Please help!!

[Steve_1]

Firslty i apologise for hijacking your forum, but I'm not an electrician.

My Wife and i are looking to have solar panels on our roof, we have had a few sales guys round, and although they have been informative to an extent, they are there to sell their business, and trust from our point of view is a major concern when we are looking to spend £15-£20K.

I will briefly explain where we are.

We think we will go for 3.99KW panels our roof is south facing and we have approx 50m2 to one side at 45deg

Our concern is knowing what the right manufactures of panels should be and inverter

We have been told shuco is good as well as sharp and also Kyocera, and to stay away from Yingli

Invertors we havnt got the bottom of yet.

Our concerns are to make sure we go for the right panels and invertor, and to know that the installer is reputable and that they are covered by the appropriate bodies.

your thoughts would be much appreciated

 

[mmccx]

Anything made by Romag or Sharp in the way of modules are imo the best modules in the UK, Schuco and Sanyo arent worth the moeny you can pay for them. Inverters, anything made by Fronius, SMA or Deihl (shuco inverters are generally more expensive rebranded SMA inverters.

Check the installers web sites and see if you can get any appraisals from previous clients, also if you can go and inspect the work yourselves that would be a bonus. Also go with a PV specialist company rather than a window company or some one who covers most of the Renewable technologies. Would you rather a master or or a jack of all trades master of none? I.E would you go to Argos to buy a TV?

Ask them lots of questions (particular grilling questions) if they can answer them properly then they are generally going to be a good installer. Whereabouts do you live?

you need to ensure that the installer is a member of the REA and are MCS accredited, also you will need to check the modules they will be supplying are also MCS accredited products.

 

[Steve_1]

MMCCX

Thanks for that First paragraph makes sense, although we have had a quote by the same company and the differnce between the Sharp and Shuco is not much and they said shuco was far better quality and a higher KWp (3.99)

Fourth paragraph agreed, we understand the need for this

second and third paragraph. There is no doubt we will be checking. The guy we saw this evening, said they had been going for 12 years, I asked the company name, and was sat by my computer went on UK data put the name in and it said the company was incorporated in 2010. I said "why's that then?" --- "UHHH UMMM UHHH Oh yeah well we're an offshoot of another company called "Censored", so i put there name in UK data and they were incorporated in 2009!!!!!

We live just south of shepton Mallet, Somerset

 

[mmccx]

IMO they would be lying saying that Schuco are better than Sharp in terms of quality. Please note that the actual useful electricity you will be generating will be coming from the inverter and this has to be limited to a max AC output of 3.6kW under G83 (however if you can persuade the DNO they will allow a little bit more within reason), so anything over this isn't really necessary. 3.99kWp wouldnt actually generate a whole lot more kWh per year than say a 3.96kWp system but you would pay a more money for it. All the 3.99kWp would mean is that you would be hitting the max output of the inverter at slightly lower light conditions.

Similar systems i have installed are 22 Sharp NU-180E1 (3.96kWp) modules split into 2 strings of 11 on a SB3300 or...
16 Romag SMT6(60p)235Wp (3.76kWP) split into 2 strings of 8 on a Fronius IG40

 

[Echo]

Steve companies are springing up everywhere, however just because they are a new company doesn't mean to say they are a bad one. But if they start telling lies I would be wary from the offset.

As mmccx has already said Romag and sharp are the best modules. We personally use sharp.
However I disagree with going for a PV specialist. Generally if the company is accredited for multiple technologies I have found that they are the better company, being more informed and up to date. Better installs ect ect. I have found that the 'PV Specialists' tend to be new to the game and less knowledgeable about PV and renewable energy as a whole, because it's easy to get into just installing the one technology. This is just in my experience from talking to people and companies within the industry.

However having said that there are some installers, that only fit PV that are extremely knowledgeable. Markc who is here on the forums, seems to be a really good guy, I think hes from down south (not sure where) and it might be worth getting in touch with him to see if he can help you. I think his company is called the daylight company. I know they don't have salesmen as such, and i've been in contact with him a few times and he's really clued up.

 

[mmccx]

yes i do agree about the new "specialist companies" if you can try and find an installer company who has been around since before the introduction of the FIT's that would be the best option. Sorry i should have expressed this in my first post

 

[Steve_1]

Steve companies are springing up everywhere, however just because they are a new company doesn't mean to say they are a bad one. But if they start telling lies I would be wary from the offset.

As mmccx has already said Romag and sharp are the best modules. We personally use sharp.
However I disagree with going for a PV specialist. Generally if the company is accredited for multiple technologies I have found that they are the better company, being more informed and up to date. Better installs ect ect. I have found that the 'PV Specialists' tend to be new to the game and less knowledgeable about PV and renewable energy as a whole, because it's easy to get into just installing the one technology. This is just in my experience from talking to people and companies within the industry.

However having said that there are some installers, that only fit PV that are extremely knowledgeable. Markc who is here on the forums, seems to be a really good guy, I think hes from down south (not sure where) and it might be worth getting in touch with him to see if he can help you. I think his company is called the daylight company. I know they don't have salesmen as such, and i've been in contact with him a few times and he's really clued up.

Thanks for that, Had seen Markc's comments around and would agree. there company is Daylight (Norfolk) Company after a little research

 

[Echo]

Yeah I highly reccomend him if he's willing to travel that far to do the work, he has posted photos of a few of his jobs on here too, if you search through his posts you will be able to see them.

 

[SolarCity]

If you don't mind me going off on a slight tangent, by exactly what measure are Sharp and Romag the best panels? The performance stats on the Romag panels are far from impressive, in my opinion. Sanyo are by far the best panel on the market.

 

[edexlab]

I agree with Biggssolar Sanyos are the best you get an increased return for the money which is what most customers want

 

[SolarCity]

Just run the Sanyo 250w panel, Yingli 180w panel and Romag 180w panel through PV Sol to get an estimate on annual yield.

Yingle 180p panel - 3.96kWp yields 3,512.5kWh

Romag 180p panel - 3.96 yields 3,515.6kWh

Sanyo 250w Panel - 4kw yields 3,822.9


I'm not saying that Yingli panels are any good. I'm just pointing out that in theory at least, they should perform as well as other panels unless I am overlooking something. Are dismissing them because they are Chinese?

What I certainly would say is that Sanyo ARE clearly the best panels out there. If you were going to invest in something over 25 years, which would you choose? It's Sanyo all the way for me. We tend to quote for at least two different panels when we see a customer. And then let them make there own mind up.

 

[SolarCity]

Returning to the OP's questions. I wouldn't dismiss firms which haven't been around long - although I would certainly dismiss any firm that tried to pull the wool over my eyes like that one contractor did. We haven't been MCS for long yet we know that the service we provide is A1.

Advice that I would give is be very wary of estimates from firms which grossly over estimate potential yield. Be very wary of firms which seem disinterested in shading issues (this would be my no.1 concern). Also, ask questions - lots of them. If one contractor asserts that the Yingli panel should be avoided, ask him why. If he can't explain, then be very wary.

 

[Markc]

Steve companies are springing up everywhere, however just because they are a new company doesn't mean to say they are a bad one. But if they start telling lies I would be wary from the offset.

As mmccx has already said Romag and sharp are the best modules. We personally use sharp.
However I disagree with going for a PV specialist. Generally if the company is accredited for multiple technologies I have found that they are the better company, being more informed and up to date. Better installs ect ect. I have found that the 'PV Specialists' tend to be new to the game and less knowledgeable about PV and renewable energy as a whole, because it's easy to get into just installing the one technology. This is just in my experience from talking to people and companies within the industry.

However having said that there are some installers, that only fit PV that are extremely knowledgeable. Markc who is here on the forums, seems to be a really good guy, I think hes from down south (not sure where) and it might be worth getting in touch with him to see if he can help you. I think his company is called the daylight company. I know they don't have salesmen as such, and i've been in contact with him a few times and he's really clued up.

Hay Echo! How much commission do you want???lol. Thanks for the positive feed back.

 

[Markc]

If you don't mind me going off on a slight tangent, by exactly what measure are Sharp and Romag the best panels? The performance stats on the Romag panels are far from impressive, in my opinion. Sanyo are by far the best panel on the market.

Second That!

 

[mmccx]

Just run the Sanyo 250w panel, Yingli 180w panel and Romag 180w panel through PV Sol to get an estimate on annual yield.

Yingle 180p panel - 3.96kWp yields 3,512.5kWh

Romag 180p panel - 3.96 yields 3,515.6kWh

Sanyo 250w Panel - 4kw yields 3,822.9


I'm not saying that Yingli panels are any good. I'm just pointing out that in theory at least, they should perform as well as other panels unless I am overlooking something. Are dismissing them because they are Chinese?

What I certainly would say is that Sanyo ARE clearly the best panels out there. If you were going to invest in something over 25 years, which would you choose? It's Sanyo all the way for me. We tend to quote for at least two different panels when we see a customer. And then let them make there own mind up.

I think everyone is agreed that Sanyo are the best, but can you really justify only 300 or so more kWh per anum extra worth the added cost of the modules?