Sunlight And Weather
It’s common for solar panels to be associated with sunlight, since that’s where they get solar energy. But it’s also a common misconception that the hotter it is, the better it is for the solar energy system. The silicon cells on the solar panels react when hit by sunlight, and when this happens, the motion of the electrons will produce the electric current. So it is sunlight, not heat, that is important.
In fact, too much heat can impact energy production and cause energy losses. Colder temperatures are better for the system. This means the solar panels will still generate electricity when it’s cloudy or rainy. Other than that, solar panels should also have breathable space and adequate airflow for cooling! Reputable installers always mount panels with some clearance from the roof to allow convection cooling letting the trapped hotter air disspate from back of the panels, thus cooling them and increase its efficiency. It is also important that the installer adequately fastens panels to resist weather events such as typhoons that pass the installation area.
Electricity Usage
All modern homes use electrical appliances — whether it’s refrigerators, televisions, air conditioning units, or others. Everything varies from home to home, but the important thing to know before availing of solar installation services is your power consumption. That’s why you need to find a knowledgeable and experienced team to help you, so you can understand the solar capacity that is needed in your home in order to experience savings in your bill.
A rough guide is to install at least 1kWp of solar panels for every 100-130 kWh of monthly bill with preferably with Net Metering if it can easily power your usual daytime loads. That way if you are not at home, and solar is producing a lot of power this excess power can be traded with the utility for evening use credits under Net Metering program. A requirement under RA 9513 or the Renewable Energy act of 2008, that requires utilities and electric cooperatives to accept excess solar generation from a home or business.
Space For Solar Panels
One major consideration before availing solar installation services is where to put them in your home. It is important that you have enough roofing space and structural capacity to carry and support multiple solar panels. Since here at Solaric, our solar panels can last 25 years and more, you need to ensure that your roof is in good condition for many years. Roughly for every 4 square meters of viable roof space can host 1 kilowatt peak of solar panels. This can translate into savings up to 120kWh a month from your bill that is sourced from your solar investment and not the privately owned power grid. The carbon foot print equivalent is a barrel of oil every year for its 25 year economic life span.
Quality Of Material Used
It is also important to understand the quality of the materials and equipment used, as this can affect the efficiency and longevity of your solar energy system. Solaric has been in the business for ten years and installed thousands of systems in real world conditions countless installations ranging from Sea side, mountain top, typhoon belt areas, commercial and residential has gave it valuable insights on what works and what does not.
Solar panels have to be rigorously tested and verified by a third party international certification body. Before shipment each solar panel has been tested at the factory with a flash tester. In simple terms a flash tester is like a gigantic photocopier machine that flashes 1000w/sqm light on the solar panel while its at 25c and its sorted by its nameplate rating +-%5. Solaric cross tests these panels and registers the serial numbers used in each jobsite so its origins can be tracked and if any issues happen, they get taken cared off direct from Installer to Manufacturer.
Picking panels by country. Truthfully that is a lazy and dated way to evaluate technical goods, in globalization its more on how its made and not where it is made. Regardless of geopolitical persuasions, we offer solar panels made in Singapore, , South Korea, China and the Philippines.
Our panel sourcing and product models are always changing and ever improving. A solar panel we sold back in 2013 was 240W and now 545W models are common, and the best efficient ones comes from countries that you least expect.
We go for verifiable data, materials used by the manufacture and real world reviews and feedback from actual institutional users and installers.
Solaric is brand agnostic but has particular standards that make its cut. Brands or models that are used by international bank financed Solar farms make it to its selection process, and consciously choose top vendors in the industry. Some of the brands we carry are the who’s who in the Solar industry. Sunpower, JA Solar, Panasonic, Canadian Solar, REC and others. What is important is that they are vetted and are valued, such as financial stability of the panel manufacturer, volumes sold in the ASEAN region and of course provide the best value and durability to the client.
In the rare event a panel is not producing or goes bad, Solaric will replace them as per the warranty contract and handle the replacement/return process while you immediately enjoy the replacement module so your future harvest is not hampered. A true tier 1 supplier really has no added cost in servicing warranty claims as they are insured and assured replacement panels from the manufacturer they source them from. What is expensive is losing the most valuable, a reputation by letting a customer have a downed system.
Inverters. This is the workhorse of a solar power system. Grid tie inverters is how 95% of the worlds solar is done. There are particular requirements found in the Philippine grid code. Solaric a top tier installer in the Philippines had special RP spec inverters made to comply with Philippine grid code settings so that permitted Net metered installations become possible. Solaric has tested dozens of brands of Solar inverters and handpicked ones that offer the best value connections with the least trouble in maintenance and of course stone cold durability. Its important that your supplier has strong relationships with inverter suppliers and direct to manufacturer support in this aspect as its one of the most crucial technical aspect in a solar system. Wifi integration, export limitation, onboard diagnostics once were considered nice to haves are standard in many of Solaric’s grid tie installations. On special request or for projects of national importance such as large military and civic defense sites we install hybrid and off the grid systems using appropriate inverter and battery technologies.
Grid tie inverter how does it work.
This is where the magic happens. When Solar power is generated it is Direct Current electricity like what comes out of the battery or +- polarity. Its pure electricity but not at form that is usable for our day to day appliances or current that we can use to power our appliances. This type of current has to be converted to alternating current or AC. The inverter does this conversion, it gets the electrical power from the solar panels and transforms it to alternating current. Simultaneously it samples the current waveform from the grid then parallels the now AC power from the solar panels and make sure the waveform is in synch with the utility. In short it connects solar energy to the grid with your home in the middle of the equation.
How does your home use solar first before grid, its physics really It will however raise the current in your house by a volt or two as it infuses more energy into your panel board or service entrance. Since it’s a volt or two higher it will be used first in your appliances, aircon, ref, cellphone charger without fear or favor. Only when it powers everything in the house, this excess current flows out to the grid where its registered in the Net Meter and goes to the next house and the next until its dissipated. If your home is using more energy than solar provides, the grid fills in the gap and flows in to fill the shortfall, thus maintaining the voltage and frequency to grid specified levels. This happens literally everyday when the sun goes down.
Does Grid tie solar work in brownout.
No it should not or will not. Grid tie solar by definition is solar that is interconnected to the grid lines and to do so has to abide by well established rules and convention. By law and by design it has to shut down when the grid goes down within 3 seconds or less, and can only reconnect back to the grid only if stable power of sufficient voltage and frequency is met. If a grid tie system still functions with the grid down it can potentially send lethal electricity down the once live grid line and electrocute linemen, same way a faulty wired generator without a double throw switch can be a hazard in the neighborhood.
It is important when you are dealing with electricity is that your provider knows what they are doing. It’s a qualified and licensed field for a reason and a home or commercial solar power system can produce considerable amount of shocking electrical power. Solaric does its own engineering work and has one of the highest standards in the industry. Used by the top corporations, individuals and utility companies and this is because of one simple rule. Install each system as if its in your own home.
Why do you put more Solar panels than the inverter rating.
It is because of heat deration or voltage drop of solar modules when exposed to temperatures over 25c. A solar cell has many intricate connections and wirings inside its cells and when things get hot, so does the electrical resistance inside those cells and the voltage output drops.
Since we are in a hot tropical country, and we anticipate hot weather operation as the predominant condition we maximize the build by having more solar panels than the inverter AC output rating. Commonly putting up to 25 percent more solar panels to inverter is the industry norm and an inverter would not dispense more power than its rated nominal capacity so overbuilding more than 25 percent is not advised as it will cause clipping of output.
I have a 450w panel but it never produces more than 450w, why is that?
Solar panels are rated by the manufacturer under Standard Test Conditions or STC and that is its advertised Watt peak. To simply testing and not have factory workers broil in a 60c testing lab, the panels are flash tested at 1000w/sqm light at 25 degrees C. In actuality panels are almost never 25 degrees Celsius in the Philippines as the Sun makes it hot and the ambient air temperature is hotter than temperate climates. When panels are heated, they loose about .5% for every degree above 25c and since the ambient temp is about 60c more or less 20% of peak production is lost by voltage losses. Its common practice to pair 6kWp of panels to a 5kW rated inverter to maximize system cost.
Experience Of The Installer
Aside from supplying quality solar energy equipment, it is important to do the installation right. There are actually many ways to do it, but only a few ways to do it right. That’s why you should find a supplier that also has an experienced team of project managers, installers, technicians, and engineers to ensure that everything is done the way that is safe, efficient, and proper. A verifiable track record and strong after sales culture is something to look for because a solar installation is a long term investment and one that spans decades of runtime.
