- Thread starter Mee
- Start date
Wendelspanswick
Member
- Messages
- 6,486
In June 2012 we had 14 panels installed, a nominal 4kw/hr array but the maximum output has never been more than 3862W/hr.
Because of chimney stacks etc and not wanting to spoil the look of the house we added a lean-to roof at 34 degrees to an existing outbuilding that faced South and had the panels fitted onto this with the inverter in the outbuilding.
It's in an exposed location but almost at ground level, a local company fitted it who had done installations for friends so I knew they were reputable.
Total cost was £5950 not including the 100m long trench back to the consumer unit in the house, we dug that ourselves.
We missed out on the first tranche of FIT payments (44p?) and qualified for the second tranche which was 21p I think. I have a couple of friends who did qualify for the higher rate as they signed up in November 2011 but their installation costs were closer to £13000 compared to our <£6000 which shows how much profit the installers were making on the first tranche.
Since our install it's been fault free on our side, the DNO did have a problem with so many solar panels in a rural area pushing the supply voltage upto 266V on sunny days which caused the inverters to shut down but they replaced the local transformer with one they could adjust and it's been fine ever since.
Peak output from the array has dropped a tiny amount, maybe 3 Watts. Most probably because I've only cleaned them once in the 4.5 years they've been up.
Total output has been over 15MW/hrs and owing to the fact that we have consumed every Watt of electricity we have generated and exported none plus the FIT payments the system has paid for itself.
Because of chimney stacks etc and not wanting to spoil the look of the house we added a lean-to roof at 34 degrees to an existing outbuilding that faced South and had the panels fitted onto this with the inverter in the outbuilding.
It's in an exposed location but almost at ground level, a local company fitted it who had done installations for friends so I knew they were reputable.
Total cost was £5950 not including the 100m long trench back to the consumer unit in the house, we dug that ourselves.
We missed out on the first tranche of FIT payments (44p?) and qualified for the second tranche which was 21p I think. I have a couple of friends who did qualify for the higher rate as they signed up in November 2011 but their installation costs were closer to £13000 compared to our <£6000 which shows how much profit the installers were making on the first tranche.
Since our install it's been fault free on our side, the DNO did have a problem with so many solar panels in a rural area pushing the supply voltage upto 266V on sunny days which caused the inverters to shut down but they replaced the local transformer with one they could adjust and it's been fine ever since.
Peak output from the array has dropped a tiny amount, maybe 3 Watts. Most probably because I've only cleaned them once in the 4.5 years they've been up.
Total output has been over 15MW/hrs and owing to the fact that we have consumed every Watt of electricity we have generated and exported none plus the FIT payments the system has paid for itself.
Wendelspanswick
Member
- Messages
- 6,486
Your array is 4kWp kilo watt peak not kWh kilo watts per hour.
kW is power kWh is energy.
The reason you top out at 3862 watts is that that is the legal limit for production on a uk 16 amp system.
16 amps x 240 volts nom.
Actually is 3840 watts but close enough.
If that on a building or free standing?
Wendelspanswick
Member
- Messages
- 6,486
Cheers for that I thought it didn't look right when I typed it in.
Wendelspanswick
Member
- Messages
- 6,486
It was an open sided shed about 3m high and 8m long so we built a frame over the open side and clad it in some box profile I scavenged.
