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Morning all, im looking for some advice...

After seeing my electric&gas bill just soar to £224 Per month (im on octopus standard tariff) im guessing that will go up again after April. I used £195 of electric just for 30 days in the January bill.

So I'm thinking of installing some solar panels and batteries.

My house is E/W facing - however I could mount panels down the end of my garden (ground mount) which would be south facing (I have a large space to do this - non shadowed)

What sort of system should I be looking at ? my budget is around £8k, I could do most of the installation myself and know an electrician that would help with that side of the install. I've seen a few 5-6kw type packages for panels and batteries but would I be better specifying my own? Are there any reputable systems or dealers you can recommend?

Just looking for ideas to see if I can future proof myself a little, against the incoming tide of rising energy cost.

I already have 4 panels (approx 600w) on my shed roof connected to a Soladin plugin invertor which I bought a long long time ago....they dont seem to be doing much to help with my electric bill !!!

Thanks in advance.
Mark

There are quite a few variables to consider here.

These days the cost of panels etc make this viable and to do it DIY i believe is now the way to go because if you go the battery AND solar route officially at 5% vat then you end up paying a stupid labour cost because the labour cost has to be a certain % of the total so they just increase the labour cost!!

Officially you can fit a system of 3.68 kw without prior notice to the infrastructure supplier although they will frequently allow larger systems just depends. You can fit more panels and use a certified inverter to limit the output to the grid or you can just ignore the whole charade.

Obviously the more you fit the better because the marginal fitting cost of the last panel is less. I believe it is now possible to buy a 300w + panel for £100 if you buy a pallet full. All panels are certified rated and the biggest difference is just size so just depends on the size to fill.

You probably want to fit the max panels for now even if that means less batts as you can always add more batts very easily and their prices are coming down significantly. Buy the inverter/charger to suit your potential aim.

Ref. “ I used £195 of electric just for 30 days in the January bill. “

Ref. “I already have 4 panels (approx 600w) on my shed roof connected to a Soladin plug-in inverter which I bought a long long time ago....they don't seem to be doing much to help with my electric bill !!! “

What did £195 of electric get used on in a month. ? Mine without STANDING CHARGE. Was £7

Ref. “ Soladin plug in inverter “
The plug should have been cut off a long long time ago. ?
My Soladin inverter has been very reliable for many years. The A.C. output must be directly connected
to the house electrical system. Not connected with a plug.

In full agreement with Kens Comments.

The down side with P.V.
In the winter when you use the most power. You cant produce much.
In the summer there are many times when so much is produced you cant use it. My next door neighbour has had free water tank heating for 20 years.

The ground mount option sounds really promising, giving you the option of adjusting the pitch angle for getting as much as pos in winter and maybe a different setting for the shoulder months and summer.
While you may be able to do much of it yourself I believe it will need to be certified by an MCS accredited engineer in order to comply with DNO and also if considering SMEG payments too. As others suggested go as big as you can, upto 10kWp on single phase and 30kWkp poly, subject to DNO approval that is.
What a great project to embark upon. Jolly good luck with it.

Oh, also worth looking up Ripple's wind farm offer. Many of us have even though we have copious PV arrays!

Another vote for ripple investment (though it won't be felt immediately, do understand, it's got to be funded & built) this will be the second ripple WT under community investments like on here as individuals & the easiest route for all wishful turnip fliers.

Take my link & use it if it is any good for you to access the ripple estimated use slider & get your head around what's going on.

Maybe then fit a "main use room" small ASHP for around £700 for the core of your home & utilise modern cop energy ratings to offset general usage further in & up to the shoulder months (if applicable)

Infinite options here!

Ground mount is really simple. You just build a frame out of wood or unistrut or scaffold poles or whatever. Just be careful to ensure that grass/weeds cannot grow over the bottom of the panels because this will take out the entire string, so you want them at least 18" off the ground and/or you want membrane/gravel beneath the panels.

On the other hand east-west arrays do work, particularly in summer and in bright-overcast conditions.

Look at ITS, Bimble, and TradeSparky for bits. I'll give you an example kit list form ITS (https://www.itstechnologies.shop/) to make things simple:

Price	EA	Units	Total
385W JA Solar panels	£163	18	£2,934
SoFar 6kW hybrid inverter	£1,128	1	£1,128
Pylontech 2.4kWh batteries	£751	4	£3,004
TOTAL			£7,066

That is the main stuff. You need to run a length of SWA from the panels to where the inverter/batteries will be in your house and obviously you need to build the mount. But that is a decent array that will put a big dent in your energy bills.

Stinsy has said it all.

Go for it.

With all my solar and batteries, my 4 bed detached house costs me £750 per year in leccy and gas and that includes charging 2 electric cars. Next month when the ripple wind turbine comes online my total bill will be circa minus £50.

Ground mounts are easier to maintain but roof mounted, its all out of the way.

Then go on pvgis to calculate how many kWh you can expect to harvest per annum.
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/pvgis
Weigh that up against grid units at 28.34p plus vat (29.8p).

Thanks everyone for the input, I will be having a read through tonight.

BUT, before you do that splash up some decent directional pics of the garden & how it is used, in case it causes friction & can be pared back to acceptable working levels.