Cost of PV installed

[CharlieB]

Sorry if this is asked constantly, but I couldn't find it in a search.

What's a typical installed cost per kW of PV fully installed these days? Asking for a friend who's had a quote and wants to check out whether it's reasonable. They've had a quote for roof (shed) and ground mounted so if any of you are happy sharing rough numbers for each I'd be really grateful.
All sizes too - the potential installer has swamped them with numerous options including up to 40kW so I'd be interested in any costs at all.

Thanks all

Charlie

[Mart]

Hi Charlie, you did say any costs at all, so can I throw out some bits and bobs that may guide you, but will fail to answer your question.

So ..... prior to the Ukraine invasion, with costs falling, I used to suggest that somewhere above 5kWp the cost should fall below £1k/kWp. In fact my sister snuck in with 10kWp at ~£8k (but scaffolding was already in place).

After the invasion, and high leccy prices, demand for PV shot up, and so did prices. Some people said that they couldn't even get quotes as the installers were reluctant to quote as they already had 6 months of bookings.

Now, I'd suggest prices have fallen back quite a bit, and panel prices are still falling, but we do have something like 20% of general inflation increases over those years, which will have impacted most fixed costs, like labour, admin, vehicles, scaffolding etc.

I'd guess, given the incredibly low prices for the panels now, that the £1k/kWp point is still achieved, but perhaps at a higher level than 5kWp now.

I'm currently look at a simple install, replacing panels on an easy access low roof, and on a ground mount*, and that's around £2.5k for 4kWp (and includes the cost of 9 power optimisers). But crucially, not only is there no scaffolding, but there are no AC side costs, as an existing inverter will be used. Hopefully that goes to show how 'cheap' much of the DC side now is.

*I've read that a ground mount tends to cost a little bit more than roof mounted, due to the cost, time and labour of building the frame, or a bit lessthan roof mounted, if 'you' build the frame.


Not really answers, but hopefully some info that might contribute to the bigger picture, or not.

[CharlieB]

I just came across this from HMGov.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistic ... -cost-data

As far as I can tell it's saying that installed costs have remained pretty much static at ~£2000/kW installed for small systems and ~£1500/kW installed or bigger systems since 2014. I'd thought that PV costs had come down loads in the last decade??? Several hundred percent sort of loads?? But this shows installed costs hardly dropping at all and even the inflation adjusted numbers show very little fall.

Have I missed something?

[CharlieB]

Not really answers, but hopefully some info that might contribute to the bigger picture, or not.

Many thanks Mart. Definitely contributes. Their quote is just over £1k/kW peak ex VAT for a 20kw system, including scaffold etc, so I can comfortably say it's fairly reasonable. For what it's worth it's roughly 50/50 hardware and labour (including scaffold).

And your commentary has gone a long way to explaining why I was wrong to have expected installed costs to have come right down in the last decade (see my post above with gov figures). Thanks.

[Mart]

I just came across this from HMGov.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistic ... -cost-data

As far as I can tell it's saying that installed costs have remained pretty much static at ~£2000/kW installed for small systems and ~£1500/kW installed or bigger systems since 2014. I'd thought that PV costs had come down loads in the last decade??? Several hundred percent sort of loads?? But this shows installed costs hardly dropping at all and even the inflation adjusted numbers show very little fall.

Have I missed something?

Might depend on location, and whether people got enough quotes. My figures reflect prices paid by people posting on the MSE (Money Saving Expert) site, but crucially, not the prices they posted when asking for advice, which almost always started much higher.

Purely from memory, the cost of a 4kWp system went from around £20k in 2010, down to about £12k by summer 2011. That's when the Gov started to panic, as the returns on the FiT rates were 'too' good, and installs sky rocketed. By late 2011/early 2012 costs were down to about £8k, and around £7k by summer 2012. [I paid just over £4k for a small 2kWp system in July 2012.]

After that the prices continued downwards, but at a slower rate of decline. Lowest point was probably around £4k to £5k in the second half of the 2010's, through to 2020(ish), but the industry was also struggling. But £6k-£8k would have been a relatively normal starting point for quotes, especially if the scaffolding was more complex.

Average prices may also have been distorted by a small number of companies, miss-selling a large number of installs with extremely dodgy claims by the salesmen, using the home 'invasion' tactic of staying for hours, and swamping the people with numbers.

Clear as mud?

[Mart]

Addendum, and to be fair to the many installers trying to keep costs down, I have seen many high(er) prices in very expensive areas, like London, or some more rural areas (like Scotland, just as an example), as these jobs will cost more due to higher overheads.

[CharlieB]

Clear as mud?

Yes! I think most of the cost reduction I'd been expecting had already come before 2014. I think if that excel showed prices from 2004 we'd see cost/kW coming right down for the first decade and then more or less levelling off for the second. (I worked in PV back in 2002 so my starting point is very high £/kW.)

[AE-NMidlands]

I looked online (Tradesparky etc) last autumn for retail prices of the kit I was likely to get, added guessed labour costs per man-day, several hundred for scaffolding and some more for the sparky certification and MPAN paperwork. I got 11 panels, a 3.6kw hybrid inverter and a 9.5kWh battery for £12k which didn't seem too bad to me, given that several other companies had declined to quote.

Maybe a bit pricey but BIG scaffolding compared to most jobs, roofer and sparky working the first day and then 5 people working flat out to finish it on the second day. I don't think any inspection would be able to fault the way it has been done and also finished off nice and neatly.

[dan_b]

Hardware costs have fallen but the human costs have risen hugely.

[Snuggy]

Hi, I have been getting loads of quotes in. I didnt intend to get so many but some were just silly prices, or installers who didnt bother to locate the house with the coordinates or WTW I gave them. One illustration was on a neighbours roof...., another couldn't find the house and then blamed google for getting coordinates wrong! Obviously I dont want a firm who starts with a can't be bothered attitude. I am guessing I wrote to 30 firms, Roughly 10 didnt get back to me at all. Of the remainder a few just wouldnt quote, wanted to go immediately to home visit, I dropped them because I havent got time to listen to a sales pitch for equipment I wouldnt choose.

The quote requested was for roof mounted, about 8-9kw panels, 10kw battery, 6-8kw inverter, scaffolding (bungalow height) pigeon proofing. Quotes came in ranging from £10 to 22k (guess the highest ones didnt want the work) I got the £10 to 14k' s round for a look, 6 in all. I didnt like the fact that 2 of those 6 didnt even look in the loft, so that left 4 in the running.

Things moved on a bit from the original quote, and it got fine tuned to 9.35 kw panels with 6 optimisers, 9kw inverter, 11 kw battery now with added cabling,, an EPS, iboost diverter. A tad under £11k. I am in commuter belt to London, but that looks lit comes in around £1100 per kw if you adjust for peripheral. I am sure there is an economy of scale but if you are in a normal territory I think you should be aiming for 1k/1kw.

All that said, I have only just placed my order so it isnt a reality yet....what I have negotiated rather than what I have got!