PV Panels

dan_c_73

Hi all, I am in the process of getting quotes from installers....

One of the chaps gave me a great list from these guys

http://www.wholesolarpower.com/solar-panels-2/worldwide-pv-panel-efficiency/

Now it shows a lot of useful information, but it does not show customer reviews!

Does anyone know of a review site for panels?

Yut_Man

I have just finished getting quotes, and have decided which company I am using, but it has been a long and confusing path. The choice of panels is mind bogling. If you are able to choose a particular panel you can find more than one spec sheet showing different efficiency ratings. then there is the question of poly or mono panels. I had two quotes that gave the same 2 panels. one mono one poly. One company showed with the spec sheet the mono panel was better and with the other firm the poly was better.

In the end it seems to boil down to confidence in the firm, there knowledge and price per kilowatt power.

I went with TESCO (hmm I know), sharp monocrystaline panels giving 3.33KW, all the other cirms could only get 3.00Kw.

dan_c_73

May I ask how much did Tesco quote you? any what are you getting?

Pedro1874

I am also interested in reading reviews from consumers who have bought these solar panels and what the results have been and have they received the advertised income?

zeupater

dan_c_73 wrote: »

Hi all, I am in the process of getting quotes from installers....

One of the chaps gave me a great list from these guys

http://www.wholesolarpower.com/solar-panels-2/worldwide-pv-panel-efficiency/

Now it shows a lot of useful information, but it does not show customer reviews!

Does anyone know of a review site for panels?

Hi

The list only really provides size and efficiency in terms of a standard rating per sqm .... lots of installers talk about efficiency in order to convince the customer that they will get more kWh/kWp, but whist this is marginally possible only for a very few makes, the efficiency really means that you can get more panels, and therefore a larger kWp system, on a given roof area ..... therefore if you have space restrictions on your roof it could work out better overall to pay more and go for a larger kWp system with a smaller footprint, but is space isn't the issue you should really look at good panels around 14% to 15% efficiency.

Mono v Poly ... I prefer mono because of the way the crystalline structure is formed ... If you want to compare panel/system performance there are a number of sites where owners publish their own figures, there's even a thread on this forum with a few systems on it, but you must take the long view when comparing the figures as orientation and local weather, along with latitude, can very easily skew figures in the short-term ... there are days when my system generates double the energy of another a few miles away, then there are others where the opposite happens, so just a few miles can make all the difference ....

HTH
Z