Solar Panel Guide Discussion

pinnks

Chimneys are never good from a shade perspective and the advice above is good. I would suggest taking a look at the roof every hour or so on a sunny day to watch the shadow tracking across the roof.

It won't cause many issue with generation while the panels are not in full sun (maybe from 10am at this time of year on your roof) but would from then until about 6pm at the moment. in summer the sun is higher, so shadows shorter; in winter the opposite, so you can make a good guess based on what happens in April.

You would probably have 2 groups of panels feeding 1 inverter, each subject to it own shading issues but if any panel on a group (string) is covered to more than 5% or 10% by shadow you will lose 90% of generation from the whole string with a normal inverter and only the contribution of the shaded panel with SolarEdge kit.

I lose about 3kWh per sunny day because of my chimney, based on a drop of just 67% for 3 hours shade. it could be more like 4 plus. so shading "hurts". Not so bad with low FITs but frustrating/annoying to see the roof in full sun but production at 10% because of a small shadow.

SE solves that for a small upfront investment, as does removing the cause of the shadow. if you search on my posts you will find some of my musings on the issue....

Hemel_Saint

Hi All
once again thanks for all the incredible support.
As I now see... how small things (chimney) to a novice like me can change the overall dynamics of a system.

So the sytem I will be looking to quote for is:-

• As many panels as poss on SW roof (250w or 285w). potential is 17x 285w
• a Solar Edge 3.68kw capped inverter (or Micro Inverters), to cope with Chimney Stack
• An Immersion Throttle/Converter (ie Apollo GEM/I Boost)
• OWL monitor
• no to a Voltage Optimiser

again, have I got this about right?

thanks all.
Mark

theboylard

As someone who has had a string inverter with a chinmey shade problem, I can heartily recommend SolarEdge!
My installer has gone the way of many on here, and probably for the better based on my experience.

I originally had an SMA string inverter (actually still have it in the garage, nowt wrong with it, it is for sale), but I was wrongly advised on the shade from the chimney.
I bought the SE kit myself , and had cowboys inc install it so they couldn't moan in the future about others messing with the install.

Here's ma hoose with panels, and the output from a nice day with Solaredge - it's last year but it shows what was happening to my gen with a string inverter and how the SolarEdge kit copes with shading...





From the solaredge pic above, this shows that top left panel, which is sat right next to the chimney, as losing around 40% of generation. The one under it is affected but not by much.
With a string inverter, and mine was installed with 2 strings, top row and bottom row, if one panel is affected then all on that string are. So in the pic above, my generation for that day would have been around 5kWh less for the one day.
Take that and do some number trickery and the generaion losses over the year, 20 year, expected lifetime of the system are potentially massive.

Oh, for the Owl - save yourself some money and buy mine off me, not using it so it may as well go to a good home!

And if you want to save even more money, I have 31 Solaredge P300 optimisers sitting in my garage, never used!

But listen to Mart and Tunnel, they'll steer you right.

Good luck :rotfl:
[IMG]http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/<a href=http://postimg.org/image/d24336e3n/ target=_blank rel=nofollow>[/img]

Hemel_Saint

As so many people have helped me with this task, just wanted to keep folks updated...
A second supplier quote is in and is a lot closer to where we need to be. they are visiting the house next week to confirm the exact size and requirements.

I will update the forum following this visit.
thanks again for all the assistance.
cheers
Mark

oliverrichmond67

Here is a small guide. If you've been thinking about going solar, there's no better time than now to do it. Government financial incentives are still ripe for the picking, the cost of photovoltaic (PV) cells is falling every day, and you'll probably be the first person on your block to make the jump. Adding solar energy to your house is an excellent project for several reasons: You'll save loads on electricity, and may even be able to sell some of yours back to the utility company; you'll reduce your carbon footprint; and if you're installing in a remote location (such as a cabin), you'll have much less to worry about than you would with a gasoline generator. You'll also support a growing industry, and in doing so, help contribute to the worldwide adoption of this wonderful new energy source.

zeupater

oliverrichmond67 wrote: »

Here is a small guide. If you've been thinking about going solar, there's no better time than now to do it. Government financial incentives are still ripe for the picking, the cost of photovoltaic (PV) cells is falling every day, and you'll probably be the first person on your block to make the jump. Adding solar energy to your house is an excellent project for several reasons: You'll save loads on electricity, and may even be able to sell some of yours back to the utility company; you'll reduce your carbon footprint; and if you're installing in a remote location (such as a cabin), you'll have much less to worry about than you would with a gasoline generator. You'll also support a growing industry, and in doing so, help contribute to the worldwide adoption of this wonderful new energy source.

Why, oh why ? .....

Why do new members appear and attempt to build-up credibility and postcount in such an obvious way ? ..... Paraphrasing, here's a small tip - when posting on solar in the UK it'd be far less obvious to not cut & paste from an article published in another country which utilises phraseology which is more common in english speaking countries far from those to be found on islands off the coast of continental europe.

Now, considering that so many threads were read and posted on in such a short time (5 in ~30 minutes) are we to expect a deluge of spam to follow ?, if so, please be aware that the abovereferenced post will be totally ripped apart by both those with negative views on solar pv and those who have long-term experience of the technology through ownership .... best to do some serious research before attempting to spam on these boards then ... :whistle:

Z

Hemel_Saint

Hello All
An update following all the brilliant advice and support from members on this forum.

We were recommended a supplier from one of the forum members, who we also invited to quote. They were great in offering suggestions / advice rather than 'selling' us everything.

Their advice was similar to the suggestions given by the forum members and their price was where we needed to be, so we gave them the contract.

The panels were installed a couple days ago.
15x 265w on the SE roof
Solar Edge optimisers
Immersion Converter (I Boost)
£5,200

The install company were great. the team were friendly, polite and efficient.
The only let-down was the scaffolding company they sub-contract out too.

Will happily share the name and details of the Solar company we used. Just drop me a private message.
I had good service from them and happy to recommend.

Thanks again everyone for your help.
Cheers

Martyn1981

Hiya Mark, that sounds great. Taking off the diverter and some extra costs for a SolarEdge system would suggest a price of perhaps £4.6k to £4.8k which is pretty good.

Hope it all runs well. Drop in on the 'talking bout our generation' thread to chat about gen, and see how it all goes in the first few months, and any problems or concerns.

Well done.

Mart.

ShaunD

As electric bills are due to rise dose that mean, what I get payed as a generator from my solar panels will go up ?

zeupater

ShaunD wrote: »

As electric bills are due to rise dose that mean, what I get payed as a generator from my solar panels will go up ?

Hi

Welcome to the Forum ...

Tariff & deemed export rates are automatically adjusted at the beginning of April each year to reflect inflation (RPI) .... details & latest tables are to be found on the Ofgem site .... ( https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/fit/fit-tariff-rates ) ...

HTH
Z