Re-site or Replace dilemma

When I first got the GE AC inverter and Batteries I didn't have this option open to me of placing them out in the garage as the old garage was earmarked for demolition and replacement.

So the system was placed indoors in a position that was not ideal and certainly not within the current guidance.

I now have a new garage which I plan on putting some solar panels and options open to me that we're not possible 4 years ago.

With my recent experience of GE support I am not a great fan of the gilded cage but they did eventually come good and replace the inverter.

So I am contemplating what best to do moving forward. Open to a bit of input if you want to offer any...

Option A buy a GE hybrid inverter and move the batteries into the garage, sell off the AC inverter.

Option B dump the GE kit for whatever I can get for it and buy a new battery system. The solar installer is a fan of Fox ESS which is another gilded cage, but a bigger manufacturer. (Or SigEnergy or Tesla etc...)

Option C get the garage installed with another hybrid inverter that supports other stand alone batteries such as fogstar to avoid gilded cages. I can then install at a later date.

Option D leave the existing kit in the less than ideal place until they die / out of support. Maybe 4 more years of life in them?

What would you do? Just trying to work through the best course. Binning the GE kit is painful and will hurt financially and hurt my Yorkshire bones...

Waiting might be better as new cheaper battery options on the way as the market matures so might be better?

What is the problem with the existing location?
New guidelines are not retrospective

SteveCook

Wife doesn't like them where they are after the inverter electrical incident caused by GE help staff. They are on a escape route from our bedroom on 3rd floor in a clothes cupboard.

We have an escape ladder as backup but we are getting older and they really do need moving out of the current location.

The advantage is they are warm and easy to check when I have to use the WC at 4am...

We could leave them as they have been ok for 4 years bar the GE help team electrical incident. Burned out the circuit board...

M_J One advantage of having your batteries inside the house is that they will remain warm so you won't have any slow charge/discharge issues which you might face if putting them in an unheated garage. Depends on how sheltered your garage is of course; my batteries are on an outside wall in the garage but as long as the garage door is shut they don't get below 10 degrees C regardless of what the outside temperature is.

Anyway, back to your question.

Unless the kit's current location is causing you a real problem I wouldn't go for option B. You will get almost nothing for the kit you have so you have to consider whether the pain you have from the current location is worth £5k+ (cost of a complete new system). Probably not.

You don't mention how much solar you could get on the new garage. Use pvgis to get an idea of what you would generate from that to work out whether its worth the £1k or so option A would cost to get a hybrid inverter and move the batteries. You also have to work out whether moving the batteries is worthwhile or not, i.e. is your house load sufficient and your current solar generation capacity such that you will benefit from storing the additional solar generation?

Personally I would favour option C, invest in an inverter that is large enough to support your current panels AND whatever you put on the garage AND can be connected to open batteries. Having learnt how dependent we are on the inverter/battery manufacturer for support with a closed ecosystem like GivEnergy I wouldn't choose to do it again so Fox, SigEnergy, Tesla etc would all be rejected for that reason.

When you get the garage built put in sufficient ducting that you can extend your solar panel cables to the garage, and connect it to your house meter box with large enough cable to support future generation

I guess it also factors in you usage. Would you benefit from more storage going down that route? Do you find you run out with what you have?
I think I'd be inclined to shift the kit I've got, batteries are the expensive bit & you can pick up Gen 3 hybrids cheap now.
Finding an installer wanting to play along however is more challenging. I don't condone it & suspect when Giv catch on they'll revoke him, but there's atleast one seller on FB marketplace willing to commission on your electricians behalf...
I do know after what happened to yours I'd always have that nagging doubt about them staying put where they are.

hoggy think I'd be inclined to shift the kit I've got, batteries are the expensive bit & you can pick up Gen 3 hybrids cheap now.

Yep the flea bay prices are good so I am leaning towards that. The team quoting have done GE in the past, but some unknown reason they don't now.. 😉

I think I could persuade them to commission it as long as I didn't bother them if I have any issues that aren't there problem.

I added the 2.6 to the 5.2 because I was running out early evening, but once again I am running out of capacity so in reality if doing it again I could use a 10 or 9.

As a halfway step it might work, keep the existing kit until it does and then replace the inverter and batteries a few years down the line, depends on how long the GE stuff lasts.

There are some hybrids brand new boxed for £300 ISH at the moment as folk off load GE kit...

It would please my wife, which is a win too. She was extremely worried after the electrical incident. Once I understood it I understand the actual risk was not as bad as the imagination can run with.