Free solar panel discussion

seejayess

Cardew wrote: »

Indeed someone in Yorkshire with one of the ASG 3.3kWp systems stated in the thread that he got a peak reading of around 3kW.

That wasn't me, but speaking from North Nottinghamshire with an ASG system running, I frequently get 3.1 kW from the array in bright sunshine.
While I'm here I would just like to add that by chance, last November, my Brother-in-law emailed me to point out the ASG website. By chance my house faces due South, by chance the roof is large enough for their system and now I'm the delighted recipient of free electricity made from sunshine.
Yes, we're ALL paying a bit towards the FIT system but, as they say in PaddyPower Land "The's nothing much we can do about that!"
I'm one of the lucky ones (even if my new smart meter doesn't go backwards).
Some of the folks on this thread should relax a bit more!

John_Pierpoint

digitaltoast wrote: »

http://solarcost.org/solar-inverter.html


At £1,600 per unit (at today's prices), how does that affect your calculations?

Interesting video of "New Sun" making 6 mono crystalline panels per day. Wowee.
Surely we have got to the stage where these panels can be made on a continuous production process? This looked like my efforts to brew home made beer and then thinking of a Stella Artois brewery.

I'm still not aware of the comparative advantages of mono/poly/amorphous silicon PV panels.

beedydad

seejayess wrote: »

That wasn't me, but speaking from North Nottinghamshire with an ASG system running, I frequently get 3.1 kW from the array in bright sunshine.
While I'm here I would just like to add that by chance, last November, my Brother-in-law emailed me to point out the ASG website. By chance my house faces due South, by chance the roof is large enough for their system and now I'm the delighted recipient of free electricity made from sunshine.
Yes, we're ALL paying a bit towards the FIT system but, as they say in PaddyPower Land "The's nothing much we can do about that!"
I'm one of the lucky ones (even if my new smart meter doesn't go backwards).
Some of the folks on this thread should relax a bit more!

Interesting what you say about peak power.

However, it is what do you use from this "peak" production? That is the really important bit.

To find out whether this is good value you will need to track your electricity use over an extended period ie atleast 2 -3 years and compare with your power consumption thru your past years thru your utility company.

You will then be able to establish with a fair bit of certainty how much you are getting - or rather how much you are saving from your exiting bills.

The other piont is that it is fantastic that you are generating so much kw - BUT this all goes to the installing company (ASG?) in the form of 41.3pkwh - so they actually are really happy. They will probably hit the £1,000 (at least) earning from you!!!!

Q. Why don't you ask for a greater cut of the money they are making from you for "free"? or don't you mind they make @90% and you make 10% of the available income stream. FAIR I don't think so!

Regards

Jon_Tiffany

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I'm still not aware of the comparative advantages of mono/poly/amorphous silicon PV panels.

The advantage of a more efficient panels is that you get more output for less space. E.g. a 100W mono panel will be much smaller than a 100W amorphous panel - but they are both still 100W and will produce similiar amounts of electricity.

If buying panels, forget about the efficiency, its almost irrelevant, unless space is at a premium. Whats more important id the £/W ratio.

Mono - made from a single crystal, most efficient. These ones look dark grey/black, you will see a series of cells connected together with flat wires. Most expensive.
Poly - less efficient but also cost less. Crystals are grown in a sheet. Tend to look blue in colour and you can see the crystal pattern.
Amorphous - thin flim deposited onto glass. Cheap to produce. Work well in low light. Least efficient.

John_Pierpoint

So "poly" should last as long as "mono"?

Am I right in thinking you have to get a certain voltage to get the inverter working? (that is why a shadow falling over one of the panels can turn off the whole array?)

The installation in USA, shown on u-tube, shows that every panel has its own small roof top inverter, but I guess they were making 110V electricity?

Jon_Tiffany

beedydad wrote: »

Interesting what you say about peak power.

However, it is what do you use from this "peak" production? That is the really important bit.

To find out whether this is good value you will need to track your electricity use over an extended period ie atleast 2 -3 years and compare with your power consumption thru your past years thru your utility company.

You will then be able to establish with a fair bit of certainty how much you are getting - or rather how much you are saving from your exiting bills.

The other piont is that it is fantastic that you are generating so much kw - BUT this all goes to the installing company (ASG?) in the form of 41.3pkwh - so they actually are really happy. They will probably hit the £1,000 (at least) earning from you!!!!

Q. Why don't you ask for a greater cut of the money they are making from you for "free"? or don't you mind they make @90% and you make 10% of the available income stream. FAIR I don't think so!

Regards

Of course ASG get most of the income, they pay for and maintain the panels. They do not make the money for 'free' - they have the costs of running a company, interest on the money they have borrowed, employees wages to pay. Plus they the risk of having just borrowed £12,000,000 to pay for all these panels. A few bad years weather, a batch of faulty inverters, panels that degrade in 10 years time, withdrawing of the FITS, all of these are not very likely, but if you have just borrowed that amount of money...

ASG is a business and their prime concern is to make a profit, not to be fair or to be a charity - just like any other business.

For anyone who doesn't like the idea of ASG/ISIS/HOMESUN making a profit and giving people jobs then the answer is simple - just buy the panels yourself and reap all of the rewards for yourself.

Or go for the offer where one of the other companies (I cant remeber which) gives you the option to buy the panels in future on some sort of decreasing price.

DelBoyPhil

I got my email today and told me to goto http://www.isis-solar.com/map/?ref= however the site allows others to view your address which is not a good thing!

Jon_Tiffany

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

So "poly" should last as long as "mono"?

Am I right in thinking you have to get a certain voltage to get the inverter working? (that is why a shadow falling over one of the panels can turn off the whole array?)

As far as I know poly and mono should last the same. What actually causes the problem in panels is the resins used to hold them together can degrade under UV light. Amorphous panels do have an initial period where they degrade but then stabilise, normally within a few months. As far as I know only mono and poly are used for rooftop systems.

Most inverters use MPPT, which means the inout voltage can vary. Also most panels have bypass diodes so that if a panel gets shaded only that panels output is lost. Sometimes the panels are wired into two strings to minimise the effect of shading.

The inverter on my system accepts voltages between 125v and 550v.

jellyhead

beedydad wrote: »

Q. Why don't you ask for a greater cut of the money they are making from you for "free"? or don't you mind they make @90% and you make 10% of the available income stream. FAIR I don't think so!

Regards

If people ask for a bigger cut the company can just say no, and move on to the next person who wants free electricity. There won't be any shortage of people willing to take the deal as it is. Yes, the company will make more than I do if I'm accepted, but so what, I'm still getting something for nothing.

PK49

Ref Quote by Jon Tiffany:-

"Or go for the offer where one of the other companies (I cant remeber which) gives you the option to buy the panels in future on some sort of decreasing price."

This sounds an interesting compromise - need more info.