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Has the PV market blown up?


Radian

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What I mean is...

 

Back in March I had a company quote me £4200 for the supply and install of a 3kWp array plus all the standard trimmings. I agreed to the deal back then and I've been chasing them for a start date ever since. I just get excuse after excuse. To begin with it was because they were extremely busy but more recently the excuse is that they can't get the materials. I've also gone back to some other installers that I passed on and the best I could manage was a quote of £7500 for the same spec. No way.

 

So recently I started taking to a local builder who may be able to help me out with the roof work but searching for complete kits I'm seeing odd things on suppliers websites such as mental shipping charges...

 

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Other places are showing next to no stock or confidence sapping 404 errors on pages. Anyone know of reliable companies still supplying kits?

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Having spoken to ITS this week, it seems they're short on lots of bits (like everyone else) so struggling to quote for full systems.

 

My solar came from Midsummer Wholesale fwiw.

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The increase in energy prices has made solar PV much more attractive so all installers are really busy and there's a shortage of equipment. Our installation is scheduled for the end of September as the installer is booked up until then. I've got my fingers crossed that the panels, inverter and battery will be available.

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I never believed a single promise and suspect that hardly anybody did. IMO The vote was cast for less excusable reasons. Anyway, I guess if there's been a significant uptick in demand here in the UK since April, then multiply that by a factor of 10 for Europeans. The current bottleneck seems to be the mounting hardware much of which appears to be produced in Germany? Maybe this will drive some indigenous steel bashers to rise to the occasion. Should be low-tech enough to match our native skill sets.

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3 hours ago, Radian said:

Well, what I meant by 'blown up' is that it's non-functioning for self builders right now.

Theres trade advertisers on ebay still advertising kits at the same price as they were at the beginning of the year. Theres a number of sellers advertising various Renusol mounting parts. Midsummer have restrictions on Renusol parts but no restrictions on Fastensol mounting, if youre happy buying chinese.

 

Clearly things are busy but I dont think its non functioning.

 

Based on the fact that people didnt start buying PV until the sun came out, probably best to forget your PV for now and buy insulation. Once everyone starts buying insulation in the autumn, buy your PV

 

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Best bit if advise ever

 

10 minutes ago, Dillsue said:

Based on the fact that people didnt start buying PV until the sun came out, probably best to forget your PV for now and buy insulation. Once everyone starts buying insulation in the autumn, buy your PV

 

 

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2 hours ago, Radian said:

I got my quote on the 3rd of March when the Sun was all but a distant memory 😄

Going to have one last shot at getting it honoured.

I thought you were using a builder and buying a kit? I wouldnt use anyone to do anything if they werent interested in work I was offering- whats the aftersales and warranty going to be like if something goes wrong after youve paid??

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8 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

9 days off six years since we voted to leave the EU, weren't we promised that things would be cheaper and more plentiful.

£350m a week should buy a lot of PV.

Love it when people start pulling out the Brexit card for all the woes going on at the minute. 

 

It simply is not possible to quantify the impact Brexit has when thrown into the mix with all.of the other issues.

 

Anyone with half a brain and a minute to consider can see that the biggest issue driving nearly everything has been Covid. The world's supplies chains were so interwoven, with deliveries working to a 'just in time' schedule that everything is now suffering. The supply chains collapsed, nothing was manufactured, nothing was shipped and as soon as lockdown ended every Tom, Dick, Harry and Jill had unspent cash sloshing around just itching to spend it. Demand was such that the reawakening supply chains could not and can't cope.

 

Throw a war into the mix and we are fooked. Energy bills goes nuts, costs to make things goes up, costs to ship and deliver go up.....in a nutshell we are on the world's shittest roller coaster with no option but to hold on, suck it up and hope it ends soon.

 

Brexit is not to blame. No doubt plays a part, but absolutely is not the causal factor of all out woes. The entire world is in clip.

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PV is another victim of broken supply chains coupled with rising demand due to the hammering that energy prices have been subjected to due to the war.

 

So Covid and War are the two primary factors here.

 

I've been waiting 4 months for a solar edge immersion controller - it is what it is.

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2 hours ago, Dillsue said:

I thought you were using a builder and buying a kit?

It was an idea I had but the builder's around these parts all appear to be booked-up for the rest of the year. I am at last, however, getting somewhere with the company that quoted me. A re-jig of the spec seems to be solving their issues. I did plenty of research on them beforehand so it's still my preferred option.

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4 hours ago, LA3222 said:

 the biggest issue driving nearly everything has been Covid.

Well that is because we cannot blame the EU anymore.  Some people will always blame an existential threat, weather real or imagined.

 

I think Germany was the world's fourth largest market for PV, we do not have easy access to that market anymore, we are now in completion with them because of a quirk of geography (near Rotterdam).

 

But I think the vast majority is now installed in larger PV farms and not on domestic roof tops.  Low carbon generation does not care if it is made in Mayfair or Grimsby.

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8 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

I think Germany was the world's fourth largest market for PV, we do not have easy access to that market anymore, we are now in completion with them because of a quirk of geography (near Rotterdam).

This made me laugh. So what about 1, 2 and 3. Clutching.

 

I just don't buy the idea that brexit is the reason the PV market has imploded. I bought my solar panels a few months back via ITS, they came from Europe. There was a mistake with the sizing when they came so they had to engage with the supplier to identify what caused the problem and then have suitable replacements shipped across. Each time it took about 3 or 4 weeks to arrive.

 

Since then, energy prices have exploded globally, China has locked down hard again for Covid. 

 

So, now everyone worldwide wants solar and China is not shipping goods again.

 

All of this is to do with the collapse of supply chains, as evidenced by the fact that there is a severe shortage of pretty much everything at the minute.

 

I ordered a handmade metal 'post office' style postbox months ago. It has so far taken 5 weeks longer than normal to get it done - when asked why,....'supply issues'.

 

Where I work, a tender was pushed out for the manufacture of some items made from steel. Months ago there was interest, a contract was awarded, the last meeting I sat in they admitted there is already a 4 month delay due to the lack of available steel suitable for the job.

 

I could go on and on.

 

Stop trying to link problems to Brexit.

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