Solar PV system

[Nigel52]

First time posting but would like some advice for those that have gone before me.
Background - new build house with 4 x panels JA Solar 370 watt and Growatt system installed I suspect to meet environmental building regulations.
So on good summer sunny days it puts circa 900 watts back into our system or the grid.
I have estimated we use circa 4040 Kw a year from EDF on a fixed tariff until March 2024. (Luckily)

Heating is Underfloor on all floors with Gas boiler which also heats a 300 litre plus cylinder. As yet we have never used the immersion heater.

Now looking to upgrade the system with more panels to take the panel total to circa 6Kw and possibly add an 8-10Kw battery. Also an EDDI smart solar immersion controller to divert spare energy to the immersion heater to reduce reliance on gas. I would like to also have some built in EPS from the battery so cover short time grid power cuts. Would only need to cover the circuits with fridges etc and the gas boiler and heating pumps.

EDF will not allow us to export to the grid (or at least not pay for us to do it. If we changed tariff say to economy 7 then we would likely lose our fixed tariff rate.

The system I am favouring at the moment is:
5.46Kw Solar PV , 14 x 390W panel Trina Vertex S system + Solaredge optimisation + EDDI immersion boost + 10.4kW Givenergy Battery + EPS. (On this system the EPS will only power up to 3kW from the battery, hence choosing which circuits to put on it.)

I have discounted the Tesla Powerwall as too expensive although I like the way it can back up the grid.

Other considerations:
No electric vehicle (EV) currently but perhaps in three years time. This might say don't but the battery now as if one wants to power the house during the day and summer, put excess energy into the immersion, charge a battery for non-daylight hours and charge an EV then I am asking too much.

If I have the EDDI smart immersion controller I am not sure how this will work if we currently heat the tank from our gas boiler.

Any views or advice on this lot please?

 

[binky]

First time posting but would like some advice for those that have gone before me.
Background - new build house with 4 x panels JA Solar 370 watt and Growatt system installed I suspect to meet environmental building regulations.
So on good summer sunny days it puts circa 900 watts back into our system or the grid.
I have estimated we use circa 4040 Kw a year from EDF on a fixed tariff until March 2024. (Luckily)

Heating is Underfloor on all floors with Gas boiler which also heats a 300 litre plus cylinder. As yet we have never used the immersion heater.

Now looking to upgrade the system with more panels to take the panel total to circa 6Kw and possibly add an 8-10Kw battery. Also an EDDI smart solar immersion controller to divert spare energy to the immersion heater to reduce reliance on gas. I would like to also have some built in EPS from the battery so cover short time grid power cuts. Would only need to cover the circuits with fridges etc and the gas boiler and heating pumps.

EDF will not allow us to export to the grid (or at least not pay for us to do it. If we changed tariff say to economy 7 then we would likely lose our fixed tariff rate.

The system I am favouring at the moment is:
5.46Kw Solar PV , 14 x 390W panel Trina Vertex S system + Solaredge optimisation + EDDI immersion boost + 10.4kW Givenergy Battery + EPS. (On this system the EPS will only power up to 3kW from the battery, hence choosing which circuits to put on it.)

I have discounted the Tesla Powerwall as too expensive although I like the way it can back up the grid.

Other considerations:
No electric vehicle (EV) currently but perhaps in three years time. This might say don't but the battery now as if one wants to power the house during the day and summer, put excess energy into the immersion, charge a battery for non-daylight hours and charge an EV then I am asking too much.

If I have the EDDI smart immersion controller I am not sure how this will work if we currently heat the tank from our gas boiler.

Any views or advice on this lot please?

set the timer for the gas to leave tank cold after say 8am, so you can get a morning shower and off to work, but not reheat the tank. That will allow solar to do its thing and hopefully give you free hot water for 2/3rds of the year.

The rest of your questions have probbaky been answered several tims over on previous posts. Have a read and come back with any follow on questions.

 

[Nigel52]

Thank you

 

[johnb2713]

You dont have to export to EDF, you can export to any supplier eg Octopus. I'd be tempted to have a serious look at what off peak tariffs you can get, we run all day on solar + battery charged on off peak (7.5p). I'm adding more battery foir winter time to carry us through.

EDDI works great, we have ours programmed to use off peak main 00:30 to 04:30, it then uses the battery until the solar wakes up and completely minimises the export by using the power to heat the water. I also have ZAPPI for EV and again, after the hot water is full the EV gets charged.

One other consideration is to purchase an EV such as Nissan Leaf and install a V2G charger, you then use the car battery to feed the house and get a free EV in the process!

 

[Nigel52]

You dont have to export to EDF, you can export to any supplier eg Octopus. I'd be tempted to have a serious look at what off peak tariffs you can get, we run all day on solar + battery charged on off peak (7.5p). I'm adding more battery foir winter time to carry us through.

EDDI works great, we have ours programmed to use off peak main 00:30 to 04:30, it then uses the battery until the solar wakes up and completely minimises the export by using the power to heat the water. I also have ZAPPI for EV and again, after the hot water is full the EV gets charged.

One other consideration is to purchase an EV such as Nissan Leaf and install a V2G charger, you then use the car battery to feed the house and get a free EV in the process!

Thanks. Sounds like I need to get the system installed ASAP and then look at the best way of utilising it.

 

[Chrisbee]

As said you don't have to use your existing supplier for payment for power fed into the grid. But you do need the system to have been installed by an MCS installer.

I have a good fixed tarrif until Dec 2023 so have decided to stay with a single 24hr tarrif.
I get 5.5p/kWh from Scottish power, slightly better than nothing.

I have a Solis diverter to power the immersion heater. I set the gas boiler to heat water to 50degC from 07:00 to 08:00 for morning showers. Excess solar generation then heats water to 60degC but this only happens after batteries are full and sometimes not at all.

Sums for the diverter don't really add up. If the excess went to grid I'd get 5.5p. So that's what it's worth. I can heat the water with gas for 5.5p too (untill fixed tarrif expires).
My most efficient use of solar power is to spread out the use of high power appliances so that I don't exceed the hybrid inverter max of 3.6kw at any time. If I do, the extra is imported.

So the game is to use as much as possible that's generated and as little as possible that's imported.

Locked to prevent being resurrected (again)