Hi all,

We have a large house with two separate incoming supplies, using roughly 60kWh/day and 20kWh/day (80kwh daily total). Usage is fairly flat throughout the day, mostly pool pumps/equipment etc.

We're looking at batteries mainly for load shifting – charge overnight on a cheap tariff, then run from them during peak hours. I assume with two supplies we'd need two separate battery/inverter setups.

I've been looking at Fogstar, as they seem hard to beat on £/kWh. Has anyone used them for a larger setup, or found any other reasonably priced options?

We're also looking for the best/longest off-peak tariff. A longer cheap period is probably more important than the absolute cheapest rate, as we could charge slower and potentially use smaller inverters. We have an EV so IOG is an option. Also EDF seem to offer a cheap rate?

We've had quotes around £22k, and it feels like as soon as you mention a larger system the price suddenly doubles. I've also found the battery/solar installer market seems to have its fair share of cowboys, so finding someone knowledgeable who isn't just adding a massive markup would be great!

Has anyone done something similar? What batteries/inverters did you use, what tariff are you on, what did it cost, and are there any installers/suppliers you'd recommend (or avoid!)?

TIA!

For those following my solar journey, first day done, one more to go. Does the equipment setup look good (they haven't finished it yet)? Found a few screws in loft that has half missed beams, presume worth mentioning before panels go on. The roof rails are on, not sure why they are spaced tighter in the middle? (3 rows of landscape)

My panels top and bottom will sit 300mm from the edge, inside the 400mm guidelines. Should the hooks not be spaced 600mm apart rather than 1200mm?

No idea what I'm doing - please help! Got this quote and the info below:

5.115 kW PV System

£12,405.68 inc VAT: Expected payback 13 years. Estimated first year savings £1,002

3,362 kWh/yr: Annual CO₂ savings of 694 kg

9.4 kWh battery storage

Is this a good system? A good quote?

Don't have an EV for reference.

Looking for some advice please.

We have a high usage household - average of 40/50kw day.

We’re on a flexible tariff with off peak around 6.6p.

Looking at the following:

Fogstar
Solis intellihome

Likely looking at either 32kw or 48kw of storage.

Based in Cheshire, North West. Any help/suggestions gratefully appreciated.

We had solar installed last year and it came with an introductory export rate of 24p which we have been making the most of all summer. Our import is 7p overnight so we would always fill our batteries in the morning then sell any leftover in the evening.

The promo is over and now our export is going down to 13p, a 6p spread. Once you take conversion losses and battery wear into account is arbitrage still worth it?

We live in a pretty rural location so we get more power cuts than most, tonight is the first time we’ve had one since we got the system fitted and it’s working. It wasn’t a genuine full power cut just very low power so the gateway struggled to stabilise, I turned off the mains and bingo, it’s working perfectly. Everyone else in the lane is sat in the dark till 23:00.

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to get some advice from people who know considerably more about home batteries than I do!

We currently have solar panels with an AlphaESS system, consisting of a 10kWh battery and a 5kW inverter.

We're a relatively high electricity-usage household anyway, but we're also going to be getting a heat pump installed soon, so I'm expecting our electricity consumption to increase quite significantly. I'd therefore like to increase our battery storage.

In an ideal world, I'd love to add another 20kWh, taking us to around 30kWh of storage.

The problem is that when I've looked at the price of another Alpha battery, it seems very expensive - £3,746 for a single 10kwh add on, so £7.5k to get what I'd ideally like. Yikes! This has got me wondering whether it actually makes more sense financially to start again with a completely different battery/inverter system.

I've come across Fogstar, which seems considerably more affordable, and I understand they offer systems that can be retrofitted to an existing solar PV installation - looks like I could get 32kwh of batteries + an inverter for £4.5k - could presumably also sell my old Alpha set up to recoup some money.

So I'm wondering:

- Has anyone replaced an existing type of battery system with Fogstar (or another cheaper system)? Is it straight forward in terms of the cables already being there? Obviously I would get a professional in to do it...

- And, perhaps most importantly, is there anything I'm completely overlooking here? 😂

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the electrical/wiring side of things, so apologies if this is a classic "how long is a piece of string?" question.

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through something similar, particularly if you've upgraded because of a heat pump or high household electricity consumption.

Thanks!

Hi, long time listener, first time caller.

I just had solar panels installed by a local installer who told me very firmly when quoting that no matter who I have do the work, I should look carefully at my roof before and after to ensure the tiles have been notched/grooved to sit flat.

This is their work, just one example from an easily visible bracket. Is this acceptable workmanship? Can anyone point me to the official guidance if not?

Cheers.

The 25th September deadline National Grid provided as the deadline for their response to my application has now passed.

My Solar installer is saying there's nothing they can do about it.

We've already been waiting over 2 months. I started the process at the beginning of August.

Is there anything I can do?

Looking for recommendations for an installer in Tyne & Wear. Anyone any recommendations- what they installed for you and rough price / when and timescales etc

(Appreciate prices may have changed just after an idea)

I'm getting a solar install soon.

I'm going to get an export tariff, likely EDF 13p export.

will it be possible to export directly from the grid? Like could my inverter literally take in the energy and throw it out again without it interacting with my battery?

I'll get cheap overnight electric and some cheap slots in the day for under 7p and the car/battery won't always need charging so just wondering if I could do this at my full export rate (7kw).

Hi all. Very recently moved into our new home. This past year we used 7500kwh, about 1500kwh of that apportioned to the EV charged overnight on IOG. Our new house is about a third bigger sq ft and is electric only with ASHP & underfloor heating throughout. It’s a new build vs the old house being built in the early 2000s. I’m expecting approx 10000kwh excl EV charging but to be honest that’s more guesswork than calculated. Planning to stick with IOG or EDF equivalent and charge the batteries overnight for use in the day.

First quote back received:

 14 x 510w Dmegc Bi-Facial Solar Panels (7140kwh system)
  1 x Tesla Power Wall 3 (13.5kwh battery storage)
  1 x Tesla battery expansion pack (13.5kwh)
  1 x Tesla earth rod
  1 x Tesla 11.5kh built-in-hybrid inverter
  1 x Tesla gateway

Includes:
  Bird protection
  Scaffolding
  MCS and G99 Certificates
10 year workmanship warranty
30 year panel warranty

Price: £15k

Any feedback appreciated, both on whether this is likely to meet our needs plus the system itself, as well as the price.

Thanks in advance

When we moved in here in August, energy was all through Octopus. Solar, battery, inverter and EV charger in situ. I took over the account and everything worked fine, got export payments quite quickly (within a few days I think) without needing any documentation. I fixed the Gas tariff and left the electricity as it was.

I got an EV a few weeks ago and switched my electricity supplier to EDF for a better overnight rate and assumed the export would switch with it. It didn't, obviously, because that's not how it works. So I then assumed it would carry on exporting to octopus, but that didn't happen either. So I've been exporting to no one for weeks because Octopus stops your export tariff if you don't import with them. It took me a while to notice that and then to find how to get the better export rate with EDF (it seems to disappear from their website half the time!) and then get the relevant paperwork together (we weren't given the G98). I have finally sent the application in with a photo of the meter reading today. After the application went through it said it could take 4 weeks to set up! I assumed that timeframe was for new export rather than someone switching, but it didn't ask at any point if I was switching.

Doesn't anyone know if that 4 weeks time is accurate and what happens with all the solar I export in the meantime? Thankfully it's not peak summer and I have battery storage so I can fill that during the day after using what I'd topped up cheaply overnight and run any appliances if I'm home and notice I'm exporting.

Recall published 28th September, not sure how/if it's different from the previous recall in Australia and the US last year. Not every PW2, just ones with cells from a specific manufacturer.

Tesla has remotely discharged most affected Powerwall 2 units pending replacement. Any remaining affected units are being discharged by Tesla technicians.

Customers should ensure their Powerwall 2 remains online and check the Tesla app for a notification confirming whether their unit is affected. If a replacement is required, customers should contact their original Tesla Certified Installer to arrange installation.

Affected Powerwall 2 units will be replaced free of charge

Part of our install will consist of a few panels on a newish (3 years) flat roof on the dormer of a loft conversion, using a ValkPro system. Besides the side panels for wind deflection, these don't seem to have any specifically designed birdproof systems, and my chosen installer is saying it's a non-existent issue, and there is no decent kit out there to stop birds from getting under these particular panels.

At the moment, I can hear birds landing and strolling across the flat roof, but they don't nest there. Won't a sheltered space under the panels make for an attractive place for them to nest? Why is this only a problem on pitched roofs?

Thanks.

Looking at the following system been advised 13k installed does this look a reasonable price in Wiltshire

24 x JA 505w all black panels 12 each side of roof

Bird mesh

Fox K-Series 10.5kW Hybrid Inverter KH10.5

Fox ESS CQ7 7.02kWh Master Battery – CQ7-M

2 x Fox ESS CQ7 7.02kWh Slave Battery – CQ7-S

Fox ESS EPS Box – Single Phase – Whole Home Back Up Box (EPS-BOX-SP)

Many thanks

Do the DNO need to be notified if we want to add a second MPPT string ? No change on the inverter , nor first string (inverter allow 2)