Glad it was helpful!

Yes absolutely, I was totally against installing on the north but this has opened my eyes a bit to the potential of a north roof

Yes there is an analysis tool

Hi Josh, strangely I was thinking about planning in this video today. I will have a look at our filming schedule and see if we can program it in. We can provide you with a performance estimate for your north south system if you would like? We can also remotely take a look at this projects performance and let you know the % difference? If you would like us to take a look then please feel free to drop us an email to info@ovalrenewables.com

SolarEdge must have an optimiser on each panel (or some circumstances you can have 1 per 2 panels).

No SolarEdge systems need optimisers. SolarEdge is much more than just shading optimisation. It allows you to track individual panel performance, disconnects harmful DC coming into the property when there is a fault, optimises production when the system has inefficient panels due to manufacturing or bird messing and allows up to 200% oversizing to the inverter as the panels can be controlling at source.

@@OvalRenewables solarEdge optimized array vs normal array, how much more electricity it will produce in rough percentage? If it's just 10% or less, do you think it's worth it?

@@kgfaith Depends on the shading, but optimisers are not a magic fix, there are scenarios where they can make performance worse.

Optimisers have pros and cons. Most significant issue is the relatively high failure rate. Usually the labour and scaffolding costs for the replacement are not covered and meanwhile the whole pv system has to by turned off. Someone in this video has posted a comment about an optimiser that failed

Sorry, 10*345 on South :) same panels everywhere

It peaks at 6 kw at this moment, but when sun creeps out from behind a cloud it shortly hits 7800.

That's really awesome tbh. I think if I get north facing for my parents, it'd at least generate enough energy to help them have credits for their overall bill (which would help pay for their obscenely high gas usage)

Do you mean you hope to make 7000kWh and not £7000?

You never know! I have heard rumours that they even have sunny days further north!

in denmark we have areas in the northen part of the country that produce more because of the wind... at the north west coast in denmark solar panels are expected to create more then some places hundreds of km south of there

You should look for a solar calculator. In the US, PVWatts. There's a European equivalent. You can input a theoretical array and see what it generates facing north in your location. I have some panels facing north that are doing OK, but if they faced south they'd put out about 50% more annually. Two negatives: the power dropoff is mostly in the winter, and snow persists on those panels twice as long.

@@davidstewart1153 Thanks for your reply, only just seen it. A few weeks ago, we've placed an order with our installer for an additional 9 x 435W panels to go on the north facing roof of our garage. We've taken advantage of current rock bottom panel prices and utilising the 200% overprovisioning of our existing 4kW SolarEdge inverter (garage already has 10 south facing panels). We've just purchased a water fed extending window cleaning brush which I can use from the ground to keep our panels clean (and remove any snow quickly in the winter). The south panels have generated 3.84 MWh during the last 12 months, so we should achieve something around 1.9 MWh from the additional panels.

I have the opposite opinion to that. I have a 5kW inverter which I am forever cursing because it can’t run two decent 3kW loads simultaneously. My roof could be producing 6kW, but I can only use 5, put 1kW into the battery and draw another 1kW from the grid (through gritted teeth!)

A 6kw inverter would have worked but the customer wanted the maximum inverter capacity to allow future expansion

On a non-SolarEdge system there’s also the option to run the north and south strings in parallel, since they won’t be generating max power at the same time, allowing a smaller inverter to be used.

Yes they are very reliable 👍

There are many products out there that do the same job 👍

Solartrim allows more airflow then? If you have skirt / trim do you still need a mesh behind to prevent birds nesting, or is the skirt sufficient?

Not on an on roof job as the link between the panel and optimiser can’t be extended

I reckon that’s an ACU, so air to air

I believe it’s an air con unit.

Thanks for the comment, however I am not sure how you measured anything from watching the video?

@@OvalRenewables skirting aside - each panel is 1690mm &from the aerial video, there are approx 5.5 roof tiles, this gives 307mm per tile. There is one tile at the lower edge of the roof, that leaves approx 300mm. Now if these were installed before the regs change then all good. - I was just pointing this out - It's not a criticism.

The distance of 400mm from the edge of a roof is only guidance and recommend good practice, it's not law. I can't find it now, but 2 years ago before we were considering having panels fitted, I actually phoned MCS and a very helpful lady sent me the paragraph detailing this topic. To summarise it said 400mm distance is best practice but a lesser distance can be used if additional strengthening is added. So based on this when we eventually ordered a solar system we were able to get an additional 2 panels (800W) on our roof. The installer as requested by me just added an extra central support to both panels at the ends (3 rails instead of the usual 2, the 3rd being in the middle of the panel). From memory we've got something like 180mm from the edge. The extra cost of 4 additional roof brackets at either end and 4 short (offcuts) of rail and an extra hour of labour to add the additional mountings was minimal in return for having 2 extra 400W south facing panels.

Only on in roof systems as we can’t extend the link between the optimiser and panel

Any experience of using tigo optimisers? Wonder if they have longer leads or allow extension. Thx

Valid point!! Perhaps Oval could comment

In other videos they mention SolarEdge had quite a high failure rate. More than a few % hence their replacement policy. I have a SolarEdge array myself just coming up to 2 years old. No issues yet but we've only 8 panels.

Maybe it was the physical size of the higher-rated panels. They may not have been able to accommodate a second row on that roof using 550W panels. Per square metre, most panels are roughly the same output (20-21% efficient).

The customer wanted the SunPower panels and that’s the largest ones we could get.

@@HowardBurgess More watts on the roof is king. Of course that depends on the size and shape of the roof and the dimensions of the panels

Aren't SunPower one of the few manufacturers who don't publish PMax and NMOT? I guess the customer wants what they want. The perimeter looks good, I wonder how much it affects performance, increasing temps under the panels. Tidy install 👍 Be interested to see how the north array performs over the year.

We get them from our local wholesaler who started to stock them for us. But they are from a company called surge protection devices

Currently the north is generating just over 50% of the south which is unbelievable!

@@OvalRenewables How has it been getting on generation wise if you do not mind me asking, quite curious and wondering if you would be doing another video when you have enough data.

@@cnjelly7876 yes I think I will do another as there has been a lot of interest. I haven’t checked in on it for a while but Will absolutely do another video!

​@@OvalRenewableshas there been an update video yet? This is really brilliant content, some out of the box thinking and work that could really benefit us all. Thanks!

Yes, it'd be great to get an update even just in the comments/vid description about the north facing panel energy production. If they generate enough to pay for themselves it might be worth more people considering them as part of an installation.

Not a fan of the Giv products but that one certainly looks interesting

@@OvalRenewables I just love the company and great people too

I hope you are ok

@@OvalRenewables Barely, I am afraid one more video with this zoom effect may push me over the edge

@@HenryOCarmichaelSmith 😂😂

Felt like the Hokey Cokey 😂

@@rubydoobstylie lmao too true

We are unable to disclose on this project due to the customers request

At a guess, well over £20k, IIRC Powerwall is £13k alone, so probably the mid to higher end of £20k to £30k.

We always ask the customer if they are happy for us to revel the cost but they preferred us not to include it in this video.

@@OvalRenewables Fair enough. Do you ever produce a spreadsheet of likely savings / payback in your original estimates? It just seems to me, that this system isn't really a financially viable system, unless I've misunderstood it? For example, say the client boils a 3kW kettle, decides to pop some toast in the 1kW toaster, while boiling some eggs on their 2kW induction hob while the washing machine is just heating up the cold water (2.5kW), then some of this power won't be coming from the battery, but from the grid at 30p+ per kW?....even though the solar might be putting 3kW into the battery or house? Is that right or have I got that wrong?

Surely viability is variable, the customer might be happy with a 20 yr ROI, or know their energy use will only increase over time, with electrified heating. Or this might not be solely financially motivated and they wanted to decarbonise their energy use.

Hi, I'm not sure of the point you're trying to make? What I was pointing out, is that most of these systems don't appear to be 'off-grid' like mine is. I should qualify, mine is 'off-grid' until the battery bank needs topping up because of lack of solar (ie. overnight, mainly). I can't export to the grid with my system.....well I could, but the electronics involved would not be worth the hassle. My system can provide enough for the house, hot water and the car in the summer months without using the grid. However, check out this year's solar production, when the BBC was telling everybody the world is on fire, the best month has been June, with July and August being significantly down on the last few years. Where has 'global warming' gone? These systems are tied to the grid and as such reap rewards (depending on tariffs) for their contribution to the grid. IMHO, the whole concept of 'decarbonisation' (climate energy) is all bogus and part of a much bigger plan (Kalergi). Getting people to believe that 'climate change' is down to too much carbon being produced by the activities of man, is just the same as the depopulation agenda and population collapse that is in full swing now in all Western countries. Just look at the number of single people and the ones who are in couples have a dog (or two) or a cat as their 'child'. But that's just my tuppence worth. I think your point is right about choosing what floats your boat and going with it. I did all this because Octupus Energy (the Government's chosen front company for energy transformation) were charging me 66.7p per kWh for electricity and 17p per kWh for gas. In retrospect I wish I'd gone the Sovereign Man route and extracted myself from these 'corporate contracts'. @@g4egk

No point other viability means something different to every customer@@fredflintstone1428

I think they will be doing a lot less than they are now. It will be interesting to see 👍

if your house baseload is 200-400w, even 'close to nothing' on a 4.5kwp north array could be very usable and be enough to keep you from using peak electric in the winter

@@MrKlawUK Happy to keep an open mind, but even if the sky is not greyed over in the winter, the sun will be so low nothing is going to hit the panels. I hope oval do a video review in 6 months time.

@@elslopez you should get some indirect light on them. I’m curious - I had mine installed in the ‘good’ months so haven’t done a winter with them yet :)

@@MrKlawUK From what I can see irrespective from what ever direction your panels face as soon as there is no line of sight between the panels and the sun, the performance tanks. Even small clouds rob south facing panels considerably. North facing in the winter you would be entirly reliant on diffuse or reflected light. I mean look at what solar panels produce at sunrise, the sun is low and it is easy enough to see outside so there is light present, yet even south facing barely produce anything till the sun is higher. There is the possibilty that in winter the north facing panels will not even reach their activation threshold and could just sit at zero all day.

Hi Peter, we currently have a waiting list but would be happy to add you to this. If you send us an email to info@ovalrenewables.com we would be happy to help

Thanks for the message. We were just reporting what we were seeing. I agree that it’s a short space of time to draw any conclusions. I was just surprised to see generation that looked anywhere near the south panels. We may do a follow up video when we have a full years worth of data. The solaskirt is to stop pigeons nesting under the panels. You will lose a bit of generation due to the panels warming but this may happen without it due to birds nesting under them. It also makes the system look better which does have its trade offs

Caught it with a Stanley knife 🤦🏻‍♂️

Each to their own. There is a mesh option which is slightly more discrete. Birds nesting under panels is a common issue however.