Panels that match my roof!

rogerblack

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/solar-panel-amorphous-100w_1915794107.html

In principle, this would let me cover my roof with solar panels, for around 2.5K, getting 6kW, and matching the local roofs.

Having said that - while they claim 25 years - I'm not at the moment finding out how to ship a hundred here

Dave_Fowler

It might be difficult to find an inverter to run with these panels. They are high voltage, low current (140V, 1.2A). Most inverters expect the panels to be around 30V and 10A.

Dave F

rogerblack

Panels are generally attached in series strings, with a 600V or so max on the inverter.
If shading is not an issue, simply connecting five two panel strings in parallel would give more or less the same output as 4 conventional panels in series.

Ectophile

6kW will be outside the maximum for a normal domestic install. That is limited to 16A on a single-phase supply, which works out about 3.8kW (depending on the mains voltage at the time).

Dave_Fowler

If you wanted a 4kWp system and put 4 of these 100W panels in series, you would need 10 parallel strings. It would only need one of the strings to be under - performing to drag down the whole system. This is 5 times more likely than a standard 2 string system.

My first system is a standard 2 string system and looses 25% of its output when one of the strings is shaded by the chimney during a few hours in the morning.

Dave F

CharlesMerk

rogerblack wrote: »

In principle, this would let me cover my roof with solar panels, for around 2.5K, getting 6kW, and matching the local roofs.

Having said that - while they claim 25 years - I'm not at the moment finding out how to ship a hundred here

Well I have faced similar problem earlier and it was the main reason I dropped the idea of using solar power..

ed110220

How would this match your roof?

lstar337

ed110220 wrote: »

How would this match your roof?

I'm guessing red panel matches a red tile roof.

rogerblack

Ectophile wrote: »

6kW will be outside the maximum for a normal domestic install. That is limited to 16A on a single-phase supply, which works out about 3.8kW (depending on the mains voltage at the time).

Without permission, yes.

My default position would be that this would not be a FIT project, and probably not even directly connected to the mains, but for ~3K would cover most of my electricity needs.
6kw(times insolation) covers my usage for almost the entirety of the day for much of the year - especially with these panels that are somewhat more efficient at lower lights.
Thermal stores for refrigeration during the day, and heating during the night, powered from a heat-pump.

Switch over to economy 7 as I'll be using ~0 during the day for most months of the year.

A significant portion of the cost would be recovered from savings of not having to replace the roof under the panels.

Ectophile

If you're not using a grid-tied inverter, or a huge battery bank, then you could be switching back and forth between mains and solar quite a lot.

On a cloudy day, you might only get say 1kW out of 6kW of panels. That's fine for base load, but not to boil a kettle, or run many other domestic appliances.

rogerblack

Ectophile wrote: »

If you're not using a grid-tied inverter, or a huge battery bank, then you could be switching back and forth between mains and solar quite a lot.

On a cloudy day, you might only get say 1kW out of 6kW of panels. That's fine for base load, but not to boil a kettle, or run many other domestic appliances.

Indeed - I'd be running a boiling water reservoir to replace the kettle, and a moderate battery bank to provide load smoothing for high draw appliances.
Practically speaking, >90% of my energy is used at under a kilowatt.