The boys are here, installation is underway.
I just discussed the power pollution with the sparky. They install a filtering device between the solar and the incoming grid supply, to prevent pollution going into the house mains. That’s the theory anyway, I’ll be closely supervising the pre-commissioning test results.
Good progress today, with the brackets installed along with the wiring from the roof to the control board. We had to change the design to move 2 of the NW panels to the NE Array - so 15 NW and 8 NE.
This is the NE Array on a 30 degree tilt on the flat roof:
And the NW Array, which is on both the long roof and the small section of roof to the very right of the photo:
The control panel is bigger than our fuse box:
Great- you must be pleased to get it underway - won’t be long now till your producing
I remember on my installation that they left at 4pm (mid winter), and I just got to see 100 watts get generated - it was so exciting
Yeah, we’re really pleased. They will have the panels up tomorrow, even with the occasional rain forecast (they are hardy Kiwi blokes). But it’s not commissioned until it’s been certified by an inspector, I think you mentioned this for your one as well? All of next week is meant to be sunny, so I’m keen to smash it!
We could probably squeeze a few more panels in, but it’s pretty big at 8.74kW, so will see how that goes.
Yeah, it’s mid winter here and was a cold day - only just got to 16°C at 4pm 
, but they said it was pretty hot in the roof cavity.
Its mid-summer here, we got to 16C today… 
thats not good - im flying there today
It’s mid winter here and it’s 16c here. 
Lancashire and Scotland - have thrown another jumper in the bag
We’ve peaked at 12.9°C today with a lot of rain, that’s about as nasty as it gets here.
The solar guys have unloaded the panels and then fled. Sparky is on a second day with the old switchboard - he’s found a few loose connections to tidy up and has added a thing called an active link off the main switch, that can be used if any additional feeds are needed of the mains in the future. The poor guys sweating as Mrs Mike has a fire going right next to him and I’ve been slamming gum into it.
The solar got rained off on the Wednesday and they finished it this afternoon. It won’t be running until Monday afternoon when the inspector has to certify it as all compliant and properly tested. When the installers were testing it this morning at 10:30 we were generating almost 4kW and exporting to the grid with the oven cranked up. Pretty promising for a morning a few days off the winter solstice.
We’ve passed our commissioning tests and are up and running. Predictably, it clouded over immediately and there is rain forecast for the next 4 days now. Our account hasn’t been loaded up on the Enphase app either, so there is no performance to pull until that is up and running in the next day or two.
It’s meant to be fine on the weekend, so I’ll report back then.
Do they recommend cleaning the panels with Demin water like window cleaners use, i would imagine they could get quite dirty over time and lower the performance?
I don’t believe so, more self cleansing like a roof and the proposal says they operate at 95% with a dust and dirt allowance. Over the 25 year warranty the panels are forecast to have a reduction of efficiency of 2% in the first year and 0.3% per year thereafter due to aging.
Two days of solar now. Are you pleased?
Phil
Still waiting for the sun to come out. But we did generate 6 kWh today and it was cloudy and drizzly all day. Saturday is meant to be fine, so I’m really forward to seeing how that goes.
I’ve got the installer also checking an issue where the solar app is showing lower import use than our power companies app.
My uncle moved to Maungakaramea to farm in the mid 1920s - is that near you?
Phil
Yes it is! About 20 minutes by car. My wife’s parents lived there until not long ago. It’s a nice small rural village.
