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Those of you with solar panels, what's been your experience? (feddit.uk)

submitted 1 week ago by blackn1ght@feddit.uk to c/askuk@feddit.uk

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I'm thinking of getting solar panels and a battery for our house.

What's your setup like, and is there anything you wish you'd set up differently if you were going to install it again? What supplier are you with?

A company extremely local to us is offering 12x Aiko Energy panels (465 watt), with a Sunsynk 5 kW inverter and a 5.32kWh battery. Octopus Energy are offering a similar set up for a similar price, but they're using 450 watt panels, so with using 12 panels I'd be potentially be losing 180 watts vs what the other company is offering. Is that a significant amount or would it basically not really amount to much additional power?

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[–] Krill@feddit.uk 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Unless you are a part P registered electrician it is unlawful to connect an inverter to the consumer unit (and hence the grid) in the UK.

Also, the feed in tariffs in the UK are highly competitive.

Sure, it's possible to get the panels bought and installed and wired up as a DIY project but that's about it.

[–] LordKitsuna@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I did explicitly specify a non grid tie unit. An off-grid unit that does not do any grid feedback is literally no different than plugging a UPS in to back up your computer in terms of the impact on the grid . It will accept the grid as an input to pass through but it will never feed power back into the grid thus a lot of the red tape goes away.

Maybe it's different in the UK but for the US a self consumption off grid inverter you do not need to even inform the power company much less be any type of electrician it's only if you are doing a grid tie inverter that will put power back into the grid that suddenly there's a lot of requirements.

[–] Krill@feddit.uk 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In the UK any new electrical circuit, which includes an EV charger, solar DC/AC inverter, cooker or lighting circuit etc is notifiable work and must be completed by a part P registered professional.

It doesn't matter if it's a self install of an inverter that can be zero rated for export, if the house consumer unit is connected to the national grid you can't self install (unless you are a registered professional as stated). Essentially to connect solar panels to a house that is also connected to the grid will always have to use a grid tied inverter.

Only way to use an off grid inverter, which is what you described, is if the house is entirely off grid (and therefore has it's own earth which is another point but not really worth going into). The description of an off grid inverter you use would not be the definition used in the UK in relation to building regs (it would be a grid tied system because it is connected to the grid, pass through is irrelevant).

[–] LordKitsuna@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Oh, well that's stupid and overreaching regulation. I can only imagine what the services cost when it's forced like that probably worse than around here. Imagine not being able to install a new light circuit because you aren't a certified electrician that's nuts lol.