Recently we had solar panels installed by Solarfast, and I have to say they are pretty darn good! I was sceptical about the true value of the investment beforehand … can it really pay for itself? But in the end we went for it based on the hope of trying to “do our bit” for carbon reduction and the long term health of the environment…
Solarfast were several things:
- Fast, it took less than two weeks from our first contact through quote and then to a complete installation!
- Efficient and courteous, they kept us completely in the loop throughout with no room for confusion.
- Competitive, we have a few quotes and all were pretty much in the same ball-park, so in the end we used the most responsive … as above, they were fast and super efficient!
- Neat, the installers were friendly and did a really clean job with all the wiring etc., which was very well hidden away and tidy.
Obviously I’m happy with the system – I wouldn’t be suggesting anyone takes a look at it if I wasn’t! Of course it’s early days thus far (only five months in) but so far it really is on track for saving a ton of money on electricity bills, and the return on investment illustrated as part of the quote is looking entirely on (if not a little ahead of) track! 🙂 Also, I think it’s worth mentioning the technology is very interesting too, especially for anyone at all geeky. The screenshots in this post are from the monitoring software that is easily used on your smartphone, browser, etc. to monitor the system’s performance from anywhere at any time.
So, seeing as it’ll cost you nothing to get a quote, if you are in any way curious why not find out for yourself and start your journey to cheaper and cleaner electricity by clicking this Solarfast link. 😉
What set up of panels, battery and inverter did you go for? When do you forecast break even?
Hello Rachel!
We’ve got 12 panels, but just one battery. The battery is way the most expensive component, and with anticipated Lakeland winter weather we didn’t think we’ll get enough solar energy during the winter months to effectively charge a second battery. As such the ROI for a second battery looked poor. Your mileage will differ in the sunnier south!
My current forecast will breakeven in around 10 years. The quote suggested 11. We shall see in due course. Either way, the system is supposed to have a lifespan of 25 years (with a battery refresh included in the ROI model), so there’s plenty of wiggle room in the model to make the ROI stack up.
However as I say, the green aspects were perhaps the strongest motivator for us. 🙂
A 10 panel, one battery system would be optimal for us too with an 8-9 yr payback. Very tempting.
Will you be charging your battery overnight using cheap energy in the winter? Or consider Octopus Agile?
We have switched to Octopus to get the best export rate, but not the Agile tariff as there seems little benefit to charging from the grid; even on driech days there’s enough light to keep the house going, it’s only cooking in the evening that requires more power.