Getting Solar PV Quotes

nealh

I have now evaluated 4 residential locations for Solar PV in England and I pass on my experience. If you are looking for a financial return you MUST take into account the precise 'aspect' of the roof', it's location and the technical characteristics of the array/inverter being proposed. The BRE SAP data that most good firms present is NOT sufficient. You should start with Google Earth using your post code to yet a rough idea on aspect.I then suggest you register and use 'compare my solar' or a similar site to get more INITIAL detail on the potential for your site. This is fiddly (but OK if you have used MS office type computer graphics) and only suitable for angled roofs but is a few minutes it gives you more data than most 'quotes'! Finally there are 2 software products out there which enable a projection of the revenue that will come from your system. They use LOCAL weather data and the current technical data from manufacturers (including the year on year system 'decay'). They are PVSol and PVSyst. Amazingly not many firms, including the 'installer of the year' evoenergy offer this. One that does is Greenheart energy, but they only cover the SE and only offer (top rated) Schott panels. A good location/array will give you an 11% return per year averaged over 25 years, including replacement inverter costs. (Others can be MUCH less). Remember the installation cost is basically the same for a small system as a just under 4Kw system so bigger systems offer a bigger return. Again anything which makes your location an 'easy' install should lower the price. Finally, England is NOT as good a location for Solar as Germany except in the Southern half and especially the ideal spot 'South of the North of the M25!' There are a LOT of dodgy firms out there, beware.