Hi,
Hope everyone is well.
We are looking at different options for solar panels.
In the perfect world we would sell back to the grid and pay them off quicker as we will only be at the house around once a month to start.
What’s peoples experiences with this?
Also, which companies do people use etc?
I have searched the topics but only found old topics hence the post. 
Many thanks in advance,
Andre
If you sell to the grid, then it does not matter if you are in the house once a month or thirty times a month! The panel just keep on giving when there is sun!
Why do you think otherwise?
I have been selling to EDF for ten years now like this. Pays for 60% of my consumption.
Most pv installers seem to go bust at some stage, so it is, I think, take your pick of the smaller ones, or use Enertec who I use for servicing. Expensive maybe.
Sorry, I must have written that slightly confusingly!
I meant that I am aware that you can either sell all to the grid, partial or non.
We are thinking of selling all to grid but want to know what peoples experience of this is, is it worth it etc?
In order to sell back to the grid you need to have the installation carried out by a certified professional (QualiPV), & inspected by CONSUEL.
However, you can self install up to maximum of 3kWc to be used for autoconsommation without the need of either of those expenses . This still needs a declaration to be made to ENEDIS so they know you are using the correct kind of inverter(s) & various other matters.
Clearly you will save a lot of money by self installing. Clever use of your surplus power (e.g. a diverter that sends any surplus to a water heater &/or EV charging) will all help with you payback.
This business is a good place to start your research…
That’s great, thanks for the info! 
And the info for a solar diverter is here
The “Routeur de Tignous” works very well and the man that supplies them provides excellent backup service.
and the modifications to your “chauffe-eau” if you don’t have a hot water tank with a backup immersion eg you have a French hot water tank which only uses electricity to heat water as opposed to a UK style one with multiple methods of heating water
It looks far more complicated than it is.
Sunamp heat batteries do away with the tank, can be fed from various devices (waste heat from AC ) solar both PV and thermal.
I have a commercial version of this sort of thing. It’s an ‘Elios4you’ with the optional power reducer that diverts electricity to the hot water tank. It works very well and I have hot water without drawing anything from the frid for about 8 months of the year. The Elios4you also allows you to monitor generation, consumption and self consumption in real time and historically. It captures these every 15 minutes in Watt hours. You can also connect it to a router via WiFi and interrogate it via the app from anywhere.
I’ve ordered a Myenergi Eddi from Bimble Solar (cheaper than buying direct…), but await it’s arrival with visitors as I had it delivered in the UK - French suppliers were a lot more expensive.
A less connected option is the Solar iBoost+, which I’ve fitted for clients in the past.
One thing to be aware of is that both the above only work on resistive loads i.e. your water heater must have a mechanical thermostat & no fancy electronics (but the Eddi has an option to control more complex things via an expansion board).
How does your diverter interface with the hot water tank? In France generally there is only only electricity input into the tank and it provides electricity for the immersion as well as the control system. The link I sent shows how to separate these 2 circuits so you can continously power the control circuit whilst powering the immersion using the PV diverter. The control circuit then can stop the immersion heating water when it is up to temperature and switch it on when it is cool.
The divertor has a current clamp on the main cable that comes into the main panel. This can tell how much electricity is flowing in (consumption) our out (surplus production). The unit will only work with something that is a purely resistive load, such as a hot water tank with just a resistive heater. The unit will feed just the right amount of electricity to the hot water heater so as to consume all of the available surplus, up to the maximum the heating element will take. So, it isn’t just an on/off switch but regulates the amount of electricity that is fed to the heating element in the tank. You can of course override it if you need to heat water when there isn’t any or enough surplus.
It may be that you can use the unit on it’s own, without the Elios4you unit, but I don’t know.
Edit: We had a controller for the hot water that would use heures creuses to heat the water. The tank itself has a simple thermostat that cuts in/out at a specific water temperature. The divertor will feed power to the water tank, but if the tank is fully heated, it will of course not take any electricity. With this sort of setup, you don’t really need any controller. We do sometimes need to top up the water tank in the winter and we just do that manually via the Elios4you app. You could also use the Elios4you app as a controller if you needed to.
Hi @hairbear,
Can you just clarify for me how the diverter works with the controller for heures creuses - our controller for heures creuses is the type where you have it on either auto, manual, or off and is triggered by the pulse coming from the Linky. Does one have replace the current controller?
Yogesh
Sorry to jump in…
The systems I’ve looked at can all be used a time switch, as well as the solar divert function i.e. you can choose to have a boost during Heures Creuses which will only happen if you haven’t had enough free PV electricity during the day to get the water to full temperature.
The upshot of that would be that you dispense with the HC/HP contacteur in the board.
The advantage of the “Routeur de Tignous” is the cost. About 50 euro and you can put a wifi or manual clocktimer in if you wish to activate the heater to use imported electricity for heating water.
Hello,
I’m having a nightmare filling in the contract S21 to sell back to EDF. Has anyone gone though this either via EDF-OA or on paper, I’d really appreciate help.
Thanks. Barbara
PS. The panels themselves are a great success for us.
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
Have you had them installed recently?
Would you mind sharing the rough costs of installation and also what size they are or what wattage you expect to get (sorry, not sure if that is the correct terminology!).
Thanks,
Andre
Hello Andre
Yes, we had 14 installed by EDF in late April. We were told they would produce 6kwh but we get only 4.1 and when you read the detail, that’s what’s expected. We are making about €60 a month, but it is the summer. We expect the summer to pay for the winter. Our bills are halved, but the electric car is new, so wasn’t on the bills before. The installation was good, quick and efficient, but possibly expensive at €26k. We have full tracking on an indoor panel and they information you get from EDF in the apps is very, very detailed. Interesting to work out usage. I’m actually finding the whole thing fascinating. We are heated with oil, have a pool and an electric car, which is why we invested. I’m quite sure that the price we paid will go on the house value when it is sold. I’ll happily send any pictures you’d like of the installation or meters or read outs on the apps if you like. It’s just that EDF-OA (offre d’achat) have a site which is full of guides but I can’t make it make sense.
Kindest
Barbara
John and Barbara Adams
As @Badger says, the HP/HC contactor was removed as for us, it was no longer necessary.
I hope the figures you quote are incorrect, for your sake. From my experience 12 panels will generate about 18-20kWh on a sunny day and they can be self installed for less than 4k euros.