How big's the battery and what's the brand? I'm not familiar with Infinity Renewables.

Posted by: @burtis

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Possible looking at applying for this scheme it's about £4200 for 14 panels no battery or around £7000 with battery anyone had any experience with them?

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Yes. That's how I got my solar PV install. The scheme was run by Solar Together in conjunction with my local county council, so it felt as if there was a bit more comeback than if the council hadn't been involved at all. Not suggesting the council would have had any real teeth but this appears to be how Solar Together makes its money, so loss of reputation would have been something they'd want to avoid.

My experience was that Solar Together and the council worked well enough together and the bulk purchase price they negotiated was undeniably good; our installation cost almost exactly £7,500 meaning we effectively got our 6kWh battery for free. Because there were so many people taking up the scheme, the installations were pretty much a set routine; the guys themselves turned up, did their stuff, handed over to me (including talking me through the app) and then left. They didn't show the same customer engagement as the heat pump installers who were there at the same time, but the job was done in a workmanlike manner and was left tidy. A dip switch was configured incorrectly meaning them having to return due to the battery being charged from grid and then exporting to grid continuously and that showed their attention to detail was not quite as good as it should have been - I suspect they were hurrying to maximise the number of installs they could get done in a given time period - but it was sorted reasonably quickly and the system has been running fine ever since.

Infinity Renewables' admin involved in dealing with the distribution network operator - in our case UK Power Networks - could have been better but once again not unreasonable given the cost saving. In effect it involved me having to chase them a couple of times and rattle the DNO's cage directly once or twice rather than relying on Infinity Renewables to do that.

Overall, no big red flags but no awards of gold stars either. Which kit are they supplying? Growatt inverter and battery?

@majordennisbloodnok Spirit Energy have put up a YouTube presentation about Solar Together - they don’t rate them at all favourably!!! Toodles.

Here’s the link to said presentation:

Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @toodles

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@majordennisbloodnok Spirit Energy have put up a YouTube presentation about Solar Together - they don’t rate them at all favourably!!! Toodles.

Well I can only comment on the experience I had which was workmanlike but underwhelming. I certainly wouldn't want my experiences to be taken as accurate across the board, though, and it's good to see other tales being publicised. All the better for an informed choice, I'd say.

@majordennisbloodnok Spirit’s view does seem somewhat extreme and obviously, they wish to carry out the installations themselves, I only have experience of one installer of solar kit and that wasn’t one I would wish on others.

Perhaps this is the ‘going rate’ in terms of quality; mine was dogged by lack of materials being supplied in a timely manner and a totally incompetent Project Manager who could not organise an inebriation ceremony in a brewery if the bottles were opened for them. Hey-Ho. Regrets, Toodles.

@editor choices of 4.6, 9 and a larger one may be out my price range for anything but the small one possibly wouldn't wven be able to afford that depends if I can borrow it off family 😅

Thank you all for your replies id imagine like you have all said it's going to be rushed and not the best kit but then again you get what you pay for and I don't have 12,000+ to blow. 

Just trying to get something rather than nothing now to make the most of the scheme and time scales of life 😅

Well I checked and the install was done before I was required to settle up, so if it hadn't been done OK I could have withheld payment. The kit itself is fine so if you do go down the Solar Together route then I'd just make sure the arrangement allows for at least half the money being paid after installation.

A friend used solar together and then a different installer was used. The installation was done well enough but they installed 6kW of panels on an 4kW inverter and although under sizing an inverter a bit is common practice he found it clipped too often. He later added more panels and re-used the inverter elsewhere, but he knew more about it then. I can’t help but think that the 4kW inverter was to reduce the DNO paperwork issues.

The better part of the Solar Together scheme is very likely to be the solar panels.

Although you can now buy a brand new 350W panel for less than £100, the main expense is the installation work:

• scaffolding and roof ladders
• roof brackets and baffles to prevent ingress of rain
• aluminium roof-rails
• insurance
• labour

Few people have the knowledge, skills and tools to undertake that on a DIY basis (although I did!)

It almost doesn't matter what inverter they put on the end of the cables, so long as it's in a location where you can later change it and/or add your own choice of storage battery.
So decline having it in attic space.

Get as many PV panels as you can, and as cheap an inverter as possible.
Then you won't feel bad about re-selling it online once you decide what you really want.

All of that will give you an MCS reference number.
You can use that in future to get registered for the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG).
That allows you to get paid for grid export if you choose a tariff which supports that.

The opinion of others here may differ.

But it's a discussion forum... so let's share as many views as possible.