Photovoltaic Panel Setup – Which? guide
Are you thinking about installing Solar PV panels at your home? Producing your own electricity from solar is not any great only to the environment but it can also save money to the long term thanks to the feed in tariff and it can protect you from rising electricity bills.
But the decision to install solar PV panels on your home is a big one. It can be nerve wracking when you’ve never seen how it’s done. So we filmed a solar panel installation to show you what happens and the answers to some of those common questions.
But first, let’s find out how the system works. Solar photovoltaic panels generate electricity whenever it’s light. Light energy from the sun hits the photovoltaic cells on the solar panel and is transformed into electricity.
Conducting wires carry the electrical current from the your panels to the in-verter and then into your home. When it’s light and you turn your electrical appliances on they’ll be powered by electricity your generating.
Any excess electricity will be exported to the national grid. If you turn your appliances on when your panels aren’t producing electricity, you’ll use electricity from the grid as usual. Before the installation process can again will have to arrange a survey with a reputable solar panel installation company.
And the number of panels that you put on your roof depends on a number of factors: the size of your roof, the direction which it faces, the amount of electricity that you wish to generate and how much you wish to spend.
The installation will be done in stages. The whole process can take as little as one day, depending on the size of the system. We caught up with Solar Panel Installation company manager Guy Hewitt to see an installation in process « The process is quite straightforward actually.
Before we get to the site we would have already surveyed it, so we’ll have produced a detailed plan of what we’re going to do on the roof. When we arrive if the scaffold tears up than the towers will be up.
« The next phase is to mark out and set out the array on the roof so then we’ll be taking the dimensions that we’ve got be lifting tiles, finding the rafters and setting out where we actually are going to insert the roof hooks into the roof.
« The stage after that is, we start installing the roof hooks. So we lift the tile up, we find the rafters, we then insert the roof hook into the rafter, then the tile would sit back down and be weathered if necessary, and that goes all the way along the roof to create, if you like, parallel lines of roof hooks.
After that the rails are bolted onto the roof hooks and when they’re fully secured and in position then the panels can be installed onto the rails. « The vast majority of roofs in the United Kingdom are able to take solar panels.
They need of course to face the right way. We wouldn’t be installing solar panels on a north facing roof. We’re really looking for somewhere from east to west or south of that. One of the concerns a lot of people have is that there’s a possibility that installing solar panels could actually damage your roof.
« That is not the case. Provided the right roof bolt is used for the type of tile that’s on the building, and the roofers have done a professional job, then the roof will be weather proofed. » In the house, the direct current from the solar panels comes in through this cable and it goes into an inverter box which converts the direct current to alternating current, which is safer for your home.
And there are two isolator switches there’s a direct current isolator switch and an alternating current isolator switch as safety measures. From here the power is passed around the house and here You have the generation meter which indicates how much power your solar panels have created.
As long as there is enough light the panels start producing electricity immediately. So if you’re interested in installing solar PV at your home, go to our website, which.co.uk/solar you can read our solar panel guide and see our checklist for things to watch our for during your installation.
you are you thinking about installing solar PV panels at your home producing your own electricity from solar panels is not only great for the environment but it can also save you money in the long term thanks to the feed-in tariff and it can protect you from rising electricity bills but the decision to install solar PV panels on your home is a big one it can be nerve-wracking when you’ve never seen how it’s done so we filmed a solar panel installation to show you what happens and find the answers to some of those common questions but first let’s find out how the system works solar photovoltaic panels generate electricity whenever it’s light light energy from the Sun is the photovoltaic cells on the solar panel and is transformed into electricity conducting wires carry the electrical current from the panel’s to the inverter
and then into your home when it’s light and you turn your electrical appliances on they’ll be powered by electricity your panels are generating any excess electricity will be exported to the National Grid if you turn your appliances on when your panels aren’t producing electricity you’ll use electricity from the grid as usual before the installation process can begin we’ll have to arrange a survey with a reputable solar panel installation company and the number of panels that you put on your roof depends on a number of factors the size of your roof the direction which it faces the amount of electricity that you wish to generate and how much you wish to spend the installation will be done in stages the whole process can take as little as one day depending on the size of the system we caught up with solar panel installation company manager guy Hewitt to see an installation in process their process is quite straightforward actually before we get to the site we would have already surveyed it
so we’ll have produced a detailed plan of what we’re gonna do on the roof when we arrive we put the scaffold tires up then the top of the towers will be up the next phase is to mark out and set out the array on the roof so there will be taking the dimensions we’ve got will be lifting tiles finding the rafters and setting out where we are actually going to insert the roof ups into the into the roof the stage after that is we start installing the roof hooks so we lift a tile up we find the roof that we find the raft we then insert the roof hook into the rafter then the tile will sit back down and be weathered if necessary and that goes along all the way along the roof to create if you like channels parallel lines of roof hooks after that the rails are bolted onto the roof hooks and when they’re fully secured in in position then the panels can be installed onto the rails the vast majority of Rives in the United Kingdom are perfectly able to take solar panels they need of course to face the right way we don’t we wouldn’t be installing solar panels on a North facing roof we’re really looking for somewhere from east to west or south of that one of the concerns
a lot of people have is that there’s a possibility that the solar panels installing solar panels could actually damage your roof that is not the case provided the right roof bolt is used for the type of tile that’s on the building and the roofers have done a professional job then the roof will be wet approved in the house the direct current from the solar panels comes in through this cable and it goes into an inverter box which converts the direct current to alternating current which is safer for your home and there are two isolator switches there’s a direct current isolator switch and an alternating current isolator switch as safety measures from here the power is passed around the house and here you have the generation meter which indicates how much power your solar panels have created as long as there is enough light the panel’s stop producing electricity immediately so if you’re interested in installing solar PV at your home go to our website which doctor at UK forward slash solar and you can read our solar panel guide and see our checklist for things to watch out for during your installation
