In 10 years, will I think "I should have bought that solar panel system?"

[Alan]

We just had our first full day with solar panels installed. 13 panels @300w/panel plus a 2.41 kWh LiOn battery storage. Total cost £7,500. Electricity cost per unit 15.56p/kWh.

We have an old analog meter and I’ve been enjoying watching the wheel spin in reverse and the mechanical numbers roll backwards. Even with a substantially cloudy day today the battery was fully charged by lunchtime and all excess electricity was going to the grid. During the evening the LED TVs and LED lights are all the battery needs to power, plus a kettle or 2 of water. If I believed the salesmen then we would be saving £500/year but that is what our total electricity bill per year has been since moving back. However, I take that with a bag of salt. If we can halve our bill and save £250/year then that is a 3.3% ror on £7,500 in the first year, plus that ror will increase as the initial investment is paid off with the savings.

If we find we can utilize more battery then I can buy another for £1,050 and self install to double capacity. (It’s just 3 cables to attach)

More than anything though it just feels good to be generating our own electricity.

 

[EarlyBirdly]

That's sweet.

I dream of a small cabin, somewhere, with a very simple solar setup. I like the idea of using things efficiently.

 

[NW-Bound]

We just had our first full day with solar panels installed. 13 panels @300w/panel plus a 2.41 kWh LiOn battery storage. Total cost £7,500. Electricity cost per unit 15.56p/kWh.

We have an old analog meter and I’ve been enjoying watching the wheel spin in reverse and the mechanical numbers roll backwards. Even with a substantially cloudy day today the battery was fully charged by lunchtime and all excess electricity was going to the grid...

On some cloudy but bright days, I have seen my panels producing 1/2 of the output on clear days.

In England, you could still have the equivalent of 4 hours of direct sunlight in the summer, which means your panels can produce 13 x 300W x 4 hrs = 15.6 kWh/day in July for a perfectly oriented system. That is way more than your small battery can hold.

If we find we can utilize more battery then I can buy another for £1,050 and self install to double capacity. (It’s just 3 cables to attach)

It's good that you can sell back to the grid at the same price they charge you. I cannot be grid-tied at all, so need a large battery to hold the juice that is produced and cannot be all consumed during daylight.

In your case, you only need a larger battery for more capacity during power outage. There is no financial advantage to storing anything, besides for emergency.

That price you quote is not bad at all (US$1281 for 2.4 kWh). That is significantly cheaper than the price one pays for a consumer-packaged battery in the US.