How effective are solar panels in Ireland.

b4bmm

As the title states I'm interested to get views from owners who have solar panels whether for hot water only or full electricity supply of a house.

I would guess due to the lack of sun exposure in Ireland that they are much less effective than other countries but might be good if using just to supply a household with hot water, which may also be a worthwhile investment.

Perhaps some have even installed them themselves and just bought the parts needed, if you were in a position to do that surely it would be a worthwhile investment?

_Brian

We have ours in 10 years, flat panel, installed on a new build. Have seen them running Christmas week when sun was out and frost cleared.

They have far exceeded expectations and were very happy with them. Have teenage girl now so three of us shower most mornings and our immersion is only on an odd time, maybe 4 times a year. In our old house it was on an hour a day.

quentingargan

I have solar panels producing electricity. There are a number of sites with monitoring systems like this. In my own case, I have 1.8kw of PV panels feeding a 1.5kw inverter in West Cork. You can monitor my system here. Cloudy today, but you can scroll to different dates.

BrianBoru00

_Brian wrote: »

We have ours in 10 years, flat panel, installed on a new build. Have seen them running Christmas week when sun was out and frost cleared.

They have far exceeded expectations and were very happy with them. Have teenage girl now so three of us shower most mornings and our immersion is only on an odd time, maybe 4 times a year. In our old house it was on an hour a day.

Id second that. Installed a large solid fuel stove with back boiler and decided to put in solar panel while we were at it.
On the coldest day of the year the solar will produce heat - direct sunlight is the key so as long as theres no clouds it will produce.
The biggest change is that it heats the water coming off the road by 8-12 degrees virtually all the time. So flicking the heat on for five minutes then heats it the rest of the way very quickly.

Chisler2

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

Id second that. Installed a large solid fuel stove with back boiler and decided to put in solar panel while we were at it.
On the coldest day of the year the solar will produce heat - direct sunlight is the key so as long as theres no clouds it will produce.
The biggest change is that it heats the water coming off the road by 8-12 degrees virtually all the time. So flicking the heat on for five minutes then heats it the rest of the way very quickly.

Is it possible to retro-fit solar and use with an existing oil-fired range? What trades group do this sort of installation. The builder who has just completed my contract had no experience of solar and was - in any case - skeptical that it would do the job. Where are the experts to be found?

BrianBoru00

I'd say so. Our plumber did it. We had an oil burning stove just for the kitchen/living room and he called in to chat about it and just said I assume it would be a massive job to put in a solid fuel stove with back boiler as we have hollow core. He said it wouldn't so he priced it up and was very competitive. Solar at the time was going to be 3500-4000 - solid fuel brought it up to about 7500. That was six years ago and we've got one fill of oil in the mean time where we were getting at least one a year.

TLDR : Plumber is your man..

Chisler2

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

I'd say so. Our plumber did it. We had an oil burning stove just for the kitchen/living room and he called in to chat about it and just said I assume it would be a massive job to put in a solid fuel stove with back boiler as we have hollow core. He said it wouldn't so he priced it up and was very competitive. Solar at the time was going to be 3500-4000 - solid fuel brought it up to about 7500. That was six years ago and we've got one fill of oil in the mean time where we were getting at least one a year.

TLDR : Plumber is your man..

That sounds very positive. Preferable to using a 1000 tank over the three winter months. I have PM'd you for specific info BrianBor00.

sbs2010

I have solar panels producing electricity. There are a number of sites with monitoring systems like this. In my own case, I have 1.8kw of PV panels feeding a 1.5kw inverter in West Cork.



Hi,

Can I ask what is the surface area of the panels in your system?

And on what date and time ranges do you get the full 1.8kw?
By that I mean, assuming clear skies, do you know that in June&July you'll get 1.8 between 11 and 3pm. In May and August you'll get 1.8 between 12 and 2, etc.

Conor20

I have a 2.2kW system installed and it's working great. It powers the house during the day most of the year, and excess PV is routed into the hot water tank via an iBoost unit. We haven't used our electric shower in about 4 months.

You can see exactly how much generation you'll get on your house with the NREL Solar PV site.

quentingargan

Conor20 wrote: »

excess PV is routed into the hot water tank via an iBoost unit.

If you have access to an oscilloscope, I would be interested to see the wave pattern on the grid when the diversion is working. This is the wave pattern I have seen with similar units. I think it is worth the extra to go for a high frequency switching device. But the idea of diverting surplus power to the immersion is sound. Overall this is a better way to get solar hot water than solar thermal.

rolion

quentingargan wrote: »

If you have access to an oscilloscope, I would be interested to see the wave pattern on the grid when the diversion is working. This is the wave pattern I have seen with similar units. I think it is worth the extra to go for a high frequency switching device. But the idea of diverting surplus power to the immersion is sound. Overall this is a better way to get solar hot water than solar thermal.

Hi,thanks!
I have the device working since last year, so far no one off my street complained of any troubles and no calls either from the "yellow trucks" at my door.

Now,the device itself is marketed for UK market and approved by the UK regulations...if there were "troubles", dont you think they will have been known of it or reported by users to the Regulator !?

Regards

quentingargan

sbs2010 wrote: »

I have solar panels producing electricity. There are a number of sites with monitoring systems like this. In my own case, I have 1.8kw of PV panels feeding a 1.5kw inverter in West Cork.



Hi,

Can I ask what is the surface area of the panels in your system?

And on what date and time ranges do you get the full 1.8kw?
By that I mean, assuming clear skies, do you know that in June&July you'll get 1.8 between 11 and 3pm. In May and August you'll get 1.8 between 12 and 2, etc.

Each panel is 230W measuring 1.65m x 992mm. Nowadays the same size panel would be 270W or more. I never get 1.8kw because the inverter is 1.5kw. You so seldom get peak performance that it is quite normal to under-size the inverter by up to 20%. A small bit of under-sizing can even improve system efficiency as inverters work best when flat out.

quentingargan

rolion wrote: »

Hi,thanks!
I have the device working since last year, so far no one off my street complained of any troubles and no calls either from the "yellow trucks" at my door.

Now,the device itself is marketed for UK market and approved by the UK regulations...if there were "troubles", dont you think they will have been known of it or reported by users to the Regulator !?

Regards

Anybody with a buzz on their radio wouldn't know to tap you on the shoulder. This diversion product industry is winging it in the UK. I'm not saying you shouldn't use these devices, but I think one day the ESB may catch up on this subject. See more info here which was posted elsewhere on Boards.

rolion

sbs2010 wrote: »

I have solar panels producing electricity. There are a number of sites with monitoring systems like this. In my own case, I have 1.8kw of PV panels feeding a 1.5kw inverter in West Cork.



Hi,

Can I ask what is the surface area of the panels in your system?

And on what date and time ranges do you get the full 1.8kw?
By that I mean, assuming clear skies, do you know that in June&July you'll get 1.8 between 11 and 3pm. In May and August you'll get 1.8 between 12 and 2, etc.

@sbs,

There are online public monitoring sites that gives you instant reading or archived logs for the various sites located across Ireland.
Try HERE and by selecting Ireland see what results makes you happy !?
That link is shared by all Irish instalation uing that type of inverter.

I have spent a whole one year logging and researching position, logs,reviews and not lastly measuring Sun angles and coverage on my house roof and back garden.Also,saving the funds...

Im in D15 and i was keeping a closed eye to a nearby installation (Lucan) and i can say that in the same day & same hour our panels are producing different outputs !

As an friendly advice,i suggest doing your home work and then shop around,ask some profesionals to give you a site survey and visit some instalaltions around your area.

Let me ask you where you based and what type of budget, cover, consumption you have planned !?

Have fun...

rolion

quentingargan wrote: »

Anybody with a buzz on their radio wouldn't know to tap you on the shoulder. This diversion product industry is winging it in the UK. I'm not saying you shouldn't use these devices, but I think one day the ESB may catch up on this subject. See more info here which was posted elsewhere on Boards.

Hi,

The "my" own problem or complaint about the iBoost is not the electrical curve parameters... but if someone is at home,using the house appliances in a natural way then the whole diverted dversion process is fully compromised !
The diverter scans and listens every 10 seconds (will have been nice to be 1 second,like others) and if it detects less PV energy generated then it switches itself off,goes in hibernation consuming only 3 watts.When in next scan (that can be from 1 second to 9 seconds long delay) checks and stays off or diverts the surplus electricity to the resistive load !
That does not happens when the house is empty and PVs are fuly generating

As per attached below,you can see the spikes in the power-on versus "hibernation" mode, in the top right frame:



Down here,shows the scanning times and the 2.5w consumption while listening for extra juice from the panels: