About to fire up a 8.2 Kw Fronius inverter and 10 Kw of panels here in Oz. All the info was great even if all the tariffs and regulations are a bit different. Best part is now I know what the inverter will sound like under load. I can't afford a battery now but after this I'll fit one as soon as it is practical for me to do it.
@@Heatable Yeah will look into the battery as soon as I can. My local supplier has a limit on installed inverters on a single phase which limits my battery options. But I think in the near future the regulations might change. I think I'm better off waiting than spending money twice.👍
Great video. Of course in a perfect world, you should be able to sell your electricity at a price you yourself set, then people could bid/buy electricity from you in blocks or for a set period. That would make for an amazing community grid project and would definitely increase renewable energy take up.
Thanks Adam! Yeah we completely agree there, it would benefit so many people and get more people onboard. Are you looking into getting a solar set up or do you have one already?
Allan don’t forget from September keep an eye on generation and heat pump use you may find your pull from the grid on startup but as it nominalised you’re be using battery and solar, come October you don’t want to be on agile they offer an 8 hour off peak now swap to that granted you won’t get the payment but you can run the heat pump over night and top up the battery to maximise zero day time use
I'll use this as a video for my clients that I'm trying to educate if that's alright. We're still mainly gas but slowly more and more enquiries are being made about heat pumps and solar but consumers are under-educated of the benefits and drawbacks.
You're completely right, all we want to try and do is educate people on the benefits and drawbacks so they can make more informed decisions for themselves!
Looks like an AC coupled system bit im not sure the video fully explains why? Presumably its because the give energy hybrid inverters can be a maximum of 5kw and obviously the PV system is much larger than that. I wonder what winter generation will be like and if the 8kw inverters have a minimum limit?
Am I allowed to build my own battery (48volt) and connect it? I ask this because I have an entire car battery set of modules (60ah pouches arranged as a 15s 4P battery. 9.7kwh to 15.1kwh) I can build 6 of these Or, do I have to buy a certified battery☹️? Can I get round this by setting up a switchable system to charge the car and power my power hungry appliances, which are in the garage anyway, and could be switched from grid supply to battery supply?
If you're fully exposed to grid pricing, you've got to expect some _really_ expensive import costs over winter when its overcast and the wind isn't contributing much.
Solar is definitely a great fit for those with electric cars, but they are still a great choice to get free electricity for your home, no matter what you use the electricity for.
So what happens when there is a power cut as it is a grid tied system and it all shuts down to protect the grid, all you will have is what is in your batteries if you have a 12v outlet?
that's a pretty good price. I paid 15K for an on roof 4kw array with a Tesla power wall 2, although the cost for the battery went up 1,200 due to inflation and change in GBP to USD. I also have 4kw on a FIT tariff which averages 1500 a year payment to me. So the new array plus battery should put me back to the position I was in before the rise in energy costs which is that I should get more money back than it costs me. Before the price rises my electric bill was 1200 per year, so I was 300 better off. We don't have gas or oil. it is definitely worth getting solar and battery, or battery on its own.
@@jackcalder6561 Hi, with the moving prices of energy, particularly now they are set to fall rapidly, its really difficult to model out the payback period. However, I would estimate between 5-6 years. This may come down further as we replace the last diesel car and replace it with an EV. In January, the darkest month, the battery took us through from 04.30 to 12.30 the next day on ten different days, meaning no peak electric at all. In Feb this increased to 16 days, and in march we are on target to get over 20 days of no peak electric. Plus it is increasingly the case that my battery is full by about 11 in the morning and I have to plug in my car so as not to waste the energy going to the grid. June, July and august I don't expect to pay any money to charge my car as the solar will do it for me. Last august I did 2400 miles in the month for free. My second car is a Land Rover discovery 4 with a 3ltr engine. it cost me £112 to fill up yesterday and that will last a week. add to this my tax at 55 per month, and I will save a small fortune when I replace for a second hand ev.
I'd love to know how much this would cost now to set up vs costs saved over the life time of the equipment. Obviously batteries, inverters, and panels etc all have a lifespan were they are still efficient enough to be viable. Looking at his supplier no way could you get this for 17k just one month on, it appears to be in excess of 30k now.
Hi from what you said in your video that you can only draw 3kw max from your battery’s at one point is that how the battery is designed only as your inverter is far greater than 3kw ,or is that a standard draw amount from all types of batteries ,also your install price is amazing, try and do that now, I think companies supplying renewable systems,should offer 0% finance ,so the customer instead of getting a quote for solar ,etc ,then having to try and finance through your bank ,if it was done as a combined package,that would make the process,so much simpler 🤔
Hi - Thanks for your question. Allen has the GivEnergy batteries which are set to charge and discharge at 3kw. This is usually to conserve battery life. Not all batteries are limited to 3kw, some are 4,5,6kw and some have no discharge limits. We are exploring various different options for our platform. We'll be uploading more content over the coming months.
Why can you only use 3kw as a draw off? Also....do you think the system will not increase the night time pence per KW? 🙈 The battery storage and release is key here!
That's not a bad price really for what you have had done. The prices are not that bad still, I install PV, and we install 4kw systems with a 5kw battery for £8k, so it's worth doing for anyone who can afford it
I'm sick of hearing about this climate crisis 🐂💩 People should looking at the whole con as a way of getting out and off the system. The system is corrupt. We need to be making ourselves self sufficient and nothing to do with the grid.
Why can’t he say the word battery? 😂 Baaerrie, baa erry. bah haerreay. Let use the t’s! 😮 Give energy had it in the bag until they did the cable fiasco last last year! other customers resent that rug puller after committing to big spends! Sneaky tactics!
A battery makes zero sense when you can sell energy at the same price as you buy it. The grid effectively becomes your battery. There's an ethical argument against batteries as well (shortage of Chinese Lithium can offset more emissions in cars vs. a house with solar PV). And there's an even larger argument against poor quality Chinese brands. MyEnergi Zappi / Eddi are excellent.
Lots of misleading info in this film. There's no way Alan's solar system could provide power to ten houses! His understanding of his system is naive and basic. Go back and film what's happening to his system and his tariff between Nov- March. The way to get ahead in the energy games we will encounter going forward is to generate and use as much energy as you can yourself, at the time of generation. Batteries are a bit of a misleading entity, for the simple reason that when you need the battery the most (ie. winter or night-time), their recharge is only economically viable on the sun shining and getting it for free, or cheap overnight rate. For most people who have spent between £15-20K and also charge a car, their investment payback time will increase UNLESS cheap overnight energy rates continue. Every video I have watched on people calculating their payback time on investment also leave out ONE vital piece of information.....that is how the system has been financed. If from savings, then you have to discount the interest that money would have made. If the system has been financed from a loan, then it's even worse.
Don't agree witj every point there. And rally don't agree with the last one. I'm financing mine through a loan at 3.4%, and if I'd used savings I'd only lose out on 0.4%. the payback on my solar package will be around 12% so it makes a lot of sense to get it. And that's without cheap rate electricity.
Hi Fred, thanks for your comment! We always appreciate feedback and it's pieces like this that help us improve and put out better content. If you go to our most recent videos, we actually go back to visit Allen and get another update on his solar, especially now we're in the winter months. We also touch on his EV charger and how this is impacted. We plan to go and visit him again in spring so we can get a further update after a full winter period. We hope you come back to check out that video, as well as our latest one and give us any more feedback you may have. P.s. Hope Wilma and the kids are doing well.
@@AllenHart999 Sorry Allen.......my comments were a little harsh, but I do stand by my point that most of the solar and battery installs (especially if someone has purchased a new electric car) shown on RUclips only make sense financially if access to cheap overnight electricity carries on. If it was to disappear in a few years time, then the payback might be viewed in decades rather than years. We'll see in April if any help is going to be forthcoming from the Govt. If not, I can see millions of people who may be on a 'soon to expire fixed rate', being absolutely gobsmacked as their energy bills increase by possibly 400-500%. My bills have increased 600% from Sept 2021 to now, when AVRO, who I had a fixed rate with, went bust. The Energy Price Guarantee is keeping my electricity at 33p per kWh, while I am being charged 64p per kWh. My gas is being capped at 10p, while I'm being charged 16p per kWh. Octopus is really forcing me onto a smart meter, just so that I can access some cheaper overnight electricity. I've just installed an 8.4kW PV array, three 5kW inverters and a 92kWh lead-acid battery bank. Even so, it won't become self sustaining until March, although I did just manage a week totally off-grid.
Thanks, i enjoyed watching this video as I'm looking at solar & getting quotes in for a 12 panel, 5.5Kw (ish) system for my South facing roof. However, like many of the solar videos, theres an awful lot of positive spin, because no one really likes to talk about the downside of an expensive installation, or focus on the worst case scenarios, eg: weeks of dull, raining winter months, when little or no generation is happening. I'm finding that most (probably all!) sing off the very same positive sales crib sheet. I guess thats their job...🫣. 5.5Kw systems with battery are getting quoted at £8 to 8.5K. Glow Green & few others.
Great content, would love to see more content like this, as well as DHW setups, Air Source Heat Pump, Ground Source and Air to Air and Solar content 🙏
More content is coming soon. Thanks.
About to fire up a 8.2 Kw Fronius inverter and 10 Kw of panels here in Oz. All the info was great even if all the tariffs and regulations are a bit different. Best part is now I know what the inverter will sound like under load. I can't afford a battery now but after this I'll fit one as soon as it is practical for me to do it.
We're glad that you found the information useful - It's definitely worth investing in a battery when you can afford to!
@@Heatable Yeah will look into the battery as soon as I can. My local supplier has a limit on installed inverters on a single phase which limits my battery options. But I think in the near future the regulations might change. I think I'm better off waiting than spending money twice.👍
Great video.
Of course in a perfect world, you should be able to sell your electricity at a price you yourself set, then people could bid/buy electricity from you in blocks or for a set period.
That would make for an amazing community grid project and would definitely increase renewable energy take up.
Thanks Adam! Yeah we completely agree there, it would benefit so many people and get more people onboard. Are you looking into getting a solar set up or do you have one already?
Are you able to advise what company you went with for your panels and battery?
Allan don’t forget from September keep an eye on generation and heat pump use you may find your pull from the grid on startup but as it nominalised you’re be using battery and solar, come October you don’t want to be on agile they offer an 8 hour off peak now swap to that granted you won’t get the payment but you can run the heat pump over night and top up the battery to maximise zero day time use
Will do. Thanks.
I'll use this as a video for my clients that I'm trying to educate if that's alright. We're still mainly gas but slowly more and more enquiries are being made about heat pumps and solar but consumers are under-educated of the benefits and drawbacks.
You're completely right, all we want to try and do is educate people on the benefits and drawbacks so they can make more informed decisions for themselves!
What about adding a small wind turbine on the roof- how feasible is it with planning permission
Sounds like a good idea. Thanks.
Hi Allen, great information and video, can you tell me what kind of heating do you have. thanks Dan
Hi Daniel, Allen currently is using an air source heat pump.
I have an air source heat pump but i did revert back to gas on some of the colder days, Thanks.
Very good video 😀
Thanks for having us Allen!
Looks like an AC coupled system bit im not sure the video fully explains why? Presumably its because the give energy hybrid inverters can be a maximum of 5kw and obviously the PV system is much larger than that. I wonder what winter generation will be like and if the 8kw inverters have a minimum limit?
A really engaging, interesting and informative video.
What happened about showing the zapping charger & electric car setup. 🤔😵💫
Don't worry, that will be coming in another video! Any other content you'd like to see?
Thanks.
Alan, how are your panels connected. South and west. 2 series strings ? Do you get any shaded problems
Hi John, Allen has 16 panels on the east side and 16 panels on the west so 32 in total, with 2 strings and no issues with shading.
Am I allowed to build my own battery (48volt) and connect it? I ask this because I have an entire car battery set of modules
(60ah pouches arranged as a 15s 4P battery. 9.7kwh to 15.1kwh)
I can build 6 of these
Or, do I have to buy a certified battery☹️?
Can I get round this by setting up a switchable system to charge the car and power my power hungry appliances, which are in the garage anyway, and could be switched from grid supply to battery supply?
If you're fully exposed to grid pricing, you've got to expect some _really_ expensive import costs over winter when its overcast and the wind isn't contributing much.
Seems to be solar only worth it if you have an electric car aswell?
Solar is definitely a great fit for those with electric cars, but they are still a great choice to get free electricity for your home, no matter what you use the electricity for.
So what happens when there is a power cut as it is a grid tied system and it all shuts down to protect the grid, all you will have is what is in your batteries if you have a 12v outlet?
Really useful video. Thanks chaps!
Thanks.
I’ve registered my interest after looking at your impressive trustpilot reviews. Do you have any indication of timescales to launch please?
Hey Peter, that's great to hear. We'll be making an announcement in the next 4-8 weeks!
that's a pretty good price. I paid 15K for an on roof 4kw array with a Tesla power wall 2, although the cost for the battery went up 1,200 due to inflation and change in GBP to USD. I also have 4kw on a FIT tariff which averages 1500 a year payment to me. So the new array plus battery should put me back to the position I was in before the rise in energy costs which is that I should get more money back than it costs me. Before the price rises my electric bill was 1200 per year, so I was 300 better off. We don't have gas or oil. it is definitely worth getting solar and battery, or battery on its own.
Price would definitely be more now.
What’s your pay back time scale? When you break even?
@@jackcalder6561 Hi, with the moving prices of energy, particularly now they are set to fall rapidly, its really difficult to model out the payback period. However, I would estimate between 5-6 years. This may come down further as we replace the last diesel car and replace it with an EV. In January, the darkest month, the battery took us through from 04.30 to 12.30 the next day on ten different days, meaning no peak electric at all. In Feb this increased to 16 days, and in march we are on target to get over 20 days of no peak electric. Plus it is increasingly the case that my battery is full by about 11 in the morning and I have to plug in my car so as not to waste the energy going to the grid. June, July and august I don't expect to pay any money to charge my car as the solar will do it for me. Last august I did 2400 miles in the month for free. My second car is a Land Rover discovery 4 with a 3ltr engine. it cost me £112 to fill up yesterday and that will last a week. add to this my tax at 55 per month, and I will save a small fortune when I replace for a second hand ev.
i love these types of content
Thanks for your feedback!
I'd love to know how much this would cost now to set up vs costs saved over the life time of the equipment. Obviously batteries, inverters, and panels etc all have a lifespan were they are still efficient enough to be viable. Looking at his supplier no way could you get this for 17k just one month on, it appears to be in excess of 30k now.
We'll be doing a video on this soon!
Hi from what you said in your video that you can only draw 3kw max from your battery’s at one point is that how the battery is designed only as your inverter is far greater than 3kw ,or is that a standard draw amount from all types of batteries ,also your install price is amazing, try and do that now, I think companies supplying renewable systems,should offer 0% finance ,so the customer instead of getting a quote for solar ,etc ,then having to try and finance through your bank ,if it was done as a combined package,that would make the process,so much simpler 🤔
Hi - Thanks for your question. Allen has the GivEnergy batteries which are set to charge and discharge at 3kw. This is usually to conserve battery life. Not all batteries are limited to 3kw, some are 4,5,6kw and some have no discharge limits. We are exploring various different options for our platform. We'll be uploading more content over the coming months.
Hi guys is the in roof lighter than on roof?
Yes the in roof is lighter as you remove all the roof tiles in order to do it.
Who installed the ‘in roof’ system your discussing please?
Hi Maria, it was First4solar that installed Allen's Solar PV setup.
Why can you only use 3kw as a draw off?
Also....do you think the system will not increase the night time pence per KW? 🙈
The battery storage and release is key here!
Hi Nigel, with one inverter Allen could only charge and discharge at 3 kw. He now has 2 inverters so it’s 6kw in and 6kw out now.
I now have 2 inverters so i can do 6kw Thanks.
The inverter has a limit. But in his case the batteries max charge and discharge is limiting him
the back up eps ?
Does heatable offer solar?
We will be doing, very soon! You can sign up to be the first to hear about our solar offering here: bit.ly/3Bo8wSD
i subsrcibed mate. keep it up
That's not a bad price really for what you have had done.
The prices are not that bad still, I install PV, and we install 4kw systems with a 5kw battery for £8k, so it's worth doing for anyone who can afford it
I'd be interested at that price! What area do you serve?
@@stijndevoogd9588 I am in North Wales
@@acelectricalsecurity Hmm bit far to south staffordshire then. No worries!
@@stijndevoogd9588 ok
@@stijndevoogd9588 what part Staffordshire is about an hour from me
I'm sick of hearing about this climate crisis 🐂💩
People should looking at the whole con as a way of getting out and off the system. The system is corrupt. We need to be making ourselves self sufficient and nothing to do with the grid.
I am trying to come off the grid as much as possible. Thanks.
Obviously when it snows there'll be no output
We actually still got a bit with snow on, Not amazing over the winter months though. Thanks.
How to make your house into an eye sore on the landscape. Fit solar on the roof.
Seriously!
i love it. Thanks.
Why can’t he say the word battery? 😂 Baaerrie, baa erry. bah haerreay. Let use the t’s! 😮 Give energy had it in the bag until they did the cable fiasco last last year! other customers resent that rug puller after committing to big spends! Sneaky tactics!
Whats the cable issue buddy ? Thanks.
A battery makes zero sense when you can sell energy at the same price as you buy it. The grid effectively becomes your battery.
There's an ethical argument against batteries as well (shortage of Chinese Lithium can offset more emissions in cars vs. a house with solar PV). And there's an even larger argument against poor quality Chinese brands.
MyEnergi Zappi / Eddi are excellent.
Over the winter we have been charging on a cheap overnight rate and using it through the day. Thanks.
Lots of misleading info in this film. There's no way Alan's solar system could provide power to ten houses! His understanding of his system is naive and basic. Go back and film what's happening to his system and his tariff between Nov- March. The way to get ahead in the energy games we will encounter going forward is to generate and use as much energy as you can yourself, at the time of generation. Batteries are a bit of a misleading entity, for the simple reason that when you need the battery the most (ie. winter or night-time), their recharge is only economically viable on the sun shining and getting it for free, or cheap overnight rate. For most people who have spent between £15-20K and also charge a car, their investment payback time will increase UNLESS cheap overnight energy rates continue. Every video I have watched on people calculating their payback time on investment also leave out ONE vital piece of information.....that is how the system has been financed. If from savings, then you have to discount the interest that money would have made. If the system has been financed from a loan, then it's even worse.
Don't agree witj every point there. And rally don't agree with the last one. I'm financing mine through a loan at 3.4%, and if I'd used savings I'd only lose out on 0.4%. the payback on my solar package will be around 12% so it makes a lot of sense to get it. And that's without cheap rate electricity.
He also said it could be feeding ten houses during a low power use of the day, he never said it would feed ten houses all day long.
Hi Fred, thanks for your comment! We always appreciate feedback and it's pieces like this that help us improve and put out better content. If you go to our most recent videos, we actually go back to visit Allen and get another update on his solar, especially now we're in the winter months. We also touch on his EV charger and how this is impacted. We plan to go and visit him again in spring so we can get a further update after a full winter period. We hope you come back to check out that video, as well as our latest one and give us any more feedback you may have. P.s. Hope Wilma and the kids are doing well.
Which bits do you find misleading? I would be more than happy to answer any questions on my system. Never said i was an expert though. Thanks.
@@AllenHart999 Sorry Allen.......my comments were a little harsh, but I do stand by my point that most of the solar and battery installs (especially if someone has purchased a new electric car) shown on RUclips only make sense financially if access to cheap overnight electricity carries on. If it was to disappear in a few years time, then the payback might be viewed in decades rather than years. We'll see in April if any help is going to be forthcoming from the Govt. If not, I can see millions of people who may be on a 'soon to expire fixed rate', being absolutely gobsmacked as their energy bills increase by possibly 400-500%. My bills have increased 600% from Sept 2021 to now, when AVRO, who I had a fixed rate with, went bust. The Energy Price Guarantee is keeping my electricity at 33p per kWh, while I am being charged 64p per kWh. My gas is being capped at 10p, while I'm being charged 16p per kWh. Octopus is really forcing me onto a smart meter, just so that I can access some cheaper overnight electricity. I've just installed an 8.4kW PV array, three 5kW inverters and a 92kWh lead-acid battery bank. Even so, it won't become self sustaining until March, although I did just manage a week totally off-grid.
Thanks, i enjoyed watching this video as I'm looking at solar & getting quotes in for a 12 panel, 5.5Kw (ish) system for my South facing roof.
However, like many of the solar videos, theres an awful lot of positive spin, because no one really likes to talk about the downside of an expensive installation, or focus on the worst case scenarios, eg: weeks of dull, raining winter months, when little or no generation is happening.
I'm finding that most (probably all!) sing off the very same positive sales crib sheet. I guess thats their job...🫣.
5.5Kw systems with battery are getting quoted at £8 to 8.5K. Glow Green & few others.