Solar Panel Guide Discussion

zeupater

Sirlaughalot wrote: »

Hi Z,

Don`t know where you are getting your cost figures from but £tens-of-thousands to achieve MCS accreditation really! Try these guys they have quoted a figure of just over £1000 all in that includes the MCS accreditation assessment with 100% success rate (how bad is that every company passes no wonder the industry has such a bad name!).

http://www.mcsaccredited.com/

By the way roofers do need a MCS accreditation qualification regarding your earlier post.

Please Z if you wish to be taken seriously it would be appreciated by other readers of this forum and myself if you would avoid picking random cost figures out of the sky to make your point.

Thanks

SL

Hi

Costs are not only limited to the courses offered. The accreditation depends upon a number of pre-requisites such as a quality management system etc ... there's also requirements for membership of REAL which has an annual membership cost, costs for reassessment, employee training, competent person schemes etc .... further information is available directly from the MCS website here ... http://www.microgenerationcertification.org/mcs-standards/installer-standards ... it would be advisable to take note of exactly what the scheme requires of it's registered members, whilst noting that both systems & records are open to audit ....

The installer we used needed to completely change their management systems to pass the audit ... time which they probably wouldn't need to expend if they were ISO9000 registered ... doing this wasn't achieved for free.

I really hope that what I post is taken far more seriously by many than you would seriously consider yourself .... Taking account of the number of illogical 'roadblocks' and consistent change in requirements which have been raised I am now of the opinion that you have absolutely no serious intent to either install a system or consider the guidance which you have sought from members of this forum and are therefore posting in a manner which is consistent with being based purely for 'entertainment value'.

You have received guidance, what you do with it is up to you ...

Z

Sirlaughalot

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

Costs are not only limited to the courses offered. The accreditation depends upon a number of pre-requisites such as a quality management system etc ... there's also requirements for membership of REAL which has an annual membership cost, costs for reassessment, employee training, competent person schemes etc .... further information is available directly from the MCS website here ... http://www.microgenerationcertification.org/mcs-standards/installer-standards ... it would be advisable to take note of exactly what the scheme requires of it's registered members, whilst noting that both systems & records are open to audit ....

The installer we used needed to completely change their management systems to pass the audit ... time which they probably wouldn't need to expend if they were ISO9000 registered ... doing this wasn't achieved for free.

I really hope that what I post is taken far more seriously by many than you would seriously consider yourself .... Taking account of the number of illogical 'roadblocks' and consistent change in requirements which have been raised I am now of the opinion that you have absolutely no serious intent to either install a system or consider the guidance which you have sought from members of this forum and are therefore posting in a manner which is consistent with being based purely for 'entertainment value'.

You have received guidance, what you do with it is up to you ...

Z

Hi Z,

Not deliberately meant any offence and i can see you have helped a lot of people with your advice.

I`m doing what i think is best for my circumstances after what i feel is shocking advice by some, but not all members, of the renewable energy industry! Your help has been invaluable along with other i just feel comments of late have not been constructive.

Anyway getting back to my circumstances i feel after a lot of industry mis-guidance i`m sure i`m not far away from a decision which will be to the benefit of my family and I

Thanks

SL

Sirlaughalot

Martyn1981 wrote: »

"Price: (Ex VAT) £3,650.00"

Mart.

[Edit: PS, be careful, that site's FIT info is 3 years out of date. Doesn't mean anything else is wrong, but does suggest that they don't care about updating their customer advice. This always scares me. M.]

Thanks Mart,

Just the first results i got after a google search just looking for a guide regards price really!

SL

zeupater

Sirlaughalot wrote: »

Hi Z,

Not deliberately meant any offence and i can see you have helped a lot of people with your advice.

I`m doing what i think is best for my circumstances after what i feel is shocking advice by some, but not all members, of the renewable energy industry! Your help has been invaluable along with other i just feel comments of late have not been constructive.

Anyway getting back to my circumstances i feel after a lot of industry mis-guidance i`m sure i`m not far away from a decision which will be to the benefit of my family and I

Thanks

SL

Hi

I don't know how anyone could offer any guidance which could be more constructive than to say STOP & THINK ....

You have been concentrating on a DIY install for over a month and seem to have totally ignored anything which has been posted which advises that this would be risky.

Unless you have made a decision to purchase & install outside the MCS/FiT scheme your feasibility critical path starts with ...
'1. Identify a friendly, competent and likely completely brainless local MCS installer who is not busy and desperate enough for money to risk their accreditation status, but yet considered more trustworthy than any of the (likely busy) companies who have already quoted & provided "industry mis-guidance"'
... once you've completed this project task you can either do more research on your installation and cost it up -or- dump the idea and consider everything as being part of a learning process.

The only decision options that are realistically open to you and your family are ....

(1). Critical path task1 as above.
(2). Have an owned system installed by an accredited installer.
(3). Have a RaR system installed
(4). Have no system installed.

... The opinions and probably unanimous advice given by numerous individuals on these boards to date suggest that option (1) above will simply lead to an eventual decision comprising of (2),(3) or (4) ....

I simply can't be more constructive ... all projects start with a feasibility stage and the only thing which currently needs to be considered regarding your preferred installation method is critical path (1) above ...

HTH
Z

Sirlaughalot

Right then really positive news at last while my mate Sean can`t manage the installation he has put me in touch with one of his work mates who can. A contracts manager with over 20 years experience and MCS accredited who will sub contract the installation to one of his many roofing contractors who have the contract to supply the Midlands largest housing association with solar panel installations.

Just have to select which system i want and where to get it from and he will buy the system under his MCS cert at VAT rate of 5% on my behalf. He`s looking for a total Saturday morning installation charge of £850 based on labour(2 roofers one of which is a MCS sparky /tower/ and himself signing off then work when finished).

Just have to decide on which system i want now i like the reports on the solarworld mono 270 KW panels and the Eltek invertors.

Think the bast way to attack this is to go directly to the inverter manufactures and get the details from the horses mouth and find out which panels they think best fits their equipment.

Thanks

SL

[Deleted User]

Sirlaughalot wrote: »

He`s looking for a total Saturday morning installation charge of £850 based on labour(2 roofers one of which is a MCS sparky /tower/ and himself signing off then work when finished).

Eh! Saturday morning... My install was pretty much two full working days. Four guys the first day [two roofers, sparky, apprentice] and two [roofer and spark] the second. With the time they took the install is text book imaculate. Not something you want rushed onto your roof...

Suggest buying into the top brands for long term support as I needed a replacement panel that was smashed in storm force winds by flying debris. Something to bear in mind...

Sirlaughalot

jeepjunkie wrote: »

Eh! Saturday morning... My install was pretty much two full working days. Four guys the first day [two roofers, sparky, apprentice] and two [roofer and spark] the second. With the time they took the install is text book imaculate. Not something you want rushed onto your roof...

Suggest buying into the top brands for long term support as I needed a replacement panel that was smashed in storm force winds by flying debris. Something to bear in mind...

Hi JJ,

Expect it will be the whole of Saturday as well but these teams have been doing a complete maisonette installation in a day so i think weather permitting it will be completed in a day!

Because of roof size restrictions i was going to go for Sun Power 327 KW panels especially as Mart knows where to get them from but i asked the salesman specifically for a black on black panel, called the supplier and been told there actually blue with white lights emitting when their producing power! Wife won`t have that, more salesman misinformation.

Just been told by the same retailer that the Sap figures everyone have been quoting regards FIT are out of date and were superseded by another calculator device in May. Getting beyond a joke now!

Thanks SL

Martyn1981

Hiya SL, sounds like you've gone full circle and ended up with Sean's mate as a semi-regular installer, but with you having more control over the kit. Doesn't sound like the worst compromise in the world. Fingers crossed it all goes well. If it does, you'll be arranging work for the whole estate.

Regarding the BoB panels (black backsheet on black frames) did the salesman mean the Sunpowers, as I've never heard anything like that before. I've got Jetion BoB's on the front of my house, and I get the impression that most companies now make a BoB, as well as black framed regular backsheet models.

Have a look on-line at the various makes, they are actually quite sexy (if that's the right term to use). I first found Q Cells, (but they went into some kind of partial liquidation):

http://www.q-cells.com/en/products/solar_modules.html#26200

Wifey took one look (somewhat reluctantly) at the web-page and instantly coined the phrase 'stealth panels'. :cool:

Regarding the SAP figures, I mentioned way back that I was out of date, as I'd lost all interest in them, since PVGIS climate is so damn good. But I remember hearing that the 'one size fits nobody' SAP figures were to replaced by a hoard of regional ones (possibly 20+) to improve accuracy ....... or they could just use PVGIS climate!!!!!!

After all this discussion, I hope you intend to post some pics of your install. The pressure is starting to get to me.

Mart.

KevinG

jeepjunkie wrote: »

Eh! Saturday morning... My install was pretty much two full working days.

Mine was done comfortably in one morning.

Sirlaughalot

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Hiya SL, sounds like you've gone full circle and ended up with Sean's mate as a semi-regular installer, but with you having more control over the kit. Doesn't sound like the worst compromise in the world. Fingers crossed it all goes well. If it does, you'll be arranging work for the whole estate.

Regarding the BoB panels (black backsheet on black frames) did the salesman mean the Sunpowers, as I've never heard anything like that before. I've got Jetion BoB's on the front of my house, and I get the impression that most companies now make a BoB, as well as black framed regular backsheet models.

Have a look on-line at the various makes, they are actually quite sexy (if that's the right term to use). I first found Q Cells, (but they went into some kind of partial liquidation):

http://www.q-cells.com/en/products/solar_modules.html#26200

Wifey took one look (somewhat reluctantly) at the web-page and instantly coined the phrase 'stealth panels'. :cool:

Regarding the SAP figures, I mentioned way back that I was out of date, as I'd lost all interest in them, since PVGIS climate is so damn good. But I remember hearing that the 'one size fits nobody' SAP figures were to replaced by a hoard of regional ones (possibly 20+) to improve accuracy ....... or they could just use PVGIS climate!!!!!!

After all this discussion, I hope you intend to post some pics of your install. The pressure is starting to get to me.

Mart.

Yes it`s the Sunpowers that have the strange appearance that obviously depends on your own view point i suppose, but not to my wife`s. She want`s any panel to be black, uniform in appearance and as discrete as possible. Sean`s mate is called `Wolfie` by the way!

Might be time to start another thread now and show how my self managed solar PV installation develops might be beneficial to other MSE`s who might want to consider a similar path.
It`s a pity i could n`t manage the project completely myself using site`s like Rated Trader but at £850 cash for a fully commissioned install i don`t think the risk would be worth the reward if there was any!

But i`m going to love this matching the inverter manufacturer`s up against each other and who knows it may open more doors.

It`s amazing really i would not have believed it possible that after a period of research on this forum about solar panels i would have ended up holding a confident conversation with a contracts manager about the installation of my own bespoke PV system. Wolfie was impressed with my knowledge of the PV solar panel industry and that knowledge is all down to YOU guy`s.

Thanks very much.

SL



SL