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

Check the installers list for contact names of people who used companies https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058243236/solar-pv-boards-members-installer-information#latest

are the Enniskillen lads now doing bigger panels, I got quote last month from them for JA 370w, but saw above someone getting 400w, so wondering if they are doing bigger ones

I think a lot of it is what's available at the time, like the batteries. Stocks are tight everywhere so what comes in goes straight back out I expect.

The above I will leave to those with more knowledge!

Got a quote yesterday from enniskillen lads panels were jammed 370

Hi,

The system I got ;

8.88kw 24 panels

10kw battery

6kw hybrid inverter

Zappi

Cost last year I think was around €280 for approx 60/65 days, but I'll check that for sure.

Batteries: Unfortunately, and most people who have solar for sometime will agree with me, it doesn't work like that. We'll know shortly, but I suspect a FIT of 5C or there abouts. Don't get me wrong, I'd -LOVE- a FIT of 10C or above, but that's really unlikely. Then your capped to €200 a year apparently, or you will be taxed (?!) on anything over that, so your "effective" FIT rate will be lower as a result.

The main issue with not having a battery is that you can't fully utilize the power your generating. Let's say your "base load" is 500w for the house, and your solar is knocking out 1250 watts (some day in March for example). Well you have a surplus, that's good. Your exporting 750w and getting (say) 5C for that. Now you turn on the washing machine (2kw). So it will take that 750w surplus from your solar, and the other 1.25Kw will be taken from the grid (~30Cents) Had you a battery.....after 2-3 hrs of that surplus going into your battery, you'd have enough energy stored to not to import anything. Effectively using your solar panels more efficiently.

Same is true for clouds. You might have an abundance of solar generation capacity, but broken clouds means you can't get a block of time to turn on dishwashers/timble dryers/heavy loads. Sure, it's perfect as you suggest for base load, but a battery (even a small 2.5kwhr one) would smooth the curves for you.

Note: Probably not the thread for this discussion, but as an end user unable to move it to "PV tips and troubleshooting"

But for us, the first part is still relevant. Our age! All three suppliers agreed that if we went for a battery, we'd likely be dead before we got payback.

But I am also afraid I disagree with the remainder. If we have a FIT of 13.5c from Pinergy and 13.5c for commercial the chances of everyone else going for 5c is unlikely, more likely they will tally their FIT to suit their existing tariffs, so 10c isn't far off the mark. The trouble is we don't know and won' know for a while yet.

But what is a fact is that with any FIT, the payback time on a battery system and the necessary more expensive inverter will be greater. Therefore at my age, going for a battery would likely mean I would be better off keeping my money under the mattress to pay the higher electricity bills.

We'll have to agree to disagree.

Hi folks,

Any thoughts on this??

Assuming, at that price, the inverter isn't battery ready (doesn't mention that it is hybrid), but open to correction. Can't finding anything on it about being battery ready. Would like to have the option of a battery in the future, depending on how much is being returned to the grid...

Comments, good or bad, much appreciated.

Thanks.

Brilliant. Thanks for the prompt reply; much appreciated.

Definitely will look at a battery but want to see if it's economically viable first, based on usage over a year...

HI,

I currently have a Day/Night Meter and don't have a Smart Meter .

I want the option to export electricity to the GRID when I install SV Panels.

Unfortunately there is a waiting list of 4 years to get Smart Meters installed in my area .

I have heard that one can export electricity to the GRID and the ESB( Good old Days) would pay a pre-determined rate for the electricity no matter how much you exported to the GRID depending , i think, on how many panels you have installed.

Would anybody know what this is called and how one would get this setup until i get a smart meter installed ?

Thanks .

For sure - I'm not here to win arguments, only give what I think is an decent opinion to help people. They are more than welcome to take that opinion (or not) as the case maybe. What I will say though is that I spent a fair bit of time last year modelling the payback timelines of different sized batteries/cost/capacity etc. so it's reasonably informed/thought out.

Most of analysis i did was in about the 10 years mark. A few in the 11-12 year range based on current rates. Higher rates will (of course) shorten the pay back timeline. My own user case is currently rocking in at 7.3 years. Don't forget now that in winter your battery also allows you to charge at "off peak" rate and then use that during the day when the charges are higher. I've made €200+ on that alone this year. Especially useful in the winter months where you generate feck all from solar - so it's not simply a FIT thing in isolation that you have to compute.

Again, it's your dime - I've no skin in the game here, but I think you may regret it in 12 months when you see the actual reality.

Is it possible to get a bigger hybrid inverter than 6KW? Does the size on the inverter limit the efficiency of your panels?

i.e., 6KM panels & 6 KW inverter = 6KW of power production?

10KW panels & 6KW inverter = 10kw of power production???

Yes and no Matt. You can get bigger inverters but they tend to be 3 phase which most of us don't have . To be honest, 6Kw inverters rarely "clip" the production. What happens is as the sun moves around the sky as the day progresses, the sun it's beating down DIRECTLY on the panels, so it will be hitting it at a slant.

If you take directly due south facing , the sun will only be hitting the panels dead on for about 1 hr either side of solar noon. For all the other times its not giving you max. For those of use with the panels split over two roofs like me (east and west) in the morning the east ones produce but the west give very little and then vice versa when the west ones are producing the east ones are generating very little.

It's fairly common to have 1.3x times the panels of the inverter for this reason. So you might have 8Kwp in panels, but since they might only be generating at 60% you only are outputting ~5kw of power which your 6kw inverter can handle easily. Have a watch.

(286) Oversizing solar inverters - is it a good idea? - YouTube

Aside: A lot of the topics here haven't really been about quotes. While I'm ok to answer them, really people should post them in the "solar for dummies" thread or the "pv tips and troubleshooting" thread. Keep this thread clean as much as possible for people who have questions about quotes directly.