ᐅ Roof Covering and Choosing a Solar Installer – Making the Decision?
Created on: 10 Aug 2022 18:21
E
Elias_dee
Hello everyone,
I am about to decide whether to hire a solar installer. I am building a turnkey single-family house with a general contractor in the 84xxx area, featuring a gable roof with a 25° pitch, oriented north/south. There are no skylights, chimney, or other obstructions on the roof, so conditions are optimal.
I am having some difficulty even requesting quotes and now have at least two offers. I would appreciate help evaluating and choosing between them (both the company and whether to include the north side). I have not asked for a battery system but might consider adding one later if it becomes more affordable.
So, first I am facing the question: include north side or not? I can fit about 25 modules on each side, resulting in roughly 10 kWp. PVGIS estimates around 10,000 kWh for south and about 7,000 kWh for north.
Offer 1 comes from a solar installer with many years of experience, who not only works on single-family houses but also builds large-scale systems in the megawatt range. My general contractor, who is building the house turnkey, also has long-standing experience with this installer and recommends them.
Offer 1 details:
- 20.5 kWp
- 50 x Q-Cells Q-Peak ML G10 410 heat pump compatible modules
- 50 x SolarEdge Power Optimizers, S440 Worldwide (v1)
- SolarEdge StorEdge three-phase inverters: SE10K-RWS-EU-APAC/AUS (v1) and SE7K-RWS-EU-APAC (v1)
- SolarEdge Smart Meter for self-consumption monitoring
- All other materials, installation, and commissioning services included
- Cost: €31,980 net, which equals approximately €1,560 net per kWp — reasonable for today, not really cheap but not very expensive either
Now to Offer 2. This offer is from a very small and new electrical company I found through a neighbor's recommendation. The company does not even have a finished website yet because it is so new, but they have already done electrical work in the development area (not sure about PV though). Two different neighbors have told me this company is good.
Offer 2 details:
- 20.9 kWp
- 51 x JinkoSolar Tiger NE HC N-Type black solar modules JKM410N-54HL4-B
- 2 x SMA inverters STP10.0-3SE-40
- 1 x SMA Sunny Home Manager HM-20
- Other materials are not specified here, but all installation, planning, and commissioning services are included
- Cost: €25,570 net, equaling approximately €1,223 net per kWp
My questions now:
- What do you generally think about the materials used?
- Are the SolarEdge power optimizers in Offer 1 really necessary? I expect practically no shading from trees, chimney, or anything else given the location
- Company 2 is probably a bit risky, but the price is really attractive. Is it worth taking the risk here?
- Does installing modules on the north side make sense at all in the case of Offer 1? If I calculate north and south separately, south obviously makes sense in both cases. North seems worthwhile (based on my calculation) only with Offer 2... with Offer 1 I would be running at a loss.
I would be very grateful for a brief assessment!
Best regards
I am about to decide whether to hire a solar installer. I am building a turnkey single-family house with a general contractor in the 84xxx area, featuring a gable roof with a 25° pitch, oriented north/south. There are no skylights, chimney, or other obstructions on the roof, so conditions are optimal.
I am having some difficulty even requesting quotes and now have at least two offers. I would appreciate help evaluating and choosing between them (both the company and whether to include the north side). I have not asked for a battery system but might consider adding one later if it becomes more affordable.
So, first I am facing the question: include north side or not? I can fit about 25 modules on each side, resulting in roughly 10 kWp. PVGIS estimates around 10,000 kWh for south and about 7,000 kWh for north.
Offer 1 comes from a solar installer with many years of experience, who not only works on single-family houses but also builds large-scale systems in the megawatt range. My general contractor, who is building the house turnkey, also has long-standing experience with this installer and recommends them.
Offer 1 details:
- 20.5 kWp
- 50 x Q-Cells Q-Peak ML G10 410 heat pump compatible modules
- 50 x SolarEdge Power Optimizers, S440 Worldwide (v1)
- SolarEdge StorEdge three-phase inverters: SE10K-RWS-EU-APAC/AUS (v1) and SE7K-RWS-EU-APAC (v1)
- SolarEdge Smart Meter for self-consumption monitoring
- All other materials, installation, and commissioning services included
- Cost: €31,980 net, which equals approximately €1,560 net per kWp — reasonable for today, not really cheap but not very expensive either
Now to Offer 2. This offer is from a very small and new electrical company I found through a neighbor's recommendation. The company does not even have a finished website yet because it is so new, but they have already done electrical work in the development area (not sure about PV though). Two different neighbors have told me this company is good.
Offer 2 details:
- 20.9 kWp
- 51 x JinkoSolar Tiger NE HC N-Type black solar modules JKM410N-54HL4-B
- 2 x SMA inverters STP10.0-3SE-40
- 1 x SMA Sunny Home Manager HM-20
- Other materials are not specified here, but all installation, planning, and commissioning services are included
- Cost: €25,570 net, equaling approximately €1,223 net per kWp
My questions now:
- What do you generally think about the materials used?
- Are the SolarEdge power optimizers in Offer 1 really necessary? I expect practically no shading from trees, chimney, or anything else given the location
- Company 2 is probably a bit risky, but the price is really attractive. Is it worth taking the risk here?
- Does installing modules on the north side make sense at all in the case of Offer 1? If I calculate north and south separately, south obviously makes sense in both cases. North seems worthwhile (based on my calculation) only with Offer 2... with Offer 1 I would be running at a loss.
I would be very grateful for a brief assessment!
Best regards
S
SaniererNRW12315 Aug 2022 17:55Snowy36 schrieb:
No, it’s 4 kWh altogether. LED: 18
Espresso machine: 30
Basement TV: 45
Additional TV: 0.5
TEAC: 18
Xbox: 15
Power strip 1: 30
Power strip 2: 22
Total: 2.1 kWh per day
You haven’t mentioned any other consumption yet.
Then suggest an alternative way to find out why I use so much electricity while you use less. Which measuring device should I use? The fact is that we are consuming the electricity... the measurements correspond with that.
Since it’s no longer possible to find out why there were 10 kWh in absence. Now it’s 11 kWh per day (average over the last 3 weeks). That is a fact. We can calculate or change measuring devices all we want: it’s 11 kWh, and with that, I will again end up with around 4000 kWh annual household electricity consumption. During this time, I charged the electric vehicle once and used the infrared heating once.
That way, I can understand how the total of 10,000 kWh was reached, which was doubted here. And it was called unnecessary or pointless.
Since it’s no longer possible to find out why there were 10 kWh in absence. Now it’s 11 kWh per day (average over the last 3 weeks). That is a fact. We can calculate or change measuring devices all we want: it’s 11 kWh, and with that, I will again end up with around 4000 kWh annual household electricity consumption. During this time, I charged the electric vehicle once and used the infrared heating once.
That way, I can understand how the total of 10,000 kWh was reached, which was doubted here. And it was called unnecessary or pointless.
RotorMotor schrieb:
The OLED definitely does not use 40W in standby mode.
As mentioned, it can consume that much right after being turned off or sometimes occasionally to refresh the OLED panels, but not continuously.
I can't say what’s going on with the espresso machine.
You should ask the manufacturer or contact consumer protection.
But please check your measurement method first. 😉 I’ve even found discussions online claiming the TV uses 40W. The thread mentions settings options that reduced my consumption to 18W. And if it didn’t really use 40W or my measurements are wrong, as explained above, there is still a high consumption overall… no matter how nicely I measure each device, it still comes out to about 4000 kWh per year.
As mentioned before, that is indeed possible. The devices can be operated in compliance with EU regulations (see manual), but all unnecessary features must be turned off for that. For example, background updates, network functions like Wake-on-LAN, and so on.
You might also find specific settings for standby operation. Some manufacturers also offer options like "Deep Standby" and similar modes.
A baseline power consumption in the range of 200-250W is, in my opinion, normal; it is hardly possible to achieve much lower in a single-family house. However, in your case, it is too high.
Are you sure the heat pump was not producing domestic hot water and/or the circulation pump was running?
You might also find specific settings for standby operation. Some manufacturers also offer options like "Deep Standby" and similar modes.
A baseline power consumption in the range of 200-250W is, in my opinion, normal; it is hardly possible to achieve much lower in a single-family house. However, in your case, it is too high.
Are you sure the heat pump was not producing domestic hot water and/or the circulation pump was running?
S
SaniererNRW12315 Aug 2022 20:16Snowy36 schrieb:
Since it’s no longer possible to find out why there were 10 kWh during absence. Do all computers, Xbox consoles, and every other device always have to remain in standby mode? Whether your coffee machine is on or in standby makes no difference—only in terms of power consumption.
Snowy36 schrieb:
It’s 11 kWh, and I will still end up with around 4000 kWh annual consumption just for household electricity. So what is it? 4,000 kWh annual consumption or standby consumption? Make up your mind. 4,000 kWh equals about 11 kWh per day—and I don’t expect all your 17 TVs, consoles, computers, etc. to be turned off.
As a single parent working part-time, I also have between 3,500 and 4,000 kWh household electricity per year. But standby only accounts for a maximum of 2 kWh per day. The rest comes from devices that are actually turned on.
I now have only 3 kWh per day after installing switchable power strips on all the mentioned devices.
Do you all always turn off your devices completely? Do you press more than just the power button on the coffee machine, or do you also use power strips like this?
The issue with hot water or circulation can’t be the cause, since the air-to-water heat pump has a separate meter.
I don’t know how else to explain it, sorry.
I’ll try again:
Previously, it was 10 kWh when no one was home.
Then the mentioned devices were unplugged completely using power strips, and now it’s 3 kWh per day when we are not there.
However, it goes up to 11 kWh when we are home and naturally have devices turned on.
But I still think that’s quite a lot because if I calculate it over a year, it adds up to more than 4000 kWh for two people.
I was really shocked that those few devices consume that much power even when I’m not actively using them.
Especially with the TVs in the basement, it’s easy to only power them on via the power strip before use.
I’m not willing to constantly turn off the living room TV directly at the outlet, instead of just using the remote.
So, unfortunately, that TV will continue to use about 18 W.
Do you all always turn off your devices completely? Do you press more than just the power button on the coffee machine, or do you also use power strips like this?
The issue with hot water or circulation can’t be the cause, since the air-to-water heat pump has a separate meter.
I don’t know how else to explain it, sorry.
I’ll try again:
Previously, it was 10 kWh when no one was home.
Then the mentioned devices were unplugged completely using power strips, and now it’s 3 kWh per day when we are not there.
However, it goes up to 11 kWh when we are home and naturally have devices turned on.
But I still think that’s quite a lot because if I calculate it over a year, it adds up to more than 4000 kWh for two people.
I was really shocked that those few devices consume that much power even when I’m not actively using them.
Especially with the TVs in the basement, it’s easy to only power them on via the power strip before use.
I’m not willing to constantly turn off the living room TV directly at the outlet, instead of just using the remote.
So, unfortunately, that TV will continue to use about 18 W.
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