Questions to ask when buying a solar power system

When purchasing a solar power system, there are four things you need to work out prior to making a decision:

1. Is Solar a good solution for me ?
2. If so, what size system is ideal based on my electricity usage (now and in the future) ?
3. What brand of components should I choose ?
4. Who should install my system ?

A good solar consultant should guide you through this process in a consultative way and help you arrive at the solar solution that is ideal for you and your home.

In order to help with this process, Infinite Energy has produced a guide to the questions you should ask any solar company. The questions are below, and also here and you can download a printable copy at:

Questions to ask a Solar Company (click to open)

Does the company sell products from manufacturers who have a significant presence in Australia? It will be very difficult to make a warranty claim against a manufacturer if they have no presence in Australia. Many Chinese manufacturers will ask you to physically send the panel back to China. Ask for the claim process on all components in writing.

Are the Solar panels supplied and branded by a large reputable manufacturer? Be aware of “self branded” panels where a local solar company sources panels and puts their own brand on them. You have no way of doing any research on the actual manufacturer, their manufacturing processes or quality control procedures. This is often a way of dressing up inferior low quality products. Choose panels from large well known manufacturers where there is an abundance of information (and scrutiny) available. If you can’t find a website on the panel, don't buy it.

Do all the components that make up the system have brands and have information available on the web? Ask for the brands and models numbers for all the components in the system (panels, inverter, mounting system).

What Panel mounting system will be used? The mounting system is a critical component of a solar system that is often overlooked when choosing a system – it should secure the panels for the life of the system. Inferior mounting systems can pose a serious safety issue as time progresses.

What electrical cables will be used in the system? This is very important but an area where many solar companies will cut corners by using 2.5mm cable or 4mm AC cable (not DC cable). This can be a safety issue and greatly affect performance of the system.

Does the Solar Company have a physical that you can visit? Be aware of “back yard operators” who work from home and only use a PO Box address. Will these companies be around for servicing or warranty issues in the long term?

Will the Solar company visit your home and provide a no-pressure consultation? Purchasing a Solar system is a significant investment and shouldn’t be rushed. Be very skeptical of any company offering “today only” deals with high pressure tactics. Quality systems from reputable companies will be available tomorrow. Be equally skeptical of any solar company that won’t visit your home prior to making a sale. Ask yourself what chance you have of getting them to resolve any issues on site after you’ve installed a system.

Does the Solar Company run a significant operation with a dedicated in-house operations and service team to deal with any issues pre or post sale? Selling a system is the easy part, installing to high standard and providing superior after sales service is the part that many companies neglect.

Can the Solar Company give you accurate production estimates including financial projections such as return on investment and payback periods? Be skeptical about nice rounded production estimates like “the system will produce 8 units a day”.

Does the Solar company provide on-site after sales service? Purchasing a Solar system is a significant financial investment which will only pay off if the system produces as it should. Ask how the solar company ensures this happens after installation. Also ask if they provide on-site issue resolution of any problems.

Ride for Mark 2012

Last year Steve Richards (Infinite Energy's Manager - Commercial Systems) Mountain Biked 580kms from Nannup to Perth with his best mate James in honour of his brother Mark who tragically died 3 years ago.

Along the way, he raised $37,800 for Youth Focus 

This year he's upped the ante and will be riding 1255kms from Exmouth to Perth averaging 180kms per day for 7 days.

If you'd like to support Steve and Youth Focus or you'd just like to find out more please click here. 

Using Solar to Reduce Your Mortgage

There has been a bit of press and radio lately (via the SEA's Facts on Solar campaign)  about using solar to reduce your mortgage. There is a good summary on the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia's website - here

 Does is work ?

Well it's a simple process of comparing the investment returns on a Solar system versus the cost of capital (ie your mortgage rate).

This is where we add a disclaimer around not being able to provide financial advice (make sure you source your own advice from a qualified professional). This is how the basics work:

As at early January, a quality 1.5kw solar power system installed in Perth start from around $1600 after STC rebate. Depending on a number of factors including electricity usage patterns, roof orientation and pitch, it will generate around $500 per year in electricity (through a combination of power offset and selling back to the grid).

A very simple investment return calculation gives you an investment return of 31.25% . So there are two things you can do to reduce your mortgage term:

1. If you have spare cash (say $1600), instead of paying down your mortgage directly (which would save you approx $128 a year in interest (assuming an 8% rate), invest in a solar system now and apply the savings ($500) to your mortgage each year.

2. If you don't have the spare cash but you have equity in your home and a mortgage you can drawdown on, do so (the interest will be $128 a year), but the saving will be $500 per year. Apply those savings to your mortgage.

If you'd like to know how this works in detail and would like a customised projection on solar savings for your home please email us at enquiries@infiniteenergy.com.au and we'll be happy to help.

If you have any queries about mortgages we recommend speaking with Mark Nolan from Sense Financial Services who has helped many of our clients finance their solar systems.   

Why quality matters when buying Solar Panels

One of the most frequent questions we get asked by customers when they're considering a Solar Power system is “why should I pay a more for quality components ? 

With our commercial customers we talk about “yield security” – it’s all about making sure that the income stream generated by the solar system (in effect that’s what you’re buying) will continue for a long period time. You only get that peace of mind with quality components.

Solar Panels

Cell quality – producing a solar cell is a very complex process and requires very tight quality control and superior production equipment to produce a cell that will reliably produce close to its rated power for a long time.

Example: performance is affected from the purity of molten silicon used to grow cells to roughness of wafer cutting to the uniformity of paste layers on the cells.

Build quality – after the cells there is still a matter of quality framing and encapsulation to build the panel for longevity against moisture and heat.

Example: cells inside the panel expand and contract thermally throughout the day. In high quality panels this expansion is compensated by a stress relief arch. In low quality panels this is not the case and if this thermal movement is not compensated for it cause the panels to delaminate faster compromising production.

"PID" – Potentially Induced Degradation is a leakage current from the cell to the frame of a panel that progressively worsens production from a cell. It can be stopped/minimised by applying the anti-reflective coating onto the cell in as smooth a way as possible using an accurate ratio of silicon to nitrogen, this requires very high quality control and very high quality equipment to do.

Additionally anti-pid can make use of good encapsulation with high quality materials – again a feature of high quality panels.

Solar Inverters

Build quality – the design of an inverters circuit board and the quality of the components used drastically affect the performance and longevity of an inverter. By using high quality components inside the inverter means the inverter stands a far better chance of operating to a high degree of performance and for longer than an inverter that uses cheaper internal components.

MPPT quality – the maximum power point tracker is what ensures the inverter is always producing as much power as possible. The mppt is perhaps the most important part of an inverter as it is the part that gets the most power out of panels at any point in the day.

Example: in clear sunlight a good quality mppt can allow up to 3% more production than a cheaper mppt which adds up after 25 years. In low light conditions (overcast, morning and afternoon) this production gap will be even higher. In shaded conditions due to the way a good quality mppt works vs. A poor quality one production difference may be as high as 30%.

Control software – this is how well the inverter is designed to cope with all aspects of operation such as power control, overvoltage protection, monitoring etc. And higher quality inverts mean better operation of the entire system.

A solar system is a long term investment and it needs to last a long time for that investment to be successful.