Solar Together

[the0ni0nking]

I received an email and call from the proposed installers today.

Apparently, as mentioned earlier, one of the conditions applied by our local council when partnering with Solar Together was a stipulation that batteries could not be put inside the house - or in the garage where the garage is attached to the house. This is the case with me - the garage (which is about 1.5 - 2.0 car lengths in depth) is attached to the house and has a fire door that facilitates access without having to go and open the garage door from outside.

As it turns out, there is an extension which is 1 brick width narrower than the rest of the house so they can probably put the battery/inverter on there and I can get someone with better joinery skills than me to build a nice wooden cabinet to protect them (something like this I think https://www.reddit.com/r/SolarUK/commen ... ?rdt=39846)

They apparently will include what they described as a minor heating unit within the install of the battery so as to ensure if doesn't drop below -10 degrees as below that starts to degrade charging performance etc. They claimed they normally charge for this but are including it for free while "their stocks last".

As the system will likely generate sweet FA in Jan/Feb there's not a great deal of urgency to sort out the install so will just look at the small print to see how long the quotation is valid for before paying the 25% deposit.

[DrFfybes]

I received an email and call from the proposed installers today.

Apparently, as mentioned earlier, one of the conditions applied by our local council when partnering with Solar Together was a stipulation that batteries could not be put inside the house - or in the garage where the garage is attached to the house.

But OK to store a EV in there I assume. Or worse still, an ICE car.

The joy of PAS 63100:2024

Paul.

[Watis]

A friend had solar panels and a battery installed this summer. The battery is in the attached garage, against the cavity wall that forms the side of the house.

So I'd like to understand why the0ni0nking's installers vetoed that solution, in preparation for the day when I go solar/battery.

Watis

[the0ni0nking]

A friend had solar panels and a battery installed this summer. The battery is in the attached garage, against the cavity wall that forms the side of the house.

So I'd like to understand why the0ni0nking's installers vetoed that solution, in preparation for the day when I go solar/battery.

Watis

I have other things going on so wasn't too pushy about it to get exact details - the team that did the site survey were happy to put the batteries etc in the attached garage so it wasn't an issue with that.

It sounded to me as they had been dictated to by the T&Cs of the agreement between Solar Together and (in this case) the West Yorkshire Mayor that commissioned them.

So it might be just our region that has the issue - and indeed if I got someone independent of the scheme to quote, I suspect they would install in the garage. The guy on the phone said it currently wasn't a legal requirement but they had been told they couldn't install them there under this scheme.

[the0ni0nking]

They apparently will include what they described as a minor heating unit within the install of the battery so as to ensure if doesn't drop below -10 degrees as below that starts to degrade charging performance etc. They claimed they normally charge for this but are including it for free while "their stocks last".

Just re-visiting what I said a few days ago as they have now emailed me with some more details with regards to this (they didn't email me on Xmas eve but I've only now got round to mentioning it here!).

The proposal is that they will upgrade the Fox EP5 or EP11 to the "newly released" H version of the Fox battery for no additional charge.

In my case this would be the EP11. I cant find any alternative detail on-line between the "old" version and the "H version" - all it says is that "the H version has a heating element which helps the efficiency of the battery in lower temperatures".

[DrFfybes]

Yesterday (yup, the 25th) Octopus actually sent me a real, proper bill, with the readings.

Also yesterday I learnt from my niece about 'Cosy Octopus' a tariff which I haven't seen mentioned. This has 3 cheap periods a day (4-7am, 1-4pm, 10pm-midnight) plus a peak period, and is designed for those with a heat pump or electric boiler. In fact it says that is a requirement, but I am led to believe they don't check if you are so inclined, and their actual T&Cs are pretty vague about 'other suitable system to be accepted at their discretion.' or some such wording (I can't actually find them on their site without going through the signup process).

Rates for us from Jan are roughly 12p/24p/35p (4-7pm). Obviously if you also have a battery then it is a great tariff to be on, and you still get their flat 15p export. I signed over to switch and it literally took minutes - I was on the new rate in under an hour and the battery is now set to charge in the cheap periods.

So the gas boiler is off and the ASHP powered multisplits are on and we will see how it works out. With all the air units running it seems to tick over at about 1.5kW total, compared to 10-12kW per hour for the gas boiler after the first hour. So that's about 18p rather than 65p and the spacing of the cheap periods means the battery should last. The downside is there is no multisplit in the main bathroom, but as the large expensive towel rail turned out to be largely decorative anyway I'm not sure it will make much difference and we will run the boiler for an hour first thing anyway.

Paul

[the0ni0nking]

Just before Xmas, I signed the contract. Between Xmas and New Year (in order to get this seemingly pointless free upgrade re the battery version) I paid the 25% deposit.

I've since had to sign a document confirming that I own the property and that I give them permission to process the DNO application on my behalf which I returned to them today.

I suspect things will likely go quiet for a few weeks while that application is processed so suspect we're looking at late Q1 CY25 for installation which would work for me.