Solar options for home in 2022.

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#3344298 18-Feb-2025 16:26

boland:

Does anyone have experience with the Enphase 5P? It's a 5kwh AC coupled battery but can't find any pricing info. It seems to have been released in Nov 2023, but not on the companies I contacted mentioned it during my quest

You could start here https://enphase.com/en-au/homeowners/home-solar-batteries

I purchased an Enphase PV system - without batteries - from Sound Electrical in Whanganui; contact office@soundelectrical.co.nz

dantheperson

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#3344402 18-Feb-2025 21:42

boland:

I've been looking to add a battery to our solar installation for a couple of years now. Our inverter isn't hybrid so either we need to get another inverter or an AC coupled battery. Every quote was $15k+ for just the AC battery or a DC battery + inverter.

What size are you looking at? i was talking to lux solar about a 5kWh battery with victron multiplus battery inverter for much less. Smaller battery you get the 80/20 rule.

boland

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#3344409 18-Feb-2025 22:20

dantheperson:

boland:

I've been looking to add a battery to our solar installation for a couple of years now. Our inverter isn't hybrid so either we need to get another inverter or an AC coupled battery. Every quote was $15k+ for just the AC battery or a DC battery + inverter.

What size are you looking at? i was talking to lux solar about a 5kWh battery with victron multiplus battery inverter for much less. Smaller battery you get the 80/20 rule.

From about 5kwh. Don't want to spend 15k on a pw2.

Stu1

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#3344522 19-Feb-2025 15:12

Has anybody looked at Rheem solar options?, just wondering what they are like ?

fastbike

212 posts

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#3344661 19-Feb-2025 22:32

boland:

Does anyone have experience with the Enphase 5P? It's a 5kwh AC coupled battery but can't find any pricing info. It seems to have been released in Nov 2023, but not on the companies I contacted mentioned it during my quest.

I installed 14x IQ8HC micro inverters on the garage in Dec - not sure if that helps.

Otautahi Christchurch

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#3346173 23-Feb-2025 22:40

Greetings.

Its very competitive price wise out there. I got some quotes from some suppliers last year and just chased up the two leading contenders – Planet Electrical and Harrisons - and they have stepped up with better offers. I also got a flyer from Total Solar which includes a battery for $15,000!

The Total Solar deal looks too good to be true, so I am probably going with Planet Electrical because they seem to know their business (recommend splitting the install with some east facing panels for instance) and also installed my car charger for Z Energy.

Anyway, a good time to be buying solar. (FYI the inverter from Planet Electrical is a Huawei rebrand that is now locally supported.)

Planet Electrical ($12,900) - www.planetelectrical.co.nz
Solar Panels - Jinko Solar Co., Ltd.
18 x 440 Watt Panels (JKM440N-54HL4R-BDB)
7.920 kW Total Solar Power
Inverter - Entelar Energy
6 kW Total Inverter Rating
1 x EESOLAR-6KTL-L1 – (https://entelargroup.co.nz/entelarenergy/eesolar-5-6ktl-l1/)

Harrisons ($ 12,960)
15 x AIKO 460w panels
6.3 kW
Fronius Primo 5.0 GEN24

Total Solar ($12,500) - www.totalsolar.co.nz
15 x 435 w Canadian solar all black panels and 1 x sigenergy hybrid inverter and tilt legs for 5 panels for $12,500 fully installed including GST
Or
15 x Canadian solar panels plus 6 kw sofar all in one hybrid inverter, tilt legs for 5 panels and 10 kwh of battery for $19,500 including GST.

In a recent flyer they have the following offer:
12 panels and a hybrid inverter (battery ready!) fully installed from only $9,999
Add a 10 kW GSL wall mounted battery for only $5,000 or add an EVNEX charger for only $1395 with free installation.

Kraven

729 posts

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#3346193 24-Feb-2025 07:07

prob:

Harrisons ($ 12,960)
15 x AIKO 460w panels
6.3 kW
Fronius Primo 5.0 GEN24

Wow, that's insanely good pricing. Harrisons have just quoted me $20,429 for 18 panels and a 6kW Fronius, in Palmy though. Seems that all the installers here are booked out for months so they're hesitant to be competitive on price.

timmmay

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#3346203 24-Feb-2025 07:15

Hi all. Couple of questions / options requested on our quote from Tony at SolarMan - who was much better value than Lightforce, who wanted around $6K more for almost exacctly the same thing. We cancelled the Harrisons quote because the prices on their websites were so much higher than SolarMan.

18 x Jinko Solar 440W Premium Panels (7.92kw)
1 x SigEnergy 6kw Hybrid Inverter (Battery Ready Inverter) - 6.6kw peak output
DG Lines Application Included
Inspection Fee Included
Import/Export Meter fee included (We credit you this cost)
Cost $14K inc GST

We're happy with this but asked if we could add a few more panels, and if we should go up to the 8kw inverter, which is about $1600 inc GST more than the 6kw. Tony has given us the advice:

Another three panels would work with the system and he thinks its worthwhile - takes the system to $15.2K
He wouldn't recommend a larger inverter as smaller inverters are more efficient when the light levels are lower, even though there would be some peak clipping

With 21 panels the system is 9.24kw, with an inverter that is 6kw standard and 6.6kw peak. At absolute peak there would be 2.6kw we can't use, but in lower light / most of the year in Wellington I guess the 21 panel system output would be a bit higher than it would with 18 panels.

Key questions - keeping in mind our only priority here is reducing power bills and that my wife doesn't really want to pay the extra $1600 for the larger inverter:

Would you bother with the three extra panels?
Would the 6.6kw inverter be sufficient?

Bonus question: How important is a solar diverter, which isn't included? I'm not convinced that the ROI is there for a device costing $1500 that improves self consumption slightly. I'm considering getting a Shelly relay for our hot water and turning it on with Home Assistant when there's excess generation, plus we have three heat pumps which are heavily used so I have multiple ways to use excess capacity. A relay isn't as effective as a diverter, but the ROI is much better on an $80 switch.

wongtop

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#3346226 24-Feb-2025 09:10

With 9.2 kW of panels and a 6.6 kW inverter your ratio of panels to inverter will be similar to mine. I have 6.9 kW of panels and a 5 kW inverter. My inverter clips on sunny days most of the year, except in winter (north facing panels in Tauranga). I am happy with my decision. The extra panels improved the yield/$ for installation.

Has your installer done a yield calc for the additional panels so that you can see whether they give you more bang for your $.

fastbike

212 posts

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#3346230 24-Feb-2025 09:22

timmmay:

Bonus question: How important is a solar diverter, which isn't included? I'm not convinced that the ROI is there for a device costing $1500 that improves self consumption slightly. I'm considering getting a Shelly relay for our hot water and turning it on with Home Assistant when there's excess generation, plus we have three heat pumps which are heavily used so I have multiple ways to use excess capacity. A relay isn't as effective as a diverter, but the ROI is much better on an $80 switch.

Depending on the element size I would use the Shelley to operate a contactor. It may be rated at 16A but the wiring inside is pretty marginal for bigger loads.

Otautahi Christchurch

timmmay

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#3346232 24-Feb-2025 09:30

wongtop:

With 9.2 kW of panels and a 6.6 kW inverter your ratio of panels to inverter will be similar to mine. I have 6.9 kW of panels and a 5 kW inverter. My inverter clips on sunny days most of the year, except in winter (north facing panels in Tauranga). I am happy with my decision. The extra panels improved the yield/$ for installation.

Has your installer done a yield calc for the additional panels so that you can see whether they give you more bang for your $.

Your ratio is 1.38, ours would be 1.53, a bit higher. My understanding is in Australia they're not allowed to go over a 1.33 ratio, but we're not in Australia, lower sunlight and temperatures here. He did say that we could get the larger inverter if we wanted to make use of the peak generation in summer. The inverter he's specified can take up to 12kw of power so it's within spec.

Yeah he did an assessment, but I don't know if it takes into account inverter size. The estimated solar production is linearly scaled up based on panel count, but we won't get linear scaling due to clipping.

Given we'd probably only hit peak production a few hours a day in summer the smaller inverter is probably ok, and Tony seems extremely knowledgeable. I guess I'm mostly looking for peoples experiences with similar overprovisioning.

18 panel

21 panel

EgorNZ

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#3346233 24-Feb-2025 09:31

timmmay:

We're happy with this but asked if we could add a few more panels, and if we should go up to the 8kw inverter, which is about $1600 inc GST more than the 6kw. Tony has given us the advice:

Another three panels would work with the system and he thinks its worthwhile - takes the system to $15.2K
He wouldn't recommend a larger inverter as smaller inverters are more efficient when the light levels are lower, even though there would be some peak clipping
With 21 panels the system is 9.24kw, with an inverter that is 6kw standard and 6.6kw peak. At absolute peak there would be 2.6kw we can't use, but in lower light / most of the year in Wellington I guess the 21 panel system output would be a bit higher than it would with 18 panels.

I'm not sure how significant the difference in inverter efficiency is. But I would've thought 6kW is undersized for 9.2kW of panels.

Get as many panels as will fit on your roof would be my advice.

Bonus question: How important is a solar diverter, which isn't included? I'm not convinced that the ROI is there for a device costing $1500 that improves self consumption slightly. I'm considering getting a Shelly relay for our hot water and turning it on with Home Assistant when there's excess generation, plus we have three heat pumps which are heavily used so I have multiple ways to use excess capacity. A relay isn't as effective as a diverter, but the ROI is much better on an $80 switch.

Assume you've seen this thread, the Shelly relays aren't suitable for driving a HWC directly:

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=73&topicid=304656&page_no=2#3216750

timmmay

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#3346234 24-Feb-2025 09:32

fastbike:

Depending on the element size I would use the Shelley to operate a contactor. It may be rated at 16A but the wiring inside is pretty marginal for bigger loads.

Is a contactor basically a heavy duty relay, so the Shelley only switches a very small load? We have a timer on the hot water cylinder now, I suspect we might already have a contactor on there too - though it's 10 - 15 years old its apparently still working fine.

timmmay

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#3346240 24-Feb-2025 09:38

EgorNZ:

I'm not sure how significant the difference in inverter efficiency is. But I would've thought 6kW is undersized for 9.2kW of panels.

Get as many panels as will fit on your roof would be my advice.

Assume you've seen this thread, the Shelly relays aren't suitable for driving a HWC directly:

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=73&topicid=304656&page_no=2#3216750

6kw with 6.6kw peak output and I think it can go a little higher, according to the specs. The question is around ROI mostly - would spending another $1600 on a larger inverter be worthwhile given the additional 2kw peak generation that will happen a couple of hours per day when the weather is perfect. Given the weather in Wellington isn't usually perfect, though we're having a great run at the moment, I suspect it would probably work ok.

Thanks for pointing out the Shelly issue, a contactor seems essential. That puts the price up quite a bit, $300 ish instead of $100 ish. I wonder if I'd be better off just using the digital timer I have there now, even though there's no HA control.

EgorNZ

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#3346263 24-Feb-2025 09:57

timmmay:

6kw with 6kw peak output and I think it can go a little higher, according to the specs. The question is around ROI mostly - would spending another $1600 on a larger inverter be worthwhile given the additional 2kw peak generation that will happen a couple of hours per day when the weather is perfect. Given the weather in Wellington isn't usually perfect, though we're having a great run at the moment, I suspect it would probably work ok.

Thanks for pointing out the Shelly issue, a contactor seems essential. That puts the price up quite a bit, $300 ish instead of $100 ish. I wonder if I'd be better off just using the digital timer I have there now, even though there's no HA control.

Have you validated that "couple of hours per day" against your potential insolation in NIWA SolarView? Then you can estimate what that extra power might be worth.

Bearing in mind the 5kW export cap means you won't get any extra generation from a bigger inverter unless you're also able to consume the extra energy at the right time. Without a battery or a smart diverter, that might be unlikely.

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