Home Solar

[lou1661]

Has anyone any experience with home solar systems, I have been looking at panels and a battery system, had a quote from octopus and an install plan. Any pointers or experiences that could help.

Cheers
Louis

 

[GreyCat]

A couple of questions.

(1) What do you want to achieve from home solar- regular money off power, resilience in power cuts etc?

(2) What is your location like- roof orientation, size of grounds etc?

Oh, and how much do you have available to spend?

If you have a large house with a south facing roof elevation and very deep pockets, maybe you go the direction of someone I know in the south UK who has a roof array, big house battery and system that isolates the house in the event of a powercut (they get frequently) so they can just carry on without noticing.

At the other extreme is a small solar and power station (such as Jackery, Ecoflow, Bluetti) which gives some capability to charge phones etc in a power cut. Or a solar array which generates a bit of income but is automatically disconnected in a power cut.

Each of these is set up differently, costs different amounts and achieves different goals- and so all depends what you want from your solar (and how much you have available to spend on it).

GC

 

[Broch]

On top of the cost questions come the recovery of cost questions - I worked out that I have a low chance of recovering the cost of a full solar power installation in my remaining lifetime especially if I include the investment value of the outlay

 

[Stew]

I’ve gone small, currently. A micro inverter with cheap panels in an imperfect location that’s angled the wrong way but making more than nothing that procrastination would result in.

So far I’m 10% of the invested costs back in a months worth of generation. That’ll tail off over winter but that’s fine.

 

[Stew]

I’ve gone small, currently. A micro inverter with cheap panels in an imperfect location that’s angled the wrong way but making more than nothing that procrastination would result in.

So far I’m 10% of the invested costs back in a months worth of generation. That’ll tail off over winter but that’s fine.

Now at 13% of invested costs......

 

[Mesquite]

I’ve gone small, currently. A micro inverter with cheap panels in an imperfect location that’s angled the wrong way but making more than nothing that procrastination would result in.

So far I’m 10% of the invested costs back in a months worth of generation. That’ll tail off over winter but that’s fine.

Roughly how much did it cost to install Stew?

 

[Stew]

£200.

Microinverter and some cheap second hand panels.

Too many people think about going big and it both scares them from price and complexity.

The best time to install solar is yesterday, the second best time is today.

I’m actually looking at another suboptimal install on my driveway. Again, cheap and simple but it’ll add up.

Tick, tick, ticking along….

 

[lou1661]

A couple of questions.

(1) What do you want to achieve from home solar- regular money off power, resilience in power cuts etc?

(2) What is your location like- roof orientation, size of grounds etc?

Oh, and how much do you have available to spend?

If you have a large house with a south facing roof elevation and very deep pockets, maybe you go the direction of someone I know in the south UK who has a roof array, big house battery and system that isolates the house in the event of a powercut (they get frequently) so they can just carry on without noticing.

At the other extreme is a small solar and power station (such as Jackery, Ecoflow, Bluetti) which gives some capability to charge phones etc in a power cut. Or a solar array which generates a bit of income but is automatically disconnected in a power cut.

Each of these is set up differently, costs different amounts and achieves different goals- and so all depends what you want from your solar (and how much you have available to spend on it).

GC

Sorry it's taken a while to get back to you.
(1) resilience in power cuts with the addition of savings in power use (we get a few power outages per year of duration up to 48 hours so far)
(2) House runs roughly north/south with roof pitch east-west

I am looking at 29 455watt panels feeding an Tesla power wall 3 giving the ability to island safely in the event of a power outage.

 

[66jj99]

Have been giving some thought to using a vehicle as the battery element.

Powerwall (or equivalent): 9-10kish

Much bigger (x6 or so) battery as part of car with vehicle to home / vehicle to grid (V2H/V2G): £20Kish.

Feeling this part will get cheaper, quite quickly with time

 

[GeraldTheBonsai]

£200.

Microinverter and some cheap second hand panels.

Too many people think about going big and it both scares them from price and complexity.

The best time to install solar is yesterday, the second best time is today.

I’m actually looking at another suboptimal install on my driveway. Again, cheap and simple but it’ll add up.

Tick, tick, ticking along….

I started small - just a single panel, a small PWM inverter and a biggish car battery. Just enough to charge things up in an emergency, like phones and torches. Its grown since then.......

 

[Stew]

Have been giving some thought to using a vehicle as the battery element.

Powerwall (or equivalent): 9-10kish

Much bigger (x6 or so) battery as part of car with vehicle to home / vehicle to grid (V2H/V2G): £20Kish.

Feeling this part will get cheaper, quite quickly with time

Have you thought to just get a vehicle battery? Lots of people out there doing it.

 

[Broch]

These are the batteries I've been using for my small stand-alone 12v systems:

Amazon.co.uk

Now well below £1/Ah