Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Renewable Reality

Yep, definitely worth checking the warranty on batteries. Our 7KWh LG is guaranteed to be >90% capacity after 15 years, so we're not expecting to have to replace it in our lifetime.

You could get a changeover switch installed but as John V6 says its a costly option - changeover switch will allow the whole house to be powered from the battery (it basically makes a grid tied system into an off grid system) but at circa £700 - £1000 installed its an expensive option - how often do you have a power cut?
The socket that John V6 mentions normally will power a 13A load but that's all - so could be used to charge a mobile or keep a freezer running etc - all of course dependent on the battery size as to how long it will keep the circuit powered.

Big issue with batteries at moment is supply - there are a few available and of course demand/supply = price increasing...

Inverters are another issue due to chip shortage/Covid restrictions in China - one manufacturer has had no products available since late June and they have nothing expected to be available till January 2023.....

15 years??? I'd double check the wording on the warranty -and more importantly how its applied in terms of discharge/recharge rates - most manufacturers give 10 years maximum/10,000 charge cycles - although also a 20 year 'service' life which is open to all types of interpretation.

Havn’t seen it commented & I am sure things are improving, but cost in replacements of the inverter/inverters. My “sunny boy” (SMA) had to be changed after only 5 years.

In which case, I don't see the point in renewing the batteries.
Stevo666: I don't get a power cut that often and they are replacing the O/H grid cables in the locality just now.
IcePack: I have had the inverter changed in my 11 years of ownership and I haven't forgotten to cost that in.

I have never had to replace an inverter yet. My new from 1st Oct deal with Shell has electricity at 35.05 p per kWh from 29.239 p. So the battery payback is around 6 1/2 years .
The array payback is looking to be based on savings so far 8 years but the higher rate will reduce that.

What I don't get is why again the standing charges are increasing . Power is up from 37.92p/day to 38.93 p i.e. 2.7% in 3 months!
Gas is up from 27.22 p/day to 28.48 p/day or 4.6% in 3 months. Why the huge increases and why od we even have a standing charge?

Why also when I get effectively 7.5p per kWh I generate doesn't the FIT rate also increase. BG is making a fortune on my feed in power.

Though if the above posts are correct then there is no 'feed in power' in terms of the grid ... and the FIT was really a cash incentive to encourage homeowner PV installation for political and consumption reduction reasons ... they're not 'making a fortune' because in reality there's nothing there that's re-sellable.

K

Lovely thought but I'm not eligible as I recieve FiT.

r
But there is export power to the grid regardless of what some posts state...


if your generating PV then you will be consuming that PV power or at least some of it - so I'm not sure how you work out that BG are gaining anything after paying you 7.5p kwh? And don't you get paid for deemed export of 50% so 3.75p kwh?

For anyone thinking of applying for the Smart Energy Guarantee (non FIT - SEG export payments) then Octupus energy have just announced that their kwh payment is increasing from 7.5p/kwh to 15p/kwh. That's a very good deal compared to others.