Solar panels worth it?

A

What do you mean by sell back rates? The FiT rates? I thought they were rubbish atm?

I got my FIT payment yesterday - £345 for the quarter. And it looks like my generation rate has gone up from 56p to 60p. Any idea why they’re going up??
There is no FIT anymore for new installs - this stopped years ago
You do get an export rate though, and yes, the rates are very poor, about 10% of what it costs to buy a unit of lecky.

FiT Payments in general are linked to inflation, which is why they've gone up.
 


Right. Thinking about getting a battery. We only have a small system - see above, 2.8kw with a estimated annual generation of 2079kwh.

At the minute we charge our electric car overnight and it only costs us £2.50 odd because we’re paying 8p pkwh on fixed rate which ends in October.

I’m thinking those rates will go up a lot by then so I’m wondering if a battery is a good option. Throughout the day, even on a mildly sunny day, my smart meter regularly registers 0kw usage even with 2laptops on, fridge etc. only when the kettle or washing machine is on does it go up. I’m wondering if we have enough spare capacity even off 2.8kw to store in a battery to charge the cat or use overnight for other stuff.

How much is a battery installation off an existing PV system, anyone know?



Did you get a battery in the end @PTR?

Does your cat not mind ?
 
Right. Thinking about getting a battery. We only have a small system - see above, 2.8kw with a estimated annual generation of 2079kwh.

At the minute we charge our electric car overnight and it only costs us £2.50 odd because we’re paying 8p pkwh on fixed rate which ends in October.

I’m thinking those rates will go up a lot by then so I’m wondering if a battery is a good option. Throughout the day, even on a mildly sunny day, my smart meter regularly registers 0kw usage even with 2laptops on, fridge etc. only when the kettle or washing machine is on does it go up. I’m wondering if we have enough spare capacity even off 2.8kw to store in a battery to charge the cat or use overnight for other stuff.

How much is a battery installation off an existing PV system, anyone know?



Did you get a battery in the end @PTR?

its a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question but..

batteries are expensive (like really expensive) - figure anything from £1500 for something like a single pylontech to £10000? for a powerwall

then - do you have the space for batteries - mine are in a separate enclosure (6ft*2ft*2ft roughly), in an outbuilding (with the rest of the gear - inverter, mppts, etc) - caveat, i live off grid, the batteries are agm rather than LFP so i have a big battery setup

the installation does'nt look difficult (not that i'd do it myself) - mppts to battery, battery to shunt, inverter, fuseboard, etc - but would require an electrician for on-grid to make sure everything is upto code (i think)

costs for any on-grid solution should always be based on a ROI - so if you have a good FIT payment rate then your ROI will be very low, a crap or no FIT payment then it makes more sense - especially as leccy prices are only going one way (does anyone think they'll come back down to anything close to where they were - no, me either)

i'd also look at over-panelling if possible - compared to batteries solar panels are dirt cheap - about 40p p/watt is a decent price

but again, everyones house is different
 
its a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question but..

batteries are expensive (like really expensive) - figure anything from £1500 for something like a single pylontech to £10000? for a powerwall

then - do you have the space for batteries - mine are in a separate enclosure (6ft*2ft*2ft roughly), in an outbuilding (with the rest of the gear - inverter, mppts, etc) - caveat, i live off grid, the batteries are agm rather than LFP so i have a big battery setup

the installation does'nt look difficult (not that i'd do it myself) - mppts to battery, battery to shunt, inverter, fuseboard, etc - but would require an electrician for on-grid to make sure everything is upto code (i think)

costs for any on-grid solution should always be based on a ROI - so if you have a good FIT payment rate then your ROI will be very low, a crap or no FIT payment then it makes more sense - especially as leccy prices are only going one way (does anyone think they'll come back down to anything close to where they were - no, me either)

i'd also look at over-panelling if possible - compared to batteries solar panels are dirt cheap - about 40p p/watt is a decent price

but again, everyones house is different
How would a battery installation affect my FiT payment?
 
How would a battery installation affect my FiT payment?
the only affect would you'd potentially be storing energy that you would normally export back to the grid - so if you have a really good FIT rate then you might prefer to not pay for batteries and just export it all, or you might have a really poor FIT rate so storing the excess to use overnight might be more cost effective than exporting it back and then having to feed from the grid - or somewhere in the middle


for on-grid if you're on the right tariff you can do all sorts of crazy shit

eg, if you have an overnight tariff that is cheap as chips you can use that to charge the battery overnight, then export it back to the grid next day

i follow a youtube channel (well lots of them really) where the guy explains everything much better than i ever can - will link it later on when i'm finished work
 
the only affect would you'd potentially be storing energy that you would normally export back to the grid - so if you have a really good FIT rate then you might prefer to not pay for batteries and just export it all, or you might have a really poor FIT rate so storing the excess to use overnight might be more cost effective than exporting it back and then having to feed from the grid - or somewhere in the middle


for on-grid if you're on the right tariff you can do all sorts of crazy shit

eg, if you have an overnight tariff that is cheap as chips you can use that to charge the battery overnight, then export it back to the grid next day

i follow a youtube channel (well lots of them really) where the guy explains everything much better than i ever can - will link it later on when i'm finished work
Need to be careful, our FiT and Export tarrifs are completely separate.
 
Need to be careful, our FiT and Export tarrifs are completely separate.

gotcha - so complicated

info related to the topic - those evil no-gooders in the EU want to legislate new build commercial to all have solar from 2027, and domestic from 2029
 
the only affect would you'd potentially be storing energy that you would normally export back to the grid - so if you have a really good FIT rate then you might prefer to not pay for batteries and just export it all, or you might have a really poor FIT rate so storing the excess to use overnight might be more cost effective than exporting it back and then having to feed from the grid - or somewhere in the middle


for on-grid if you're on the right tariff you can do all sorts of crazy shit

eg, if you have an overnight tariff that is cheap as chips you can use that to charge the battery overnight, then export it back to the grid next day

i follow a youtube channel (well lots of them really) where the guy explains everything much better than i ever can - will link it later on when i'm finished work
So I didn’t think they could check what you actually export back to the grid? My statement says I get 60ppkwh I generate and they estimate I export around 50% of what I generate and only get about 4p (ie nowt) for the stuff they think I export.

So if I got a battery they still have no idea how much I actually do export so I could store it all and still get paid the generation and Export rates?
Need to be careful, our FiT and Export tarrifs are completely separate.
Yes, that’s what I thought - my statement has two very different rates and I didn’t think they could tell what I export?
 
Last edited:
So I didn’t think they could check what you actually export back to the grid? My statement says I get 60ppkwh I generate and they estimate I export around 50% of what I generate and only get about 4p (ie nowt) for the stuff they think I export.

So if I got a battery they still have no idea how much I actually do export so I could store it all and still get paid the generation and Export rates?

Yes, that’s what I thought - my statement has two very different rates and I didn’t think they could tell what I export?
If you have a separate meter for export, then they know. Otherwise they make the assumption that its 50% of everything generated. Most people who signed up to the FiT scheme, use the 50% measure.
 
If you have a separate meter for export, then they know. Otherwise they make the assumption that its 50% of everything generated. Most people who signed up to the FiT scheme, use the 50% measure.
Yes I only have the one meter. So it sounds like getting a battery might be a good idea.
 
Yes I only have the one meter. So it sounds like getting a battery might be a good idea.
I don't think having an export meter or not makes much difference. Battery is just a good idea regardless, unless you plan to use most of the power through the day.
 
Youtube channel is 'The EV Puzzle'

theres probably hundreds of similar channels but he just seems like Mr Average UK who's caught the solar bug

one thing to consider - you dont have to go whole house storage, if you have the space (ie, garage, shed, etc) - you could take part of the house off-grid

ie, couple of extra panels on a garage/shed, small inverter, small battery, small consumer unit - stick a fridge/freezer/dryer in the garage - solar runs the fridge and keeps the battery topped up during the day, battery keeps everything going overnight, rinse and repeat
 
Sorry for the bump but it seems like here are plenty of people on here know their onions, imposted this yesterday ⬇️ and probably named the thread wrong. But could anybody point me in the right direction please, it's an absolute minefield.

Just After some info please. Recently had solar panels and back up batteries fitted and was wondering what the best company/tariff to go on would be.
Currently not receiving any payments for feeding back in as current provider doesn't do that type of tarrif. The panel company has suggested Octopus to recharge the batteries at a cheap rate overnight (hot tub is killing them)
So just wanted to know which was the best route to go down ?
Tia
 
Sorry for the bump but it seems like here are plenty of people on here know their onions, imposted this yesterday ⬇️ and probably named the thread wrong. But could anybody point me in the right direction please, it's an absolute minefield.

Just After some info please. Recently had solar panels and back up batteries fitted and was wondering what the best company/tariff to go on would be.
Currently not receiving any payments for feeding back in as current provider doesn't do that type of tarrif. The panel company has suggested Octopus to recharge the batteries at a cheap rate overnight (hot tub is killing them)
So just wanted to know which was the best route to go down ?
Tia
The biggest energy companies all offer SEG tariffs. Other companies with SEG customers include Avro Energy, Bulb, E, Green Network Energy, Octopus, OVO, Shell, Utilita and Utility Warehouse.

Read more: Smart Export Guarantee explained - Which? - Which?
 
I've had a Google about this.
E-on seem to offer a few solar panel packages, but I suspect that would mean you're a little tied in with them once they're installed.
British Gas (who we're with) do this -
Help & Support - British Gas

But don't supply the panels or battery etc. I don't know whether I want to approach something national or go for something a bit more local and hope they can help.
I'm in two minds as to whether this is a good idea or not to be honest but I'm just trying to think of something to better improve our energy bills.
 
Is it possible to add batteries to already installed solar system (10 years old ) and if it what sort of cost would you be looking at. Thanks
 
Is it possible to add batteries to already installed solar system (10 years old ) and if it what sort of cost would you be looking at. Thanks
Depends on the inverter, probably not to the DC side but could to the ac side, not as efficient tho as you’d be converting it a few times from dc to ac back to dc then back to ac again.
 

Back
Top