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Our Progress in Installing Solar Photovoltaic  Panels

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 OUR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

 

 

Our Solar PV is being installed in early April. We will post our progress as things develop together with lots of photographs.

06/04/06 Retiling the roof

13/04/06 Photos showing stages of how the PV was installed.

Daily PV outputs from the System

Schematic Diagram of our System

We decided, after much careful deliberation to award the contract to Chelsfield Solar. They provided us with extremely accurate information and lots of different options and sizes of design.

When the Local Authority were dragging their feet Chelsfield stepped in to give them all the information needed plus guidance relating to PV from the Office Deputy Prime Minister.

In fact their excellent communication  and professionalism was one of the main reasons for awarding them the contract. So far they haven't disappointed.

We opted for the maximum amount of panels we could fit onto the roof- 16. Our reasoning being that if were going to do this we might as well get maximum benefit and maximum grant. The price of the PV per KWp decreased as more panels were installed. As you can see from the table they don't come cheap but really when you consider it we are paying the same amount as a half decent second hand car. However our Solar Panels are guaranteed for over 20 years, long after the car would have been decommissioned! To us this represents a great long term investment.

 

 

 

 

We used about 3,400kwh of electricity last year. This was before we seriously started reducing our electricity use. We hope to use between 2,500 and 2,800kwh next year. This would mean that we will be self- sufficient in electricity. Though we would have to draw electricity from the grid at night time. 

We also decided to revamp the roof. The tiles have been up there for over 100 years and it seemed sensible to get the roof seen to before the panels are installed. The risk of having to do work on the  roof after the panels had been installed was not something we wanted to contemplate. Obviously we need scaffolding for revamping the roof. We found a local roofer who was pleased to coincide his work with that of Chelsfield. The roofer is arranging the scaffolding and Chelsfield reduced their price to take this into account.

One of the reasons for having the PV installed in April is that hopefully the harsh winter that has been predicted would have finished and also so that I can also access the roof to do some general maintenance, such as painting, in the school holidays.

 

Hybrid SA16 High Efficiency Solar Panels  These are the type of panel we shall be installing.

 

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