am, if you have 4Kwp facing South West they will max out at 2-3pm, so even though you have 8Kwp in total with the orientation they may not be producing their max at the same time. So you have to factor that into the equation

The reason why people say get the 6Kw over the 5kw is that the price is like €150 extra for the 6kw over the 5Kw, so when you look at the overall cost, it's only a small bit extra and it future proofs you

The max size for nearly all inverters that we get are 6Kw max. you can get larger ones, but many of them tend to be 3x phase

Ohh the 5Kw will do the job, but think about it this way mrm......

1. If you are planning 16 panel 6.4Kwp all facing south with a 5Kw inverter, your max output will be 5Kw.
2. If instead you get 14 panel 5.6Kwp all facing south with a 5Kw inverter, your max output will be 5Kw.

Why spend the extra money on panels in that scenario? It doesn't really increase your overall output? The only time where they will be useful, is on the marginal days. Let's say you are getting 2.2Kw from the array on a specific day/time, well with the extra panels would mean that your production would go to ~2.5Kw, so that time you will see a benefit.

Nothing wrong with what your suggesting of the 5kw inverter, as long as you know what your limiting. Me - I'd hold out and try and get a 6Kw if you can. It'll piss you off in 3-4 years and you want to expand your array because you got a EV and want to add a 4-6 more panels then you might be limiting yourself a bit more - but yeah, nothing inherently wrong with your plan :-) Least I don't think so.

Yeah I leaning towards to ditch Eddi. The front of the house is facing South 202°. I have space only for 7 panels on the south roof. It's 3 bed semi detached house.

Get the 6kw, sod all difference in the price.

The Eddie is very handy. While oil and gas is still cheaper to heat water, prices are rising. Also, it's very convenient not having to switch oil on during the summer.

It's not a big outlay and can be a very worthwhile purchase for many people. Would highly recommend.

In Cristobaal's case I'd disagree here folks. Not so much that I think an EDDI is bad (I bought one myself), but rather I think it'll be of very limited use for him with 2.5-3.0Kwp in panels. Think about it, you first have to cover base load, then you want to fill a battery (and he's talking about a large one)....it's only then that energy is diverted to the EDDI once the battery is full, so where is the energy going to come from?

Sure, on a super bright day in june where you might have 12-14 hrs of sunshine you might get base load covered, battery full and then you can start to heat water.....but with 2.5-3.0Kwp you simply don't have the firepower with the exception of all but the most advantageous days. How many of those days do you get a year? What about in April, or September? No, EDDi would be a bad decision i think - the math isn't there.

If you had 4.0-5.0 Kwp (or above) then yeah sure, EDDI starts to make more sense, but I'd deprioritize it over a larger battery.....or come back and fit one in 12 months when you see how much excess you have with the north facing panels from your telemetry. Easy to do that later. it's even borderline self-install that you don't need a spark for, assuming your somewhat decent knowledge of electrics. That's the smart move here I think.

Hi guys,

Brilliant thread and well done all for contributing some really great information 👍

This is my house, dormer bungalow.

1. We have a 40kw ev

2. Heat pump - thermodynamic water heater

3. Just had a look at our electrical consumption and it's around 12000 kw per annum (but I'll check again)

I have read through all the previous threads and thank you.

I'd like to have

As many panels as possible (with optimisers ) 7.5 or 10 kw battery storage (and maybe more in the future. I think a hybrid inverter 6kw.

I have a Garo charger, but do I need a zapping instead ?

My water heater as said above is a thermodynamic heat pump(which has an immersion also in it.)

Note , the picture has an extension with a pitch of about 20 degrees and the shed is approx 30ish degrees..

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Not working out too well for him. His whole shtick is that he's saving people a fortune by cutting out the grant. Like a DIY install but buying the supplies yourself but paying him for the labour (max of €365 per kW).

Except he has admitted that my system would have been more expensive if I'd used him. Plus if anything go's wrong there are 3 parties to deal with, the equipment supplier, him as the roofer, and the electrician he subcontracts to.

He is claiming that the grant system is the problem, but the reality is that crazy priced installers are the problem. Loads of us here are proof hat good prices are possible if you shop around.

Hi Maulbrook. ( thanks again for the other day)

I did contact Darrell (email, text and rang). I'd say hes busy, got no answer yet).

Well done all

He will be back to you.