Overseas PV

[puntloos]

On 21/08/2022 at 20:54, CotswoldDoItUpper said:

This quote is with a g98 inverter. 
can anyone tell me if it’s ok or complete ar5e? I’ve been sent the official g98 certificate, how do I check if it’s accepted by my DNO? 
thanks! 

 

One year on, I'm certainly wondering if this worked out for @CotswoldDoItUpper

 

As you might've seen in some other topic you can get at least 630W JA Solar (respected brand, TUV, CE) easily in china, in fact they claim it's a EU warehouse - I've seen even 710W (slightly dubious sounding brand but respected seller it seems). Both of them want me to import a pallet (31 panels) at least.. but I might even be able to fit that on my roof  - either way the thing I have no idea about is the headache of importing to "A london port" - and then having someone take them off the ship, fill out all the paperwork, then truck it to my building site.

 

Would love to know the steps (of importing just the panels - I'll get the inverter and batteries in the UK..) - anyone?

 

[JohnMo]

Really, why would you actually bother importing, with a organising, shipping, getting the goods in the country, import duty, getting goods to your house. What about warranty - not worth the paper it written on.  To save pennies, or most likely pay more when all said and done, just select from a good priced wholesaler in the UK.

 

Open a account with a decent sized wholesaler in the UK, go into a local store, tell them you would like to order xyz and looking for a good price, they are likely to beat any internet price. If they don't move on the next company.

[puntloos]

24 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Really, why would you actually bother importing, with a organising, shipping, getting the goods in the country, import duty, getting goods to your house. What about warranty - not worth the paper it written on.  To save pennies, or most likely pay more when all said and done, just select from a good priced wholesaler in the UK.

 

Open a account with a decent sized wholesaler in the UK, go into a local store, tell them you would like to order xyz and looking for a good price, they are likely to beat any internet price. If they don't move on the next company.

After my math-doing in this topic: I agree it's not worth it. I was under the impression that better performance panels already exist in Asia, and it seems that it's simply not true, there are just different sizes, and _perhaps_ slightly better prices if everything turns out amazingly but it indeed doesn't seem to be worth the hassle at all.

 

My main concern right now is designing panels that fit optimally in a roof.. I think I am close to a good solution but it's still pretty difficult to figure out. For example - I think this panel - the longi 450 might fit very nicely on my roof in landscape mode, but I can't find confirmation that there are GSE trays that will match this size.

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by puntloos

[SteamyTea]

2 minutes ago, puntloos said:

but I can't find confirmation that there are GSE trays that will match this size.

Would not be that difficult to cut and shunt a tray and reproduce it in GRP.

[JohnMo]

9 minutes ago, puntloos said:

designing panels that fit optimally in a roof

If not fully rectangular are smaller sized panels easier to make fuller use of the space. If rectangular big panels full fill the space. Base the design around the GSE tray formats available and any curbs required that suit your sizes, then find PV panels that fit the tray.

[puntloos]

44 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Would not be that difficult to cut and shunt a tray and reproduce it in GRP.

I think.. you mean lenghtening a tray? Maybe so.. not sure if it's going to be too resistant to the elements? Eh I guess it's plastic.. but it sounds like a huge hassle.

 

33 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

If not fully rectangular are smaller sized panels easier to make fuller use of the space.

Of course, but in my particular case 

33 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

If rectangular big panels full fill the space.

 

 

Here is one of the reasons: the "standard" sized longi (red) is very tight, probably impossible to fit under the window in my roof since it's 1134 wide. The yellow "long" one is 1038 wide. It probably fits (citation needed..). 

 

33 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Base the design around the GSE tray formats available and any curbs required that suit your sizes, then find PV panels that fit the tray.

Problem is that at CEF at least, the only trays they have are: 1650x1100 and 1650x1135. Neither match *any* solar panel that CEF has on offer. Or am I missing something?

Tradesparky has many more options but still strangely nothing that *exactly* fits to any of the known sizes. Are we by default expected to start cutting these trays to size? I guess the main point of these trays is to protect the roof, with the white bits safely covered by the panel, and the black bits protecting the roof?

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by puntloos

[JohnMo]

Have been on here, there are config tools to download.

https://www.gseintegration.com/en/solutions/gse-in-roof-system/

 

This is different in roof system

https://www.viridiansolar.co.uk/solar-products-roof-integrated-pv-fusion.html

 

And another

https://www.wienerberger.co.uk/products/roof/in-roof-solar.html

 

Possibly another

https://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/product/marley-solar-roof-tile-portrait-roofing-kit-left-top-corner.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7GnBhDXARIsAFLvH4lddduw6y1mB25gKev7SyPxJEEhMx-gKHn_mEW3jpf63abG9qky35YaAluWEALw_wcB

 

 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, puntloos said:

I think.. you mean lenghtening a tray? Maybe so.. not sure if it's going to be too resistant to the elements? Eh I guess it's plastic.. but it sounds like a huge hassle.

Basically yes.

It would withstand the elements better than the original trays.

There is stuff about that I made over 45 years ago.

 

In reality the strays do net get much weathering, they are hidden below a PV module that reduces the temperature and blocks it from UV light.

I have often wondered why a tray is needed.  Why not just a sheet of plastic, then directly bolt the rails to the joists.  Batten and tile the rest with some suitable flashing.

[puntloos]

13 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Basically yes.

It would withstand the elements better than the original trays.

There is stuff about that I made over 45 years ago.

 

In reality the strays do net get much weathering, they are hidden below a PV module that reduces the temperature and blocks it from UV light.

I have often wondered why a tray is needed.  Why not just a sheet of plastic, then directly bolt the rails to the joists.  Batten and tile the rest with some suitable flashing.

 

Ha, I wondered the same thing. All a tray seems to do is complicate things... for.. reasons?

 

[JohnMo]

Look at my links a couple of them are tray less

[puntloos]

1 minute ago, JohnMo said:

Look at my links a couple of them are tray less

 

Sadly none of your links are "mounting system only" - all of them (except GSE) want you to buy their panels, and are for reasons.. not mentioning their prices. 

[SteamyTea]

6 minutes ago, puntloos said:

reasons

Main reason is that they need to allow water to flow over them without getting under any tiles.

That is a pretty easy thing to mould in.

[puntloos]

3 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Main reason is that they need to allow water to flow over them without getting under any tiles.

That is a pretty easy thing to mould in.

If that's the case (and it certainly sounds logical!) then what's the point of a complicated system like GSE? The only thing I can kind-of think of is ventilation, panels get fairly hot in the direct sun which drops their performance (slightly ironic, solar panels that perform worse in the sun..). If something provides spacing below the panel it might cool things better?

[SteamyTea]

2 minutes ago, puntloos said:

The only thing I can kind-of think of is ventilation

Ventilation is built in when installed on a rail.

The air below a module is subjected to less overall radiation that a normal roof because 20% of the energy is converted to electricity.

There is a lot of nonsense spoken about the performance drop caused by module temperature, while it is true that there is a pretty linear drop off, it happens very really when you gauge it against the standard testing conditions i.e. 1000 W, 25°C 1.5 AM.  We hardly every get that in the UK.

 

[puntloos]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Ventilation is built in when installed on a rail.

The air below a module is subjected to less overall radiation that a normal roof because 20% of the energy is converted to electricity.

There is a lot of nonsense spoken about the performance drop caused by module temperature, while it is true that there is a pretty linear drop off, it happens very really when you gauge it against the standard testing conditions i.e. 1000 W, 25°C 1.5 AM.  We hardly every get that in the UK.

 

 

 

So... if you were forced to install a solar array into your roof... would you use GSE at all? 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

53 minutes ago, puntloos said:

 

 

So... if you were forced to install a solar array into your roof... would you use GSE at all? 

 

 

That is what I am pondering.

 

My house is 4 meters wide and the roof is 4.5m along the hypotenuse.

Now that does not give me me much area.

But if I got modules that were a gnats under a metre, or two metre wide, I could do the full width.

As it is a terrace, I am legally allowed to remove a bit of the neighbours roof and replace it (as long as it is done correctly to any MIs).

With two rows of module, I may get over 3 kWp of PV up there.

I will have to sketch up a simple GRP tray design when I get back onto the PC with CAD on it.