PV Solar Uk Ltd / Free Electricity 4U Ltd

babba_blacksheep

Spud,

Just to pick up on one point, Sharp do offer a 25 year performance guarantee. I have copied and pasted below this information from Sharp datasheet.

Quality from Sharp
Benchmarks are set by the quality standards of Sharp Solar.
Continual
checks guarantee a consistently high level of quality.
Every module undergoes visual, mechanical, and electrical
inspection. This is recognisable by means of the original Sharp
label, the serial number, and the Sharp guarantee:
■ 5 year product guarantee
■ 10 year performance guarantee for a power output of 90%
■ 25 year performance guarantee for a power output of 80%

I realise that this industry is always changing, sometimes it is hard to keep up.

If I had a time machine and could see into the future that would be great, but I don't. You could fall off a ladder tomorrow, what good is your guarantee, nobody can tell the future, for all we know the FIT's could be pulled in 10 years time.

I respect your analogy of a car sales outlet, but if they were offering me a 10 year insurance backed guarantee which was underwritten by the FSA and it covered every part of the car including labour with no small print, I wouldn't have an issue going for it. Insurance is big business, I'm sure more than half of the population of the UK have some sort of insurance policy be it a car, life, home insurance, so I wouldn't go rubbishing insurance.

I realise that the MCS may be a bit of a mess in Scotland, but that's down to the MCS. The Feed in Tariff has caused massive growth and with any new industry there is going to be teething problems.

I realise the pros and cons of the industry but I'm sure that you will find that 99% of companies out there are new companies who were created in the last year or two in line with the feed in tariff. As soon as the feed in tariff starts to ebb, a little bit like the German market at the moment, companies are going to go to the wall because there is not enough work to go around. I give the industry a 10 year lifespan, maybe I am being a little bit optimistic with that figure, but if you and your counterparts are unable to make a living, I'm sure that you will find another route to do so.

The bottom line to me is to buy good quality components from a recognised manufacturer who will be here for the next 25 years, Sharp have been making PV panels now for 50 years, so I will go with that history. I realise that history isn't the future.

The moral of the story is go with well recognised manufacturers, get an insurance backed guarantee which is underwritten by the FSA, make sure that the company is competent of doing a good installation and that the price is competitive.

Personally I think all of this my panels are better than your panels, my inverter is better than your inverter, it's all smoke screens.

Look after yourself and best wishes.

Babba

SpudSpud

THank you for correcting me on the point Babba they do now offer a 25 year performance warranty.
I could go on about the new frame and the reason it was introduced after i was in the factory this week but i cant be bothered any more to be honest.
on one note you did say "you and your counterparts cant make a living" i'm not an installer i'm an electrical eng i oversee grid connections and acreditations of power PV systems to networks all over europe thats how i know about all this stuff.
your above quote was very informate for a general customer who has bought a PV system. most of the install companies i deal with could not tell me half of that stuff.

Good luck with your PV system i'm sure it will pay for itself in no time

DavyL_2

PV Solar Uk installed my system 2 weeks ago and they have produced 148 Kw in that short time. Roof located S/W Cumbrian coast and facing 195' orientation @ 43' pitch

I had installed 14 x 245 = 3.4 Kw sharp PV panels and an Aurora 3.6 Kw inverter in the loft,

Liam and his team completed the installation in one day and left with everything clean and tidy.
Very pleased with this team's worrkmanship and would highly recommend them.

As we have a slate roof they took the extra time involved and removed the sections of slate to fit the anchor brackets direct on to the wooden beams's underneath, and refitted usable slate and fitted new slate where required ( some installers will drill through the slate and fix brackets direct onto the slate ) not my prefered option as I took advice from my Son in law who is a qualified roofer experienced in working with slate.

Very Pleased customer of PV Solar UK

DavyL :):)

Gizmosmum_2

Great news - check the suitability of Sharp for the coast though - I'm not sure they've got the salt mist certificate, crucial in a coastal area. You can look forward to loads more savings we're averaging 21 kwh a day on a decent day with ESE facing Cumbria roof and 3.96kwp. Generated 7kwh already today

SpudSpud

Some amount of Spammers on this board

SpudSpud

Gizmosmum wrote: »

Great news - check the suitability of Sharp for the coast though - I'm not sure they've got the salt mist certificate, crucial in a coastal area. You can look forward to loads more savings we're averaging 21 kwh a day on a decent day with ESE facing Cumbria roof and 3.96kwp. Generated 7kwh already today

Good point Gizmo forgot about that, what is the IE number for that cert do you know?

Can Sharp be used on Farms? cant remenber that certification number

Gizmosmum_2

SpudSpud wrote: »

Good point Gizmo forgot about that, what is the IE number for that cert do you know?

Can Sharp be used on Farms? cant remenber that certification number

Can't use Sharp anywhere - they've just stopped production again of all their stock made in Wrexham. Supposed to be something else coming out in the next couple of months but no certification yet.

Try Schott - they've got Salt mist and amonia testing certificates should be ok anywhere.

SpudSpud

Gizmosmum wrote: »

Can't use Sharp anywhere - they've just stopped production again of all their stock made in Wrexham. Supposed to be something else coming out in the next couple of months but no certification yet.

Try Schott - they've got Salt mist and amonia testing certificates should be ok anywhere.

HAve they stopped all of the stock?

I was in the factory recently and a lot of the stuff floating about on the internet was not true but i do know they had production issues when i was there.
cant say much here as i could get people into trouble but needless to say they have had to upgrade the frame and there is the possibility of a recall on certain production batches.

dont know full story yet all i know is they have been running arounf trying to get new stuff ready for certification for MCS.

Let me know what you hear.

THanks

Gizmosmum_2

SpudSpud wrote: »

HAve they stopped all of the stock?

I was in the factory recently and a lot of the stuff floating about on the internet was not true but i do know they had production issues when i was there.
cant say much here as i could get people into trouble but needless to say they have had to upgrade the frame and there is the possibility of a recall on certain production batches.

dont know full story yet all i know is they have been running arounf trying to get new stuff ready for certification for MCS.

Let me know what you hear.

THanks

Could be rumours I suppose but my clients can't get Sharp for love nor money, they were offered some old stock early in the week.

Hope there's no recalls - there will be some unhappy installers out there!!

wt536

Gizmosmum wrote: »

Could be rumours I suppose but my clients can't get Sharp for love nor money, they were offered some old stock early in the week.

Hope there's no recalls - there will be some unhappy installers out there!!

Could that be because of extreme demand on the Sharp factory due to the 98% conversion efficiency that a salesman for those PV panels using borosilicate glass and gold/silver connectors quoted???

The salesman from the comapny that Companies House lists as "dormant" offered guarantees of course.