Wolfie Goes Solar! HD 1080p

In view of ever increasing utility prices, and having decided we DO like electric cars, we decided to bite the bullet and have solar installed.
This film is basically a vlog about the installation, and some early indicators of whether the venture was worthwhile.
Egg can be contacted at crackingenergy...
As I say in the film, this is not sponsored and the link is provided purely for your convenience

[@colingoode3702]

Interesting stuff Wolfie. Glad you got a resolution on the cable route & yes, your all black panels look good against the slate roof tiles. Very tidy installation.👍 I too am getting solar, hopefully in March🤞 It will be a 10 panel system with a 9.5kW battery + Eddie for hot water from solar, a car charger & a new consumer/fuse box (old one does not meet current codes). A note to anyone out there thinking of doing something similar, if you can afford it, add as much to the solar install as possible because it will all qualify for 0% Vat under the current guidelines. Add a battery or anything else to an existing solar system at a later date & it attracts 20% Vat. As for my system, it turns out that the incoming mains electric cable from the street to my house is looped with my neighbours house. Quite common apparently - ours was built in 1986. As such both houses are sharing the same single incoming cable which is too small to handle the extra load of the car charger (32amp) & both house loads. Also, both of our meter cupboard cut out fuses are too small (60amp for each house). National Grid are currently digging up my front garden to lay in a new cable to my neighbours house & disconnect the loop between us & upgrade the meter box fuses & wiring. Thankfully all the new mains cable work is FOC as part of National Grid's infrastructure responsibility. Dread to think what this would have cost otherwise. This going green lark is expensive but probably like you did, I sold it to myself along the lines that I rather invest some money into saving money in the longer term rather than pay through the nose for my electric at stupidly high rates. If prices stay the same my system should pay for itself in around 8-9 years, or sooner if prices go up. Personally I'm not too worried & I'm just happy knowing that some fat cat somewhere will not be benefiting from my hard earned pension pot via my high utility prices. Next step is to ditch the gas boiler but that is another story. Good luck with your system & I hope it performs well for you. Keep the vids coming they are always a good watch.

[@WolfiesWheels]

Thanks Colin for the comment! It’s certainly a minefield sorting the Solar out, looped supply used to be fine until the advent of electric cars etc. it’s not something I’d have even considered might be a problem 5 years ago. It’s a good job your DNO is doing the work free as it sounds like a massive bill otherwise. I think my motivation is pretty well aligned with yours, plus the memory of planned power outages in the 70’s and wanting to try to protect against that should such things arise in the future. I gave up trying to justify the cost to myself on a payback basis, and adopted the view I take when I buy a car. I.e. I buy what I want (budget permitting) as opposed to the car that I need/meets my requirements at the lowest price point. Good luck with your installation, I plan to put out another solar film at some future point once it’s been in a few months and I can make sense of it all!

[@colingoode3702]

@@WolfiesWheels I look forward to the next solar video. I can also remember the 3 day week & power cuts of the 1970's & the fuel rationing! Not only does the country needs to generate more green power to charge EV's & run heat pump systems at home, the electrical infrastructure has to be upgraded to handle the massive increase in demand. The engineer from National Grid I've been speaking to freely admitted that if 20 or more houses on our estate / network wanted to install EV home chargers they would have to upgrade the local substation & probably all the underground cables in the street & to each & every house. There are over 250 houses on our estate!! Multiply that by every other similar housing estate or village throughout the country & you are looking at a massive amount of infrastructure work which will take years to undertake. Like the NHS, the upgrade work may be FOC at point of access but we all have to pay in the long run through our utility bills!! Hopefully the solar system will reduce that impact. This is all very well but I don't even have an EV yet!! I decided to add the home charger to the solar install & get it at 0% Vat & future proof the house. I have been looking at getting an EV but new ones are just too expensive. I will probably get a used one later this year. It will be for my wife so just a small-ish 5 door hatch we can charge at home that can do at least 150 range in winter & has a decent boot that's under £20k. More money to find as the trade in on existing motors probably won't cover it. Hey ho.

[@SuperDiagnostic]

Nice one Wolfgang, thanks for the heads up on both the video and Egg as a supplier. I'm presuming they used subcontract labour which is a shame but a business decision and so long as it's all warranted back to Egg isn't such a problem I guess. Do you also have a ASHP or EV? 🤔

[@WolfiesWheels]

Thanks for watching and the kind comment. Yes, the guys were subcontractors but it all goes back to Egg so not a problem. We don’t have ASHP (probably will when the boiler dies though), have 2x EV . Looks like you have a M3 per your avatar🤔

[@annscott4031]

Loved the comment about the dirty floor and saying “no no WE will clear it up” 🤔. Translated means The lady of the house (ideas of grandeur here) actually did it.🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@WolfiesWheels]

The “royal we” of course 🤣🤣

[@phillmather1455]

Do the panels generate enough power to burn bodies?

[@WolfiesWheels]

Depends if you hold the bare wire ends or not 🤣