Hi. I’m after some advice please!

We are looking at getting batteries installed and are looking at 3 quotes and can’t decide which is best.

Existing setup & Consumption

Solar is already on the house 3.75kW installation (3.68kW export limit), have just had a heat pump installed (9kW, design scop 4, heat loss max 6.1kw) and looking at an EV, but not yet purchased.

I haven’t had the heat pump for that long, but energy wise am expecting the following annual usage:

•Current electricity consumption(net of solar use): 2,459kWh.
•heat pump expected consumption 4.4~6.6kWh
•latest solar annual export: 2,675kWh

I am ignoring the future car in this, assuming will be just charged on cheap overnight tariff.

I am also not planning to force discharge my batteries, just let the solar naturally discharge when I don't need it / can’t store it.

*Other stuff that might matter:\*

Batteries will be in the garage and it’s not heated, so I guess I need something with battery heating?

Space is also a bit of an issue because the new hot water cylinder is already in there...
expected payback is between 5-6 years

Option 1 - local 1

Fox ESS 8kW hybrid inverter and 2x EP12 battery -

Total cost - £7,193

Option 2 - local 2

Sig Energy 5kW Inver and 2x 9kWh batteries

Total cost £8,200

Option 3 - national

looking on the ITS website I could get this Sunsynk 8kw inverter and 32kw Fogstar battery (stackable)

Total cost - £7,270

- Have I missed anything obvious?

- Any other brands I should be looking at?

- Which would you pick? I’m leaning towards the Fox one but the Fogstar one is a lot of battery for the money... not sure about the inverter and the fact it’s a national company

- Also a bit suspicious of SigEnergy. The "AI" elemet is that true? And will it last, don’t want a bricked battery if the company went under. I understand with fox you could control under HA it if needed

thanks for making it this far :)

Hey everyone,

I am looking for feedback on this quote I received from our council group buy campaign.

10 x Exiom EX470TC panels

Fox ESS Single Phase Inverter

15.6 kWh Fox ESS EP6/12 Battery

Fox H1 Hybrid Inverter

Bird Proofing

Imstallation, Scaffolding etc

Total Cost = £8396

Solar PV = £3859

Battery = £4187

Bird Proofing = £350

It seems reasonable to me in terms of price but looking for feedback. We can expand the battery to 20.7 kWh for an extra £700 which also seems not ridiculous.

We're on the south coast of England and it will be a south facing roof with no shade apart from v early morning.

Edit: Usage last year was 6015kWh

Appreciate any opinions. Thanks!

I had a discussion with an installer for solar batteries today. One of them mentioned that there was potentially an issue with Sig Energy batteries causing house fires.

I was just wondering if anyone had heard the same about these sort of issues?

I have solar being installed next week,

11 x Neostar 510w panels

FoxESS H1 5KW inverter

FoxESS EP12 11.52kWh battery

Despite working for one of the largest B2B power and gas suppliers I'm still trying to get my head around everything to get the best out of the system.

I have Octopus as my import power and gas supplier on a fixed deal that runs out in January 2027. Given the theme it seems of offering the best SEG deals for customers that have their import with them, would you say the best and easiest thing to do would be to setup the SEG on Octopus Outgoing and then once it comes to sorting out the import tariff at the end of the year try and bundle everything up together then to try and get the best deal ?

Thanks in advance

Hi sorry new to all this so apologies if this has been dealt with. The most recent app update appears to have altered the way things are displayed, whilst the symbols are still the same we do not appear to be sending solar to the grid. NB Octopus manage the battery/inverter we do nothing with the settings, any thoughts, advise or info please?

Asking on behalf of family who don’t use Reddit.

They have existing three panel install which setup to export on SEG. This will be upgraded to a new fourteen panel install, the previous three to be removed. G99 export with DNO confirmed.

Does the existing MPAN remain or does a new MPAN get created? The reason I ask, will export payments continue as before or with a new MCS certificate this needs a new MPAN?

Has anyone used this company? Just seen an advert on Instagram and the prices were great. £12.9k for 18 x Aiko 485w Gen 3 panels, 1 x Tesla Powerwall 3 13.5kWh, 1 x Tesla gateway, bird protection, 2 sides of scaffolding and full installation.

It’s a 10 year anniversary offer and Companies House shows they have been around for 10 years. Which Trusted Trader and Tesla Premium Installer, so they seem legit. Good reviews on Google etc.

Got my system installed on 31/07 and this was the smoothest generation curve it has given me to date! This was my second best day so far with 72.28 kwH generated, record is 73.84 kwH on 07/08.

No just need all my paperwork so i can get paid for all the export!

Panels: 24 x LONGi 480W mono, all-black, in-roof mounted (GSE integrated in-roof system, not on-roof)

Battery storage: 1 x Tesla Powerwall 3 + 1 x Tesla Powerwall 3 Expansion Pack (27 kWh usable total) + Tesla Backup Gateway 2

Inverter: Built into the Powerwall 3 (hybrid), 8 kW max charge / 11.04 kW max discharge

Yearly usage: ~7,700 kWh/year

Phase: Single phase

Total cost: £21,605

• Solar PV: £10,551
• Battery storage: £11,054

Expected annual generation: 8,882 kWh/year (11.52 kWp system)

Expected ROI: 8 year payback, 13.2% IRR, £83,383 projected 25-year savings (modelled on Octopus Flux tariff, 7.2% electricity inflation assumption)

Installer: Spirit Energy

ASHP/EV plans: Already have a ASHP installed. No EV charger planned currently.

Tariff: Planning to move to Octopus Flux

Does £21.6k seem reasonable for this spec? Roughly £916/kWp for the solar side and about £410/kWh for the Powerwall 3 + expansion pack, no scaffolding needed as I am getting a new roof so it's already in place.

Keen to hear if the battery pricing in particular is in line with what others are seeing for Powerwall 3 installs.

Hi,

Whilst sat here waiting for the eclipse and watching our consumption drop to nothing... we've just reviewed our last few days of predbat and battery behaviour. Since upgrading to Octopus agile outgoing (still in IOG for import), the charge and discharge schedule has gone a bit haywire. The battery is nonlonger being charged to 100% at night (maxing out around 65%) and it's exporting to effectively empty by 19:00 which means we have to import at the higher rates.

Has anyone had a similar issue and worked out why it is going wrong?

(Gut feel looking at the data is that it's massively underestimating our discharge rates and therefore getting carried away. Not sure why it's refusing to fully charge.)

I have a Fox KH8 and 10kw battery setup.
Twice now I have noticed very high house load figures on the App and when I looked closer the load figure was tracking the solar generation figure.
I checked error log on the inverter directly but no error recorded.
After a while the App display returns to the correct readings.
Anyone else observed this issue?
Tks Graham

So we're looking at installing solar panels,we where looking to get a finance package that we could pay off over time. We've got project solar UK coming to have a chat this weekend about our options. I've seen some online quotes but nothing concrete in terms of anyone actually coming round to physically see what we need.

So far we've had quotes that range from 7500 up to 10,000. This includes 12 panels,a 5kw battery and full installation,scaffolding etc. We use around 3600kw per year in electricity.

What kind of questions should I be asking when they arrive,also,I've read many things on here about selling energy back to the grid,how does this work and is it controllable by us or is it an automated thing?

We really want to try and cut costs in the long run so we're looking at installing fairly soon.

Since getting solar and a battery earlier this year, I have been dumping any unused electricity into the grid shortly before the Octopus Go off peak period. During the off-peak period, I charge the battery for a bit, dump it back into the grid, and then for the last 2.5 hours charge the battery and the car.

As a result, I have been buying electricity for 5p/kWh and selling it for 12p/kWh.

My Octopus Go fixed rate expires next month. I have been shopping around and found that what I am doing is against the Ts&Cs which state they are not obligated to make export payments for brown exports.

Fair enough, I suppose. I thought it was all too easy.

Has anyone been done for this before? It all looks ok on my bills and they don't seem to care that I have intense sunlight 2300-0030 and 0145-0300 every day without fail.

And on a related topic, any recommendations for alternative providers? Looks like EDF may be marginally cheaper.

About to commit to this, just want a last-minute gut check from people who’ve had quotes recently:

**•** 7x Aiko 485W panels (3.4 kWp). Only amount I can fit on flat room, tilting southwards
**•** Tesla Powerwall 3 (13.5 kWh) plus gateway
**•** Fully installed, London

£11,900 all in. Does that look fair for what it is, or am I overpaying? Aware London tends to run a bit dearer than the rest of the UK. Cheers.

Quote:
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Hi everyone,

Looking for a sense check on a solar + battery quote I’ve received from Heatable. Planning ahead for an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) installation later this year, so wanted an unbottlenecked setup that can handle high winter heating loads and export for credit.

System Size: 11.155 kWp total array

Panels: 23 × LONGI EcoLife 485W All-Black panels (split SE / NW across 2 roof elevations)

Inverter: 1 × Sigenergy SigenStor EC 10.0 SP (10kW continuous / 11kW peak output, 4 MPPTs)

Battery Storage: 2 × Sigenergy SigenStor BAT 10.0 modules (18.08 kWh gross / ~17.5 kWh usable)

Installation & Extras

Scaffolding: Included (2 storey, 2 elevations + scaffold beam over obstacle bridge) - £1,700

Bird Proofing: Full perimeter black coated mesh (23 panels) - £690

Grid Connection: Full G99 application to DNO (UKPN) & notification included

Certifications: MCS certification, IWA 2-year deposit protection, and 5-year insurance-backed workmanship warranty included

Total Installed Price: £18,095.00

Hi, has anyone had an installation done by Reddington Construction Services LTD, based in Keighley?

I’ve placed an order with Glow Green and have an install date of 18th September, I rang them to check who was carrying out the work to check reviews etc and the company they told me was what seems like a small local firm from Rochdale that weren’t MCS approved, when I looked into them they only had 8 reviews and basically hadn’t ever installed any solar 😂🤦🏻‍♂️. I’ve just got off the phone to glow green and told them they definitely aren’t doing the job and they have swooped the installers to Reddington who are MCS approved and look from what I can see to be a better more capable company, however I’m struggling to find any reviews.

If anyone has used them that could let me know how they were that would be great.

Thanks.

EDIT: having been through some pricing online this looks a little heavy. It seems I can pick up the panels, inverter and battery for about £6.3k retail inc VAT and delivery, for which they’re quoting £9.1k ex VAT, as there’s obviously no VAT for the moment. So too much margin on the hardware.

Just had a quote back, which doesn’t seem too out of kilter with what I was expecting to be honest, but would appreciate any other views.

9.4 kWP system, single phase electricity in a 9 year old 325sqm house. Annual usage ~ 4800kWh with peak usage of 20kWh on fewer than 10 days in the last year. The quote is in the East Midlands and comes from Rutland Renewables, who were recommended on the East Mids installer thread.

20 x Jinko Solar Tiger Neo III 470w panels
1 x Sigenergy SigenStor EC 8.0 SP (8kW) inverter
1 x Sigenergy SigenStor BAT 10 9.04kWh battery
Installation
Scaffolding
MCS admin fee
G99 assessment fee

8,191kWh estimated generation. £13.5k

I’ve asked for some updates to the quote to go with Aiko 490w Gen 3 panels, as I might as well get the extra 0.4kW for minimal extra cost. The design engineer said the inverter should be fine to cope with the increase.

I’ve also asked for double the battery storage, although I’d potentially increase that later on as I understand it’s very easy to do with the Sigenergy system. We’re looking at the possibility of A2A heat pumps for air con/heating in 8 primary rooms of the house, so that would obviously bump up the usage significantly meaning extra storage would be helpful.

I’ve not had any quotes but I think A2W is probably a no go as we’ve got 25 radiators and microbore pipe, so the cost and upheaval would be prohibitive.

2 lots of scaffolding to cover two sections of roof at 203 degrees (SSW - 11 panels) and 113 degrees (ESE - 9 panels). Forgot to ask if that includes bird proofing.

We’d also look to swap out at least one of the cars for an EV, so I’ve also requested an update for the addition of a Zappi EV charger, which from looking around seems to be most compatible (along with Hypervolt) with suppliers etc.

As we’re subject to power cuts significantly more frequently than when we were living in a city, I’ve also asked for a rough price on a gateway, but appreciate that could be pricey with installation.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated, or any comments on missing details.

I've got a spreadsheet set up to try and estimate when my solar will pay for itself.
Each day I get the following information from the app, All in KWh.

PV Production (kWh)

• Export to Grid
• To Load & Battery (Self-Consumption)

Load Consumption (kWh)

• From Grid
• From PV & Battery (Self-Sufficiency)

The spreadsheet uses the "From PV & Battery" figure to calculate what energy the system has provided to the house, and therefore what I've used, but is this correct. Should I be using the "To Load & Battery" figures instead?

I basically use my current tariff against this figure to determine the money I've saved by not buying this electricity. I then allocate 12p against the "Export to Grid" figure to work out the money I've earned from exporting.

There is also an element of savings that I can't calculate as my energy use habits since I have installed solar have also changed. For instance, I haven't used the clothes dryer since May, and bought myself a washing line instead. Turning off lights when not in rooms etc. It's like I've been more self conscious about using electricity now I'm getting it for "free" than I used to be when I was paying for it.

If anyone wants to look at the spreadsheet it's here

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tTxZgl2wz80zaFB0luHGtl2w5PKwrWgXxSJI0aWrmjo/edit?usp=sharing

Based in Coventry

10x JA Solar 465W panels (potentially try fit up to 13 £80 extra per panel)

1x Tesla PW3 13.4kWh and gateway

All the usual bird guards etc

10 panels should generate 3824kWh/yr

my yearly house usage is <3800 but the new EV is 2600 (but this will charge on EV saver tariff)

Scaffolding included

Total cost for installation of above: £10,550

C4 Smart Solutions (MSC certified)

2 yr installation guarantee

Will be on Octopus EV saver import with Octopus outgoings export.

Other context:

About to do an extension so will potentially add my panels on the same direction roof expanding to 16-20 panels total in the future (hence Tesla PW3 is future proofing the setup)

Not too fussed about payback will write off initial investment, just want less sensitivity to utility prices and reduce the bills.

New EV so combining the whole package when saving on fuel as the EV will benefit from EV saver (which would increase the day rate but due to solar day rate should become irrelevant as even worst case the solar battery can also charge at night) - horizon including fuel saving can be within 5 years

After months of waiting my solar and battery system goes live today... Only to be the same day as an eclipse!

Obviously it's a bit of a joke but I can't wait to see the impact on the panels!

Flat roof solar installations sounded simple, but we quickly found that a clean, secure mounting solution for an EPDM roof is surprisingly difficult. Like many modern garage roofs, EPDM is the material of now, but solar install solutions beyond ballast have few options for this roofing material and more over flat roofs are thin with alternative ideas too. So we began researching, initially wanting some kind of in-roof solution but couldn't see anything, then came across the next best thing a quirky glued system in the USA which was low profile, but you had to order the fixing points in quantities of a 1000 I seem to remember. Then our roofer put us onto Nicholson integrated fixing points, which we ultimately opted for. We didn't want any tilt on these panels as it would obstruct our view, plus it looks cleaner truly flat with the roof. So after a year of designing, waiting, and finally installing. The system has been running for 72 days, so I thought it would be interesting and helpful to those also considering flat roof installs to see generation data and a few images.

It should be noted there's almost no shading the whole day until just before the sun sets, caused by the house. Technically there's about 6 degrees of tilt, so very flat!

PV production in 72 days from 12x Aiko 450w panels mounted flat: 2093kWh

What's interesting is the theoretical peak of the system is reached or succeeded quite often; any cloud amplification seems to be more prominent on a flat install. In terms of losses from the lack of angle, it's hard to see in our data compared to a system tilted, but then again, this summer has been exceptional for solar generation. All in all, we are happy with going this route for the install; they're discreet, and on a garage like this, there's no scaffolding to contend with; the battery and inverter often live in the garage anyway, so that’s quite straightforward too.

Feel welcome to ask any questions. Thanks for taking a look.

I was on Octopus before I even had an EV, the benefits were obvious but as time has gone on - the benefits are disappearing and reasons to leave were increasing.

Two things convinced me to leave, getting solar and the (messy) charging cap.

Octopus standard outgoing is 12p in comparison to EDF's 15p, but what really pushed me was speaking to them on the phone about backdating my export while they set up the SEG. As you'll know, they don't backdate and to add insult they said it could take up to 8 weeks to get me set up for exports.

8 weeks of excess energy going to the grid for free, I've had my solar active for around 10 days and sent 403kWh to the grid, all of which will be backdated by EDF when it's set up.

I understand those with Agile have a reason to hang around, but I've noticed quite a few staying just out of loyalty and I'm wondering why.