Solar PV Ordered!

zeupater

Lilyrhodes wrote: »

We have decided to invest in solar pv and have had 4 quotes. All the men/women who visited us were highly professional, (no high pressures sales techniques used), informative, thorough and a credit to the industry. The quotes we have received are all for very similar systems, Sharp/Samsung panels, Sunny Boy/Fronius inverters, Hilti mounting, scaffolding etc. The quotes kWhr are; Solarking £4.96, Tesco (Subcontractors Dyson Insulation visited) £4.96, Mark Group £4.61, MEP Electrical £3.44. All are MCS accredited, members of REA, REAL etc.
We have used a number of websites to help us make our decision (I am not allowed to put the links in as I am a newbie to this site), solar panel comparison site at sroeco dot com, compare solar PV installers at swinney dot net, UK solar and wind energy at rensmart dot com, the eci dot ox dot ac dot uk site where we downloaded the research paper from Oxford University on Photovoltaics in the UK, the re dot jrc dot ec dot europa dot eu where we obtained the PVGIS estimates of solar electricity generation for our location, are a few of them.

We have made our decision and contacted our chosen installer today. I’ll let you guess which we have chosen in case you think I am spam!

Hi

Well, that's two websites that this post appears on ....

Anyway, assuming that it's not another spam post <cough>, I'd personally recommend that the OP looks at the prices a little more closely as the costs/Wp don't really stack up with what I've been quoted from one of the suppliers in the past or what others have mentioned that they have paid.

Regarding what I would suspect to be the preferred supplier, the price mentioned is a lot more than the last poster suspected of spamming for this company claimed they paid, which was £2.84/Wp not £3.44/Wp and that included installation over a bank holiday, so I suspect that a little negotiation will result in a far better deal, especially as there's another bank holiday due .... :rotfl:

Z

Am I becoming rediculously cynical for thinking that there are possibly now three accounts posting on behalf of this installer ? ... Ah well, producing >3kW .... time for a pot of tea before the next cloud arrives

landybabe

Reagrds to the inverter being in the loft, my husband said it is a no no and installers shouldnt being doing it , he did then go into more detail but i switched off(sorry) maybe ask your installer to move the inverter, ours is in our downstairs clockroom , a garage is also a popular choice. Good luck

Cardew

In the USA I understand it is illegal for employees and people with a vested interest in a firm to post testimonials. Does anyone know if that is the case in UK?

If so MSE would provide a steady string of offenders!

pmpm

landybabe wrote: »

Reagrds to the inverter being in the loft, my husband said it is a no no and installers shouldnt being doing it , he did then go into more detail but i switched off(sorry) maybe ask your installer to move the inverter, ours is in our downstairs clockroom , a garage is also a popular choice. Good luck

I'm getting my system installed today using sunnyboy 4000TL inverter. They are going to put in loft. My installer states they have been doing that for last 6yrs and never had any complaints. Moreover this particular SMA inverter is designed to withstand heat and cold (I don't remember exact temperature range) which it may get exposed to being in loft. Apprarently in Germany all inverters are installed in loft!!

zeupater

pmpm wrote: »

I'm getting my system installed today using sunnyboy 4000TL inverter. They are going to put in loft. My installer states they have been doing that for last 6yrs and never had any complaints. Moreover this particular SMA inverter is designed to withstand heat and cold (I don't remember exact temperature range) which it may get exposed to being in loft. Apprarently in Germany all inverters are installed in loft!!

Hi

SMA publish a document which describes the temperature de-rating of their inverters. At 40C the inverter will start to derate so that it will not generate as much internal heat & at 60C it will cut out completely to protect itself against thermal damage. Derating is a straight line process which will reduce the system performance at 60C to 60% of what was possible at 40C.

This does not address the long term effect of high temperatures and temperature differentials on electical & electronic equipment on failure rates.

HTH
Z

pmpm

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

SMA publish a document which describes the temperature de-rating of their inverters. At 40C the inverter will start to derate so that it will not generate as much internal heat & at 60C it will cut out completely to protect itself against thermal damage. Derating is a straight line process which will reduce the system performance at 60C to 60% of what was possible at 40C.

This does not address the long term effect of high temperatures and temperature differentials on electical & electronic equipment on failure rates.

HTH
Z

So does that mean it's ok to put it in loft because loft is not going to go up to 40c in UK.

zeupater

pmpm wrote: »

So does that mean it's ok to put it in loft because loft is not going to go up to 40c in UK.

Hi

My lofts become unbearably hot during the summer, often well over 15C to 20C higher than ambient ....... also I believe that the temperatures are the soak temperatures of the units, which will be higher than the air temperature, even on a transformerless unit ....

If you have your inverter in the loft do try to ensure that there is adequate roof & eaves ventilation .....

HTH
Z

JenR8

Well the loft aint gonna get as hot as it did 'cos the south-facing roof is covered in solar panels!

zeupater

JenR8 wrote: »

Well the loft aint gonna get as hot as it did 'cos the south-facing roof is covered in solar panels!

True .....

But it also doesn't cool as quickly at night either ....

In my case the pv system covers around 15% of the roof and faces S/W so I haven't noticed any discernible difference in temperatures. Different sized roofs & orientations will obviously experience other outcomes.

I'd vote for garage if possible, but it's a personal choice which could effect the overall installation cost a little.

Z

keith_r59

I had my inverter installed in a ventilated full height storage cupboard at the front of the house. The consumer unit is on an inside wall adjacent to it and the electricity meter is situated on the outside wall so it was fairly easy to get all the electrics connected up. However it did take the installers a couple of hours to feed the cable from the solar panels through the loft space, down through a fitted bedroom wardrobe and across the entrance roof void.

No extra charge was incurred but during the quotation process only a couple of the installers I contacted suggested that it was the best place to install the inverter so I assume that most of them generally go for the easiest option of sticking it in the loft.

The other benefit of having the inverter installed on the ground floor is that you don't need to spend more money on a remote monitor as you have easy access to the front panel display.