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South West installer recommendation

 
Solar Photovoltaic (PV)
Last Post by Rusty 4 years ago
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 MattEngineer
(@mattengineer)
Estimable Member Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 50
Topic starter 22/11/2021 9:29 am  

Given how many of the forum have PV installed already I’m really hoping that someone can recommend an installer. 

I’ve contacted several in recent weeks, provided a lot of information on my setup roof sizes etc and then when it comes to actually getting a quote it is radio silence, I have followed up with them to no avail.

My worry is if the service is this bad whilst they’re trying to win my business, how bad will it be if something were to go wrong. 

Thank you for the help.



   
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 Rusty
(@rusty)
Estimable Member Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 56
16/12/2021 9:52 pm  

@mattengineer

Did you progress this any further?

Do you feel able to share the companies that you have contacted, experiences, etc?

We are also based in the south west (North West Devon, Torridge) and are considering a PV installation. Currently, just investigating options and planing what we might need, so not yet contacted any suppliers/installers. We spoke to one supplier, SunGift (Exeter), at a home renovation trade show a while back and got a reasonably good impression, but we have not taken it further yet.

I guess things are a bit difficult at the moment, there is probably high demand. We are getting the same lack of response from all the trades, particularly builders.



   
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 MattEngineer
(@mattengineer)
Estimable Member Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 50
Topic starter 24/12/2021 4:34 pm  

@rusty 

Apologies for the late reply.

I’ve so far tried 3 companies, 2 were absolutely rubbish quoting systems from google earth that wouldn’t fit despite me giving fairly exact measurements. However there is one that gives me cause for hope, sensible solutions regarding cost effectiveness of two orientation roof etc etc.

I’m hoping to have a battery fitted first in Jan so I will let you know what the experience is like. Have you had any good experiences so far? 

 



   
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 Rusty
(@rusty)
Estimable Member Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 56
28/12/2021 9:55 pm  

@mattengineer

Sorry, been away for a few days, thanks for the update.

Not made any progress recently. We are trying to get an extension built on the house first and wanted to integrate the PV etc. at the same time, but finding it frustratingly difficult to get any work done this decade. I’m now considering installing panels + battery on/in the garage and an outbuilding first, with provision for extending if and when we can.

I have a few suppliers and systems in mind, based on website info. Priority is a technically competent future proof solution. I wanted to have a good idea of what I need/want before calling in any sales people. My wife says I’m detail obsessed and risk averse, she may be right.

I don’t think that I would trust a supplier who thought they could quote based on a google earth survey, or even my measurements, I’d want a proper boots on the ground survey.

I’ve found a number of websites that allow you to enter house location, azimuth, roof angle, panel area, etc. and give a good idea of output. The best ones use historical solar radiation data for the location. I did find one supplier that had a roof planner, which allowed experimentation with various size panels, but I’ve lost the link.

I have contemplated a home brew off grid solution, but I don’t think I have the energy, no pun intended.

I’ll let you know if I make any progress.



   
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 Kev M
(@kev-m)
Famed Member Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1276
29/12/2021 8:31 am  

@rusty 

Can you share the sites you've found please?  I'm just starting to look at this.  I'd like to be able to map my predicted generation over the year against my usage.  I have an L shaped house with a few options. I found this one for a roof planner.

https://easy-pv.co.uk/roof

Kev

 



   
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 Rusty
(@rusty)
Estimable Member Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 56
29/12/2021 9:40 am  
Posted by: @kev-m

@rusty 

Can you share the sites you've found please?  I'm just starting to look at this.  I'd like to be able to map my predicted generation over the year against my usage.  I have an L shaped house with a few options. I found this one for a roof planner.

https://easy-pv.co.uk/roof

Kev

 

Kev, I found these useful:

https://globalsolaratlas.info/map?c=50.784586,-4.420538,14&s=50.781954,-4.409809&m=site

I’ve located it near the recently approved Pyworthy solar farm, but you can move the location, zoom in, etc. Select small home system and then fiddle with roof angles, array size, azimuth, etc. Lots of charts, including I think a monthly output. The sun chart is interesting.

https://www.pvfitcalculator.energysavingtrust.org.uk

Similar, with map location, etc. I’ve not compared these two to see how similar the results are. Though we have somebody in the next village with a weather station who publishes monthly solar radiation charts and I think the global solar atlas one gave fairly matched results. I need to capture all this before I forget.

I will see if I can recall any other useful sites.

I think that the link you posted may be the one I was thinking of with roof planning.



   
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