System Upgrades
Solar PV System Upgrades
If you had a solar PV system installed more than 2 years ago, then there’s a very good chance that the system you designed today would be different to the system that you’ve got installed, perhaps because the technology has changed, or maybe just because your own needs are different now.
The effectiveness and cost of intelligent power management has changed significantly over the last few years, and we’d rarely spec a system now without adding a battery storage system. Increasingly we are installing more of the big batteries, like a Tesla Powerwall or a Givenergy All in One.
No matter what kind of system you’ve got at the moment – or perhaps you’ve moved into a property with one installed – we can help.
We can help work out what you’ve got if you don’t know, calculate your current needs, advise on the Smart Export Guarantee and home batteries to store excess energy, and tell you exactly how you could upgrade your existing system to achieve your objective.
And then we can make it happen.
The first step is a call with Simon or one of the team on 01392 368724.
Each panel gets fitted with a small optimiser box which is installed behind the solar panel out of sight. These units then allow each panel to operate to the best of its ability without any shaded panels pulling generation down across the whole array.
How it works to reduce shading problems
With Solar Edge, as an optimiser is wired to each panel this allows each generate to its full output, even if a panel on the same circuit is shaded. With a traditional inverter any one panel shaded will limit the whole array output.
We set up a ‘real world’ test array using a traditional inverter to demonstrate this, and found the pictured 1.5kWp array in full sun slumped its output to just 300W with the small tree shading on the photo. With Solar Edge installed, this increased to a far healthier 1.2kW.
As a huge bonus with the Solar Edge optimiser system, free online monitoring is included allowing you to see what each panel is generating using your internet connection. In addition you can see your historical data of generation year on year, which you can examine right down to hourly data from any time period you want. The complexity of monitoring that Solar Edge provide is far superior to most systems provided at great cost monitoringelsewhere, and its all FREE.
See this link for more information on Solar Edge monitoring.
Fireman friendly
In addition, recently, the issue of safety in case of fire where solar power is used has hit the headlines. Because a PV conventional system will continue to generate electricity when in contact with the suns rays most Fire Authorities are now hesitant to use a water hose on a building that has Solar PV installed due to possible high DC voltages.
As Solar Edge optimisers are controlled from the Solar Edge inverter, they will shut down generation simply by switching off the inverter, making the voltages on the roof safe, typically less than 20 volts rather than 500 volts from a conventional array, reassuring the Fire Authorities that the roof is safe to use a water hose on if needed.
Unlike Microinverters, which carry dangerous 230v AC onto the roof as well, Solar Edge has always had this Fireman Safety aspect in their design philosophy to comply with the regulations of some other countries.
Upgrading your existing conventional Solar PV system
Unlike the conventional PV inverters that was available some years ago during the high FiT solar rush, which had a standard 5 year warranty. The Solar Edge inverters have a 12 year standard warranty and roof mounted Optimisers have 25 year warranty, giving you not only better generation performance, but a far better manufacturers warranty.
We are offering a fixed package cost for both our original customers and any other Solar PV owners who would like us to upgrade their existing conventional Solar PV system to the advanced Solar Edge Optimised system, allowing even unshaded PV arrays to generate more each year, not to mention any installation with even small shading issues!
A typically sized 4kWp 16 panel Solar PV system upgrade cost in the Exeter area is £2890 inc VAT. This includes our installers replacing your existing Inverter, fitting Optimisers to all the panels on the roof, fitting a wifi unit that will connect to your household internet to give you access to the Free monitoring. We cover all of the South West in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset. Call or email for an individual quote for your area.
Please contact us with details of your existing solar array, and we will email you back with the standard upgrade cost of your system type.
As we will need to access the panels on the roof, we may need to hire scaffold for our guys to work safely, this cost if needed will be extra, but we will provide you with upfront quotes first.
