What if all my panels are in series and the lowest producing panel will be the deciding factor. Also make a video on how much to oversize the DC array safely for a say 4kw inverter. A very good video indeed.
This is true, those who said, SOUTH is always the best, did not do an actual observation. I recorded videos around 9AM and 3PM,. At 9AM, as expected the sun shines from east and notice it in our window which is also in also in the east, BUT at 3PM the sunlight is from NORTH of west, not SOUT of west. No RU-vidr ever discussed the structural integrity of the house before installing.
If you are selling your power back to the grid at the same price they are charging you as a consumer, then you want to set up your array to generate the most kilo-watt-hours possible each day. Ray
I RV full time and I attempt to park facing due south when I can (I do most days). I recently replaced the 80watt panel that came with my camper with two 200watt panels for a total of 400watts. This has solved my winter time charging problem but the batteries on the 12volt system were run low so many times that they're damaged and won't fully charge. They get to 12.5 to 12.6 by the end of the day but with new batteties will easily reach float at 14.2 probably every day. So before I replace my AGMs with lithium batteries I'm going to install a home made 500watt 48v sun tracking bifacial panel charging an EcoFlow power station. I figure I can put the panel on the rear part of the roof and use 2 actuators to position it. It should just fit (I'm actually going to have to make it fit...) I'm hoping to power it to track the sun from sun energy, not battery so that it will store the panel when the sun goes down. Sun rise will reactivate the tracking system. This is economical for this application but would be very expensive for a large solar application. I'll be able to charge to float both solar arrays each day and even charge the 12v system with the 48v system if necessary (the 12v system powers all the critical systems in the camper) such as extended rainy periods(although the panels charge well on rainy overcast days). The 48v system will be for powering my laptop, security and camera surveillance system. things I need but can live without.
Optimal PV orientation is a tracking array which can be small or very large when wired in strings! The only downside is it requires a large amount of ground soace
The problem with "made in Europe" anything is that prices and online direct purchase aren't available. It's just "contact us for a 'conversation'" or some nonsense like that. No one wants to deal with that.
You only used shade crossing 1/3 of the panels in series withe diode... What happens when you shade the bottom 1/3 of the panel instead of the right 1/3? What happens to the string when that is shaded out?
I own a similar PV system. I have 6.5 kWp panels facing almost East (azimuth -120 at 45-degree slope) and 6.5 kWp panels facing almost West (azimuth +60 on a 30-degree slope) on 2 strings on my 10kW inverter. I produce just short of 40 kWh a day (end of September) while my neighbor with 10kW inverter and 10 kWp of panels facing South gets well over 50kWh on a sunny day. However, my self-consumption is almost double.
Doesn't matter where you face it, a solar panel array will not save you any money. Over a standard investment of capital, it will COST you money. This one simple fact gets overlooked entirely by protagonists of solar panel arrays. A typical array-investment is an exercise in losing money, and this is not understood at all, even though it has been pointed out time and again for over a decade. Quite bizarre. People cannot do simple mathematics.
The more solar panels the better but unfortunately we don't live in Spain so winter time the panels will produce very little. Why not getting 15k batteries and charge it between 2 and 4am with electricity from Electric Ireland in my case for 10 cents compared to 43 cents during the day, that's 77% savings straight away. In euro it will be 77 euros savings for every 100 euros. So you only pay 23 euros for every 100 euros.
As you get further from the equator, panel orientation generally becomes more and more important. So yes, especially important at 60° North. But this brings up a paradox: Go far enough North, and it doesn't matter what direction the panels face. Because when you reach the North Pole, every direction is South!
I have started to dip my toe unto the canal of solar and had to jump back out again because we only have 7 hours of daylight where I live and the lack of light is draining, rather than charging my batteries. But we do get lots of light from spring, summer and autumn so I will set up my solar systems back up again in spring.
What if the shadow is not vertical as shown in this video? Assume the shaded portion is a small horizontal strip at the bottom, in this case will it triggers all bypass diodes? Will the panel be producing similar amount then?
That depends on what's happening with the other panels in the string. If other panels are receiving full sun then yes the bypass diodes will trigger. However, if all panels are getting the same shade then they will all work at reduced output, without triggering the bypass diodes
Officially, everything over 12 square metres requires planning permission. See the link for a detailed write-up: energyd.ie/solar-panels-and-planning-permission-in-ireland/
Very helpful video, thank you! Does this 500mm setback still apply since June 2022 under the new regs? And if so can the 500mm setback be reduced if part of a planning application?
I don't think the 500 mm setback rule will be going anywhere, even when the 12 square metre limit gets removed. You might be able to get it reduced as part of a planning application. But that probably require some proof (probably engineer's calculations) that the system can resist wind loads at the edges.
All fine and well until you tell the government you live in a house built in 2006, but was left unfinished and uninhabited til 2012, and thus they won't "grant" you the €3500 grant for solar panels or heat pumps....I think it's funny the way they keep pushing the little people to help the environment but place so many obstacles in our way....
Thanks but just to nitpick your sums :D 7.3m across - (0.5 + 0.5) for the clearance = 6.3m, -1.2m for the skylight brings it down to 5.1m usable. Still the same result though, 5 x 1m panels will fit.
In theory yes. But in practice it would take a stupid number of solar panels and batteries. Probably costing more than €100,000. However, it might actually be achievable to generate enough solar that your export payments are more than your bills. So your net electricity cost is zero or better. This would require low electricity usage and about 9 kW of solar panels.
I am from Ireland. But live in Australia. I live off grid for 9yr now with my wife. It's is possible. We have 12 batteries with 14 250watts solar panels. And a 8.8kva generator with an automatic start up to charge the batteries when low. But most importantly you have to adapt to turning every plug of at the switch. We use gas to heat water. Also usb charges are the go. And we only have 12v lights in the house. Worth a try.
You will need approx 33% more panels mounted only East / West to make equivalent energy as a South only array. Example ... 18 panel array pointed South is roughly equivalent (over 12 months) to 12 panels East plus 12 panels West = total 24 panels. BUT ... the East / West only array will still make 25% less energy in the Winter time, when most homes need it most. South is ALWAYS best, but adding some East / West can help, depending upon your requirements.
You are being generous with only 25% less in winter, it is probably closer to 50% . Get to the end of February time through until end of October and the output is pretty comparable between E/W and S. I have an E/W array and am happy with it. It generates way more than we can use from March onwards, which is the main thing for us. Back up using a storage battery is vital in my opinion.
Absolutely agree E/W is way down in winter. Overall 25% losses for the year as opposed to 15% losses for a similar south-facing array. A 6kwp south facing array will only produce 4.5mw in a year. He doesn't really point that out in the video, and it is important.
Shading is a tricky thing and very hard to model. What these demonstrations lack is the connection to the inverter. Once that happens then the whole "Shading half of one module drags down the entire string to 50%" myth out the window. Thank you for addressing that! One little thing *solar module. Solar panels heat water :D I know its a moot point when the module manufacturers even gave up and started calling them panels. Great video!
Yep, great point about the issue of modelling shade. It's pretty easy to forecast energy generation from unshaded solar modules. But throw in some shading and most solar installers are quickly reduced to "rules of thumb"
Hi would it a true statement in Ireland at least that you get more sun in the morning before cloud cover rolls in later on . I have anecdotal found this to be true
Hi Vincent, that's an interesting one, and I've been slow to reply to your question because I've been thinking this over. I've seen some data that forecasts East-facing panels to produce a tiny bit more energy than West-facing panels in Ireland. This lines up with your idea about clouds. But I have to include the caveat that the difference in total energy production between East-facing and West-facing panels is really tiny. And it could vary from location to location, even within Ireland.
I disagree re your view on battery. The feed in tariff will be feck all. Far better to have as much battery storage as possible (aligned with PV capacity). That way you are creating and storing electricity at what it would cost you from your electricity provider.
Im considering this realistically now. In a South facing Bungalow and could probably fit close to 9Kw on the roof at 30 degrees, would make sense to get a battery too.
How do you make money? Does a customer pay you for the advice or do the "recommended" solar contractors pay you a few for finding them prospective customers
Good question mev. Installers pay us a small fee per referral, which is much less than the cost of conventional advertising. Some of this saving can then be passed to customers. Moreover, our system encourages competition because installers know that customers will be getting quotes from their competitors
Solar thermal 50tubes(manufactured in germany) takes up 3.8m x 2m on your roof How many pv panels would I need to generate the same level of hot water as 50tubes?
I don't have an exact number because I don't have the data on the 50 thermal tubes. The best I can do is give an upper bound based on the assumption of 100% efficiency for the thermal tubes and 20% efficiency for the PV. Obviously this is way overly favorable to the thermal tubes. But anyway the upper limit would be 3.8m X 10m which is ~20 panels. The actual number of PV panels required will be fewer.
This is very misleading: A pv panel is 1m x 2m 3 panels produce 1KW(Kilo-Watt) is direct sunlight The system pictured is 6panels producing 2kw in ideal lab conditions the price of the 1kw in Ireland is 18c including tax How does it produce over €800 a year please do you calculations Price per KW
You're correct that the system pictured would not give €800 savings per year. I would very much consider the pictured system to be small rather than typical (assuming there aren't more panels on the back of the house). These are stock photos - maybe I should have been more clear about that.
The bypass diode only works in certain ways depending where the shade is and how the panel is set out. Micro inverters make mains power at the panel or panel group. This allows the array to be further away as there is not so much detriment to voltage loss. (Longer cables lower voltage). This issue occurs when running long DC cables to inverters. Optimisers are essentially buck converters. Set to the right specs, for example a 60 cell panels may be 30v 8a. They may make 35v and 4a on a typical day. But if you're off grid and charging 24v batteries, you may drop the Voltage to 26v Taking down 35v to 24v will raise the amps proportional to the change (see ohm's law). You can set them for a constant voltage and variable current. Which is the better way, or you could set them as a constant current, but the voltage could drop out of spec or fail to produce any power at all. Hence why voltage is important. Solar panels voltage has a curve which is fairly small. A cell is around 0.5v, but it's current can vary by 2.2amps. Hence why voltage works best and can add stability to inverters, or bring systems into spec.
I have a 2kw north/south array(72w/42n), off grid. My location is about 40% obstructed in summer.. I just added another 2kw east facing, and 400w west facing. All separate strings with their own controllers feeding the same battery bank. A much more constant flow to my batteries/inverter almost all day. Just making life, nicer :) Non monolithic, redundant systems.. useful, and fun.
I want to do the same thing east west setup just trying to figure out how to do it with a single controller I’m now running 8 panels all the same south facing direction
