Renewable Energy Photo Thread

Jonathan

There have been some great photos of Boardsies' Renewable Energy setups posted over the years, but they have been lost in the various threads at this stage.

I'm setting up this dedicated thread which might make it easier for show off your new install or DIY project, and for new posters to find/get ideas. All sorts of renewable energy setups welcome.. but I suspect Solar PV will make up most of the photos. 🙂

MOD: Comments are permitted, but they must be constructive/helpful. No negative/nit-pic comments please, or else we'll have to go down route of photos only.

con747

5 x 345w East and 7 x 345w South for now with 5kwh Diverter and 10kwh Pure drive batteries in the Midlands.

joshuyasolar

10 KW System using Deye Inverter and BSLBATT Powerwall Battery bank of 15.3kwh

slave1

Nice compact setup for dual inverters and those batteries

TerraSolis

My 6.39 kWp ground mount & its maintenance crew 🐑

yankinlk

room for moar!

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448059#Comment_119448059

Omg. My roof has no more space and a tiny garden so can't put more anywhere. Jealoussssssssss

SD_DRACULA

Loving the neatness of those setups above but when stuff is out of sight in the attic it looks like this 😂

7kwp South facing on a 6kwh Solis hybrid inverter

DrPhilG

7.44kWp system. House facing west, garage south.

Back when the install was done by a pro and was tidy...

And then when I got stuck in and did some DIY, 20kWh LiFePo4 battery.

I'll tidy it eventually, I promise.

bullit_dodger

DIY Installation on my Shed. Finished about a week ago. 2.3Kwp in total all facing 180deg exactly (due south). Micro-inverters used for the install. 2x2 panel micro-inverters for the guys on the roof and then 2x1 panel micro-inverters for the two vertical ones. I could have used 2 panel micro-inverters for the lot and saved 300 euros, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I was using micro-inverters for the first time so wasn't sure what to expect, hence using 1x panel inverters for the vertical ones as they were the 1st part of the project.

Far left of the picture on the roof 2x400w panels at 30deg incline, then 2x 345W panels at 10deg slope and finally 2x400w panels vertically mounted on replaceable structs, so the panels can go flush against the wall when I want to use the decking area. Currently the vertical panels are angled at 57 degress (in relation to the horizontal plane) Got as very solid 13kwhr out of them on Monday, 12.5Kwhr yesterday and probably again same today.

Ha Long Bay

System installed back in February 7.2kw south facing. 6kw inverter and 2 X 5kw Puredrive batteries.

unkel

@DrPhilG - "7.44kWp system. House facing west, garage south."

With those roofs, I would have 30kwp up, I swear! 😁

But seriously, not doing east on the other side of the house?

DrPhilG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119461109#Comment_119461109

The thought has crossed my mind, but other than always wanting bigger, what's the point?

I've already got enough to be nearly off grid 5 months of the year. Stacking the east side or adding more on the west would still not carry me through the winter months, and I'd be exporting bucket loads all summer.

bonoman66

System installed recently on July 20th. Appreciate its not totally ideal being in the attic due to the higher temps there, especially in this very hot weather we've been having recently, but there was absolutely no other place in our small house for the equipment - so attic it had to be. Solis 6kW Hybrid Inverter mounted on concrete wall & fire resistant board mounted on 2 sides. 4 Power Sockets available for me to use in the event of a mains / grid failure. These are fed from the Pure Drive battery source etc.. I usually leave the attic trap door open in this type of really hot weather to help with airflow passing through the attic. I also have a Wi-Fi Temperature Sensor up there which I keep an eye on via an app on my phone. Ambient Temperature in attic has reached approx 35 Celsius in this hot weather. Inverter Temp under heavy load ( - eg when max solar energy being generated or when the full load of battery is being drawn at once) reaches approx 58 to 62 Degrees Celcius. Fireboard surface temps, at their nearest points to Inverter Casing / Heat sink, reach approx 42 Degrees Celcius at times where Inverter is under heaviest load. Its connected to 16 x 370W panels (5.92kWp system). 8 Panels are SE Facing & 8 Panels are NW facing. Since July 20th, when the system went live, Its generated 516 kWh, so pretty good I think. Last few days have all been over 30 kWh each. 2 x 5kWh PureDrive batteries for a total of 10kWh battery capacity. This typically covers house load from 7pm to 7am at present. House load from 12 Midnight to 7am is approx 1.4kWh (200W per hour). At present, at 7am, there is usually approx 34% remaining in the battery). System appears to be working flawlessly so far (have I just jinxed it :-)) & its exceeded my expectations. Just waiting on the Eddi to be installed. Here are a few pics for anyone interested...

ColemanY2K

Nice setup👌

bonoman66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119467421#Comment_119467421

Thank you. Every day is a learning day, but no regrets so far.

It'll be interesting in the Winter months when I get a feel for what the system can / cannot do at that time of year & how I may need to adapt my habits to try maximize available energy generated..

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119461484#Comment_119461484

I see your point, but if you buy well and DIY install it could be a sound low risk investment even if you export it all. I most certainly would start making a few calculations on that. Also in the near future we will all use far more electricity than we use now, so basing your production on your current needs is disregarding your future needs

And of course some of us are solar addicts, more more more 😁I had 4kwp two years ago, 8kwp last year, 11kwp now and 15kwp next year. Then I will be totally maxed out unfortunately. In your gaff I'd say close to 50-60kWp is possible before you can even think of ground mount. Not a bit jealous of all that space!

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119467720#Comment_119467720

Are you not in Dublin? How have you managed to fit 15kWp? Are you renting your neighbor's roof off them?

unkel

Haha, just under 11kwp at the moment @Jonathan, haven't done my front north facing roof yet, but yeah, small semi D in Lucan, but have a large shed and a sneaky array on my outside boundary wall too. And yes the thought to put panels on my neigbour's roof did cross my mind, have I got a problem? 😁😮

Fantana2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119468110#Comment_119468110

Can we get photos of your set up? Probably the biggest PV set up on a semi D and it’s probably the common house type in Ireland so could be great inspiration for others.

hick

+1 on those photos @unkel

funny to see all the consistency in the KB installs, though I don’t have a nice laminated a4 sheet, must get onto him!

I have a modest 5.5kW 14 panel facing SSW, double pitch roof so it’s on both front facing roofs 8 front and 6 on inside. Contemplating but a few (6/7) on the back as I have the space and in the summer it will get the sun from the morning and through a fair part of the day. Due to the low pitch even the front panels are producing a few 100W from 6am and go right up to 2130, so would hope they’d produce a decent amount. Haven’t taken update photo since battery went in. Have built a frame that will take 4 (or 20kW)

unkel

Not so keen to put up photos. On previous threads people were admonished even for putting up pics of perfect installs that some viewers seem to have critique of. I know the new moderators on this forum have stated they won't allow that sort of stuff and fair play to them, but I'd still rather not.

Anyway, I have only 1.45kwp on my main roof, 5 old panels that have to compete for space with 3 velux windows and 40 solar thermal tubes. Another 5 panels (total 1.825kwp) on my kitchen extension. Still nothing to write home about. Until I had a large shed build early last year, which now has 14 panels on it (5.25kwp) and a sneaky 7 panel string on my outside boundary wall (2.66kwp) and a single panel on a micro inverter (0.375kwp), total 11.56kwp

Next year or so I will cover my virgin north facing road facing roof with panels, not quite sure how many will fit and what the shading situation is (chimney) but I guess about 4kwp, for a grand final total of about 15kwp

yankinlk

I have a great install photo showing panel size (and the optional scaffolding that wasnt really needed) but I'm not posting for same reasons...

idc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119474256#Comment_119474256

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119474472#Comment_119474472

So far this thread seems to be minimal on comments on photo posts which is kinda good, maybe it should even be marked that people just post photos without making comments on setups explicitly.

hick

+1

In the words of my young fella…down with haters

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119475549#Comment_119475549

Have amended my OP now to include reference to same.

DC999

@Jonathan, I have a lot of jealousy on this thread. Some largers setups, larger budgets, larger everything.... Does that count as negative? :)

banana5kin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119453317#Comment_119453317

Where did you get or what sort of hinges did you use on the vertical panels. Have a cabin that I'll be doing the same on (2 panels East and 2 West).

bullit_dodger

LOL - the answer is quite mundane. The frame for the panels is simply 2x4 wood. I varnished it, then painted it with black gloss paint, and then finally (after the picture was taken) wrapped the whole wood frame with waterproof gorilla tape. Including taping over the screws so that water doesn't have an easy entry point to the wood. The 6 base mounts, which are on the roof are again 2x4 but covered in "roof flashing", and as for the hinges.....they are simply door hinges down in Woodies for €2.99. Cheap-n-cheerful.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8zq0yx3xx9k42xc/2022-08-22%2010.23.53.jpg?dl=0

Aside: The reason the hinge is offset from the center is that I had to move the panels a few inches to the right, and I didn't want to re-drill into the shed roof and move the mounting.

poker--addict

I have seen some interesting ground mount setups. "Lean-to" style, sheds, car ports, tree-anchors requiring no concrete, manual tilting options.

Might be worth a thread for sharing ideas or advice.

I came across this pergola image on a group elsewhere. Makes a lot of sense for anyone needing shade in their garden. Ensuring a setup is able to stand firm against any wind load would be important on my own site.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119569380#Comment_119569380

Have merged the threads as they are very similar.