RenewSolar is known for its non conventional installations of solar on and off grid, they were the first to coin the term “grid attached” to avoid confusion with the blanket terms of the industry which can be misleading and confusing.
As many people who come to this site are aware, RenewSolar is plain talking and one of the UKs leading Solar consultancy and solution providers. RenewSolar is not locked to providers nor has any agendas as a not for profit business. As a result you will find it hard to be ripped off or over pay for items and services from RenewSolar.
Dont buy in.
Solar is full of Buy in BS and the agenda is for profit making through the entire industry, Therefore this capitalistic for profit is costing most people who have solar excessive amounts which could be avoided. Energy should be about freedom and choice as well as independence. We aim to make it more affordable and to ensure that solar works for you.
Due to the profiting by the governments, there are two areas that require “member fees” which are directly passed on to you, these extras are engineered into the system by the government and adds thousands to the costs of solar. So you’re best off avoiding the “profiting” and take a stand on your own two feet. it will make things more accessible and you may find that you can have what you want.
Lets look at the first steps.
Buying solar is a little tricky for some to get their head around, but what you need is a power supply so that things work. The solar panels provide power, which is used or stored in a battery. You need to make power so that you can use it…. without running out.
Grid or off grid?
The grid is a network of big companies that produce power and charge you to have access to power and then for the power you use, the UK being over priced and the big companies making billions of pounds of profit as a result.
They have made most dependent on what they provide and therefore going off grid can be scary, but connection costs average around £20,000 which is more scary. So you have to make the mind set, I do not need the grid.
Of course if you are off grid then you have to make something work for you, and you could be grid attached, so that you have the grid as your back up. In this case you certainly will want to look at providers who offer you ZERO Standing charges.
Sizing the solar.
When it comes to solar power, you are at the mercy of the sun, within the UK you have a feast or famine when it comes to sun, which is directly proportional to the power. There is around 275 solar days in the UK. which means that for 90 days your not going to see a great deal of power, which is where you will need to have another power source.
The primary goal is to cover the battery charge and the load which will occur at the same time. Spring and Autumn provide 4 hours and summer provides 6-8 hours. Winter on the other hand is two hours.
As you can see the battery size and loads are linked very closely when it comes to solar panels.
Grid attached inverters.
A grid attached inverter does not export power to the grid, the grid connection is for charging the battery. Some also allow a pass though, which means that they will provide power direct from the grid or “top up” the power using the grid. As these do NOT work in parallel with the grid they are not subject to the “members fee” which lowers the cost considerably. This also lowers the paperwork requirements. Like for like there is around £1000 difference in price.
This may seem a great saving, which for most is almost the cost of a battery for the system. But lets look at what you could buy and install..
What you need.
I will start by saying that we would recommend an array size starting at 4.5kw. ideally 5.6 or greater.
The actual size will vary due to location, roof position and mounting options and the actual need or upgrade path that you would take.
Being a hybrid the solar power is not relevant to the inverter power, the inverter needs to be rated at the peak load that you would use – We would recommend our “test” kit. which can be installed and set to the power level, when you go over this, the unit will alarm. You can then check the amount your using over the preset inverter power.
When you have a certain type of load, then you have to consider the type of inverter, this may mean that you run two different types of inverter to make it really work for you, this could double your cost if you have to do this.
11kW inverter is around £450.00-£650.00
4.45kW of solar is gong to cost around £650.00 and mounting system prices vary depending on application.
We offer a range of batteries, Many prefer the lighter weight of 5kWh batteries and rack mount so they can be stored easy. We have wall mount 10kWh which come in just over 100kg, you may struggle to wall mount these. and we have our floor tower batteries which are around 15kWh, which are even more weight at around 140Kg.
with the package hardware there is a discount so the price can drop that those shown in our shop.
If we look at the kit as a package, you would be around £2,600 ball park for the hardware, but you would need to add around £360.00 for hardware for mounting the panels on a roof. You would need other connection parts which is around £160.00 which pushes you up to around £3,000.
What is the value of this?
All solar installations we make and our packages, we give it a value. The value is the ROI ( how long it take to pay for itself) and what are the daily savings and what is should save in its lifetime.
Daily £6.00
ROI 500 days
Daily avg 26.7kWh
Annual peak 7,342kWh
Annual save/yield £1,908.92
Lifetime save/yield £19,089.
life value x 6.363
ROI 1 year and 6 months and 2 weeks.
No responses yet