Some of you may remember I have been asking for quotes to extend my currant PV array for a couple of months now, and have found this difficult to say the least.
Having had solar for over 10yrs now I knew well of its benefits having recoup my investment in them in less than 7 of those 10 yrs, so with the energy prices going the way that they are we decide now was the time to invest further in solar, so my currant array of 3.84kw was at the time of the best I could have to obtain the FITs payments you where limited to 4 kw max.
So a couple of months ago once we had decided to get some extra ones put up I measured the size of the panels I had on the roof now ( big mistake) then I measured the roof space, I worked out I could fit another 5 new panels around my existing array on the roof, plus using the same size of panels I could get 5 on my gable wall which gets a lot of sunlight from sunrise to around 14:00 hrs, i and sent my request with photographs for quotes to quite a few companies who install solar PV.
To most of the mails I sent I got little or no reply, the common reply’s being sorry we are fully booked for he foreseeable future but you could try us again in a few months time, or, there is very limited components available for us to even look at taking new orders, at this time, ( a bit like the motor industry ), then in this last week I had the worse news of all when one of the companies wrote back to say I had not got enough roof space to do what I had requested which was to have 2 new panels fitted to the left of my currant panels plus 3/4 underneath them, and I could not fit more than 2 on the gable wall without permission from the DNO and possibly the planing office of my local council.
Then yesterday a gentleman for a firm not to far away who had given me a quote came to do a survey of the property and explained why it was not possible to do what I wanted and told me the maximum I could add was 4 in total not10.!!! and here’s the reason why and the mistake I made.
The currant panels the ones I used for my measurements are 1450x980mm 240kw x16 = 3.84kw.
The panels today and they had quote for are 1750x1080mm and 375-400 kw so they can’t be fitted below my panels because I have only about 1300mm of tiles showing and the rules state there must be 330mm of roof tile below the solar panels minimum.
On the gabel wall only 2 the panels could be fitted because you are not allowed to have any less than 300mm to any opening window, so that’s my tale of Woe.
So to the advice part off the heading, if you are thinking of going for solar PV be sure to get as much as you can installed from the off, because things do change over time to have 4 extra fitted now is not cost effective for me and all my measurements where irrelevant because solar panels today are not only have more output they are also bigger to get that increase in output.
There was an option to remove the 16 panels I have now and fit the more powerful/ bigger ones almost doubling my output but in doing that I would loose my FITs payments and it would cost a considerable amount more for the new panels plus and a new bigger inverter to handle the extra output, so if you going down this way my advice is get all you can as I don’t see the price of energy ever dropping to anywhere we have known it to be before do you.
Les ( Gutted ).
Having had solar for over 10yrs now I knew well of its benefits having recoup my investment in them in less than 7 of those 10 yrs, so with the energy prices going the way that they are we decide now was the time to invest further in solar, so my currant array of 3.84kw was at the time of the best I could have to obtain the FITs payments you where limited to 4 kw max.
So a couple of months ago once we had decided to get some extra ones put up I measured the size of the panels I had on the roof now ( big mistake) then I measured the roof space, I worked out I could fit another 5 new panels around my existing array on the roof, plus using the same size of panels I could get 5 on my gable wall which gets a lot of sunlight from sunrise to around 14:00 hrs, i and sent my request with photographs for quotes to quite a few companies who install solar PV.
To most of the mails I sent I got little or no reply, the common reply’s being sorry we are fully booked for he foreseeable future but you could try us again in a few months time, or, there is very limited components available for us to even look at taking new orders, at this time, ( a bit like the motor industry ), then in this last week I had the worse news of all when one of the companies wrote back to say I had not got enough roof space to do what I had requested which was to have 2 new panels fitted to the left of my currant panels plus 3/4 underneath them, and I could not fit more than 2 on the gable wall without permission from the DNO and possibly the planing office of my local council.
Then yesterday a gentleman for a firm not to far away who had given me a quote came to do a survey of the property and explained why it was not possible to do what I wanted and told me the maximum I could add was 4 in total not10.!!! and here’s the reason why and the mistake I made.
The currant panels the ones I used for my measurements are 1450x980mm 240kw x16 = 3.84kw.
The panels today and they had quote for are 1750x1080mm and 375-400 kw so they can’t be fitted below my panels because I have only about 1300mm of tiles showing and the rules state there must be 330mm of roof tile below the solar panels minimum.
On the gabel wall only 2 the panels could be fitted because you are not allowed to have any less than 300mm to any opening window, so that’s my tale of Woe.
So to the advice part off the heading, if you are thinking of going for solar PV be sure to get as much as you can installed from the off, because things do change over time to have 4 extra fitted now is not cost effective for me and all my measurements where irrelevant because solar panels today are not only have more output they are also bigger to get that increase in output.
There was an option to remove the 16 panels I have now and fit the more powerful/ bigger ones almost doubling my output but in doing that I would loose my FITs payments and it would cost a considerable amount more for the new panels plus and a new bigger inverter to handle the extra output, so if you going down this way my advice is get all you can as I don’t see the price of energy ever dropping to anywhere we have known it to be before do you.
Les ( Gutted ).