My Solar PV System

My Solar PV system purchased through and installed by JPS Renewable Energy.  They have a very professional team that worked with me from the start to the finish of the install and they continue to support me with any any queries I have about the equipment.

Solar Panels & Microinverters

I have Jinko solar panels (Tiger Neo N-Type) with Enphase IQ7A microinverters on each panel.  Around each array I’ve also had a bird-guard mesh fitted to prevent nesting/sheltering under the panels.

From the microinverters, each panel produces power independently, allowing for AC power to be delivered directly into the house and each panels performance to be monitored via the Enphase Envoy.

Battery - GivEnergy

I decided to go with the 9.5kWh GivEnergy battery (Giv-Bat 9.5) coupled to an AC Coupled 3.0 inverter.  We had to use the AC coupled inverter due to the Enphase microinverters

EV Charger & Solar Diverter - Myenergi

From MyEnergi I’ve got the Zappi car charger (7kW), in preparation for getting an EV at a later stage, and the Eddi for capitalising on the excess energy generated to use the emersion heater in our hot water tank.

There’s also a Harvi installed to “harvest” the data.

Data & Control

Each company has their own app, which can be a little annoying but, that said, it’s mostly used for data gathering.  It’s important to remember that most of the energy use data is gathered using CT clamps so data may vary slightly with what’s actually going on with Importing and Exporting data but the variations, in my experience, are quite small (around 5%).

Your smart meter will be the definitive source of data so if you can access that, then you’ll really know what’s going on.

Octopus Energy

After looking around at a few different energy providers I chose to go with Octopus.  They angle their tariff’s to smart homes with renewable energy and/or battery storage.

If you’re thinking about moving to Octopus, here’s my referral link (you get £50 credit and I’ll get £50 credit when you complete your first payment to Octopus).

Referral link: Share £100 when signing up….

Currently (April 2023) Octopus operate a model where you can switch between tariff’s without any penalties, so while you’re maybe tied into a deal with them for a year you can switch at almost any time to another tariff (there’s a small caveat about not switching back to a tariff you’ve left within 30 days … which seems reasonable).

Octopus Tariff information link …. will need your postcode to advise you on pricing as it varies by region of the UK.