Solar Panel Costs
Solar Panels work by taking the electrons the sun discharges and using the panel to collect that energy to create electricity. This energy is then sent to your inverter which will convert the energy from DC to AC for you to be able to use in your home.
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Any electricity not used will then be fed into your battery storage system or will be distributed to the national grid for others to use from there and you will get paid your SEG payments.
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In this section, we will go through how different parts of your system work giving you the knowledge even before you are contacted for your quotes.
Understading Solar Panel Costs
Solar panel costs are broken down into a few main categories for installers and to help you understand the pricing and breakdowns of a system we will explain to you what's involved. So here is what is typically involved in a solar panel installation without VAT as solar is VAT free.
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Materials - Solar panels, Mounting, Cables, Inverter, Battery and miscellaneous
Certifications - MCS, EPVS, HIES and RECC
DNO - Certain grid providers will charge up to £640 for a DNO application if you have an inverter larger than 3.68kW but 98% of them are FREE please keep in mind that DNO and MCS is needed for SEG payments.
Labour - The guys installing the equipment get paid for doing so
Scaffolding - The scaffolding needed to install your equipment
Overheads - The company will allow so much to pay for the overheads of the company this is typically why 1 man bands can be cheaper than big companies
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So this is the list of things that a company will have to pay out to do your installation typically the solar panels themselves are one of the cheapest parts of the job in comparison to the rest of the system.
What Certification Is Needed For Solar Panels
MCS
​So to be entitled to your SEG payment which is what you can receive for any excess energy you export to the national grid you will have to have your system installed by an MCS-registered company. The MCS must make sure that the installers installing the equipment are adequately trained and will perform to above standard business approach to the way they deal with a customer, This doesn't mean all MCS are made equally like anything in life some companies can still be MCS registered but not have good worth ethic or standards. Knowing your company is MCS registered does mean you have a far better chance of having a good-standing company but always check the company's reviews this will tell you more than their accreditations.
DNO Application
The DNO application needs to be done on every single solar panel installation regardless of size but the applications are different based on the size of the inverter involved in the system.
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G98 Application - A G98 application will be performed on a system when the inverter does not exceed 3.68kW this means anything this size or under is just a fit and notify application, this means you do not have to wait for a response your installer can just install and let them know what they have installed. Think of this as an automatic pass for the DNO application.
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G99 Application - The G99 application will be performed when the inverter exceeds 3.68kW, if your system is quite large and needs a larger inverter then your installed will have to put in an application to your specific DNO provider to ask for permission to install the inverter. They need to make sure the cable supplying your house can withstand the pressure of exporting the surplus energy (this is a simplified explanation). This is often FREE of charge but for example, if you are on the northern grid they can charge up to £640 for the application if they have to do further investigations. Some installers just dilute this into the costs of their systems and some of them will explain this to you and they will just say if the cost happens it's a chargeable extra as the installer will not know until the application has been put in.
HIES/RECC
So HIES and RECC are the consumer code of solar panel installation these are the rules and regulations the companies have to stand by for how they treat their customers think of MCS as the standard of the installation and think if HIES/RECC as the standard of customer service, HIES/RECC will also act as double-backed insurance for your installation in case anything where to happen to your original installer. If you have any disputes with the company about mis-selling or anything else it will be one of these companies that you would go through as the mediator between yourself and the company. Companies can either be a member of HIES or RECC so you would have to check which one they are members of.
Some of Our Solar Only Range Examples
