Solar Panels

[Jenkins]

We get sun either in the morning or afternoon - roughly east west facing roof, not south.

Don't let that put you off - my system is east facing (9 x 435w panels & 10.4kWh battery) so when the sun shines I get good power from sunrise/whenever it clears the artificial horizon of the houses opposite until mid afternoon. This fills the batery storage nice & early, powers the house and the rest goes to the grid (still waiting on final transfer to Flux import & export tariff to see how much this gains for me). There's still enough light to generate enough power to keep the house ticking over until late afternoon when the battery kicks in.

 

[Gillstay]

We export most of ours and will get a battery soon, but its paying very well.

 

[king of the mole hills]

Over 450 kwh so far for March - so that's about £330 I'll be paid for the month. Still 3 days to go, so may hit 500 kwh, which would be about £370. Currently get about £3200 per year so that gave me a payback of about 4 years. Just profit ever since.

Are you selling if for about 70p or are my maths not good

 

[MrGrumpy]

My leccy charges for last 12 months . It’s probably a bit less due to IOG EV charging . What I will say though is that without the EV. I’m not sure we would have saved as much . Having 10kW battery helps with the off peak charging and also for exporting in spring and summer

I expect my usage to drop when and if the brood leave home !!

 

[Tenkaykev]

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Yep trying to do the maths on this as well ??!! So did the numbers folk quite are baffling ? My real world experience is I get approx £600 back a year on export . My other costs per unit probably average

You will need to explain the maths for me here ??!! I’m nowhere near any of that payback . Tbh I’m not even thinking to much about payback but the overall costs have to come into it !

I suppose as it's only the excess that is exported and the rest is used for house load, then the solar you are using is what you're not importing at whatever your tariff rate is. That's valid, but I only look at the money that I am actually being paid.

 

[MrGrumpy]

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I suppose as it's only the excess that is exported and the rest is used for house load, then the solar you are using is what you're not importing at whatever your tariff rate is. That's valid, but I only look at the money that I am actually being paid.

Had a bit of post mix up and deleted and added another :-) . However yes I onlyy export what I’ve not used

 

[MrGrumpy]

Another thing now being into my third year of Solar , getting some trends , I’m all about stats ! First year was really good , last year not so much , this year might do a bit better , still averaging over 4000kWh generation a year from my 5kWh panels ! My quotes were conservative in the forecasting ,more 3600kWh .

 

[neil_merseyside]

Inverters ?
in the original proposal for 15 panels at 450w (6.75 kw) it specified a 3680w inverter,
View attachment 766922

I have now suggested 20 panels (20 * 450 = 9 kw) and he has said I will need a bigger inverter a 6000w one

why in both cases is the inverter capacity less than the possible output ?

and would an inverters lifespan likely to be longer if it was working no where near its capacity

3680kw is the G98 export limit so I think maybe they transposed that number as inverter size? The inverter is usually bigger (5-10) BUT export is still restricted to G98 (or G99 which is whatever 'National Grid' say) having lots of panels can run the house for the biggest savings/earning, simultaneously charge the batteries (to reduce expensive use) and export any/all excess (subject to limit allowed).

 

[king of the mole hills]

Each of my panels have there own inverter so if one is not preforming as well it will not affect the others
It's the way forward they are doing really well I have them on the emphase system

 

[Tenkaykev]

Each of my panels have there own inverter so if one is not preforming as well it will not affect the others
It's the way forward they are doing really well I have them on the emphase system

" Gary does Solar " discussed them a while back.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GvhDhCSJgo

 

[king of the mole hills]

" Gary does Solar " discussed them a while back.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GvhDhCSJgo

I lasted about 2 minutes listening to Gary before I started nodding off so I'm still none the wiser

 

[Marchrider]

That's a lot of panels
I was rather disappointed that we could only manage 7 - and then 4 facing one way and 3 another

still - you can only work with what you have got!

could get at least 31 if I tried, but the wife said no - no explanation just "Not that many, it will look stupid"
and it faces nearly south
31 , that would be 14kw when the sun popped out, be like a small nuclear power station

 

[chris-suffolk]

Are you selling if for about 70p or are my maths not good

Yes, just going up to 76p a unit I think.

 

[Dorset Boy]

Yes, just going up to 76p a unit I think.

Who are you exporting to at those rates?

 

[Alex321]

3680kw is the G98 export limit so I think maybe they transposed that number as inverter size? The inverter is usually bigger (5-10) BUT export is still restricted to G98 (or G99 which is whatever 'National Grid' say) having lots of panels can run the house for the biggest savings/earning, simultaneously charge the batteries (to reduce expensive use) and export any/all excess (subject to limit allowed).

Export is not restricted to G98, it is just that you have to apply for anything more, while the G98 is automatic. We have a higher allowance, but did have to apply for it.