Are you thinking of getting solar panels, but you’re not sure about what this looks like in a real-life scenario? Our next series of blogs will go over case studies of systems that First Class Solar have installed across Northern Ireland, with our first one set in Belfast.
Case Study: Belfast
This customer, James, contacted us by responding to an advert he saw on our Facebook. One of our solar technicians, Matthew, got in touch with James to answer his questions and work out what would be the best solar system for him, taking into account his usage and preferences. Matthew found out that James had an electric vehicle which he charges at his Belfast home overnight, and his general use electricity bills were getting really high. An appointment was then arranged for Matthew to survey the property.
Survey
Matthew spent around 40 minutes with James at his property. They discussed his current electric expenditure – £170 per month, and what impact solar would have on his bills – a reduction year round, to an average of £63 per month. These figures are calculated using our industry-leading software and the energy figures provided by the customer. Matthew also conducted a survey of the property, checking the measurements of the roof, a visual inspection of the rafters, and noting where the electrical fuseboard and NIE meter were located so that cable runs could be agreed upon. James and Matthew also discussed where the solar equipment (batteries and inverter) would be installed to meet both aesthetic requirements as well as functionality.
Panels
The main house is a two-storey semi-detached home with a concrete tile roof and a detached garage. For 16 panels to fit on the roof of the main house, we would need to utilise three of the roof faces. Matthew knew to use the panel-mounted Tigo Optimisers in this instance, to optimise the panels on two of the three roof faces. This would greatly reduce any losses from the differing panel orientations, and would mean that the customer’s preferred system size of 16 panels could be fitted!
Equipment Location
James and Matthew both agreed that the garage would be the perfect spot for the inverter and batteries to be fitted. However, for this to work, we needed a track to be dug between the garage and the NIE meter, which was on the main house. James decided to call in a favour with a friend who could do this for him, and so the track was completed and a duct laid, ready for our team on the installation day. This meant that our electrical team were able to pull through the necessary cables between the garage and the house to ensure everything ran as expected.
Installation
Our team arrived around 8am on the scheduled installation day and got to work! In total, this solar PV system in Belfast consisted of:
- 16 x 440W All-Black Panels,
- 1 x 3.6kWh Solis Hybrid Inverter
- 2 x 5kWh Dyness PowerDepot batteries
- 11 x Tigo Optimisers
Summary
In total, this installation cost our Belfast homeowner £7,350. At 5 years and 3 months, James will have recouped the full £7,350 investment through the savings on electric bills. He will then be ahead of his bills every single month for the next 15 to 20 years of the panel’s lifespan. If we take a look at the investment over a shorter period, 10 years, the customer has made an annualised return of around 11.5% – much better than the 3-4% the banks are currently offering on a savings account!
