Domestic Solar PV Quotes 2024 - No PM requests - See Mod note post #1

Likewise in North Dublin in a town not rural we tend to get 2-3 power cuts a year, and thats over the last 4 years or so. Wife and kids love the fact we can still cook watch DVDs during powercut. (note the DVD bit - as in powercut we lose broadband/cable TV!)

Thanks everybody, much appreciate the posts.

Interesting comments on the need for the changeover switch. Limited experience of power cuts myself but if I could get the changeover switch done for €400 like one seller quoted, I think that would be worthwhile. (Not €400 with Huawei equipment though.)

I plug my own PHEV in every night but just tempted to get the EV charger now to avoid messing with cable runs at a later date. I want a cable long run (~20 metres).

What were ppl charged here for the Zappi as part of the PV install? (Hopefully there was some savings). Has anybody just had the cable run?

AFAIK it should be zero rate vat so there's that saving in itself if fitted with the installation unless that has changed. The changeover if costing €400 is something I would go for but that's only because of my outages here so it's really up to you if you think it will give you a benefit or would a double socket running off the hybrid inverter backup suffice.

Wireless EV charging will be a milestone. Just drive up onto it. Bit away for most I think though!

Wireless transfer of energy is hugely inefficient. Why do you think there's a fan on a wireless fast phone charger. Blame Nicola Tesla for putting this idea out there a century ago.

If your doing huawei don’t get a zappi get the huawei car charger.

Also the backup box is about 450 ex vat at the moment. I would highly recommend getting that and having the ability to power your entire house (or select circuits) from your battery’s and panels in the event of a power outage. It saved me on Christmas Day of all days.

the huawei gear really isn’t that much more expensive than comparable equipment from other brands. Post me a list of what your getting and I’ll price it up for you so you can have some data to negotiate with.

Hi, I have received the following quote:

22x435W panels + Solis 3kW hybrid inverter + 3.68kW Eddi

7830 euro after grant.

What do you think about it?

Are you sure you read the quote correctly? I.e. the number of panels and/or hybrid inverter. That's a 9.57kW array, way too big for a 3kW inverter. My Solis hybrid is 5kW and can handle a maximum of 8kW array, I doubt the smaller inverter can do more.

Well it's a 3.6kW inverter. My bad.

Still too small for that amount of panels! What orientation are the panels going to be?

11 to the east and 11 to the west.

Push for the bigger inverter if going with them, it's not that much more cost wise. The price is good for that sized system.

The first quote is best but get the bigger inverter included.

With the panels split East West, 11 each, the system is unlikely to overload individual string inputs, it will for the most part be limited to about half its maximum output due to angular losses, but with a longer period of generation as the split provides a longer 'day' of peak production. East or West facing panels will produce about 79% annually of a south facing system. A ratio of panel power to inverter of 2 or more will choke or 'shave' output during peak production, to about 77% annually, not a huge difference but with a split EW system it's more like two seperate 4.8kwh arrays, working at less than max due to the sun angle as peak midday irradiance approaches, but with different a.m. and p.m. output curves for each orientation. A 3.6kw inverter has a bit of headroom, and the annual output should be about 6700kwh, not far off the expected output even with the 5kwh inverter. Overall, its not far off optimal for extended daytime home consumed production. Is the extra investment in the 5kw inverter justifiable for the extra 2% or 160kwh annually that would accrue? €40 per annum in FIT would probably pay for it, but more importantly it would be better to have an inverter operating well within its ratings, better able to handle heat dissipation and more reliable over the long term as a result. Failure times of electrical equipment are directly related to temperature stress.

Figures were obtained using this calculator.

PVWatts Calculator

https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php

The spec for the solis 3.6kw hybrid inverter can handle over 5kw at either string (MPPT) input, with 600v no load max voltage, a limit of 55v per panel. You'd need to check the oc voltage of the panels that are being used. It's just the operating output thats limited to 3.6 kw. All specs for the solis 3.6 are identical to the 5kw, except its ability to push higher current onto the grid. It's worth upgrading for the heat dissipation and current capacity headroom. There should be minimal difference in the price. I'm assuming the model quoted is this.