Considering investing in a solar system for your business? Then this series is for you!
Part 1:
Common sizes breaks for commercial-sized solar systems
Commercial solar designs and layouts
Part 2:
Expectations you should have for your solar installer
Inverters in a commercial-sized solar system
Part 3:
Monitoring and maintenance of your commercial solar system
Financing a commercial solar system
What should you expect from the initial meeting with a prospective solar installer?
Any reputable commercial solar installer will first begin by conducting an energy profile analysis on your property.
You can expect this analysis to commence with a request to review your electricity bills. The installer should request to see at least a year’s worth of electricity bills. He will inspect these to see the tariff your business is on, and analyse interval data in order to accurately project paybacks.
Your electricity bills are also used to calculate the energy consumption during daylight hours – especially in winter. This will allow the installer to determine what’s more important – roof space or what you, as the customer, actually need. For example, you may need a 100kW system, but only able to fit 50kW on your roof – an energy profile analysis will be able to definitively tell you if it’s still worthwhile going ahead.
Other expectations for an initial meeting with a solar installer include conversation around understanding your business needs and goals, as well as a discussion on the various financing solutions available.
Inverters in a commercial-sized solar system
Broadly speaking, there are three options when it comes to choosing a solar inverter setup for a commercial-scale job:
- Power optimisers
- Micro inverters
- Chained string inverters
- Large central inverters
Cost is key in a commercial system. Micro inverters carry a 20% premium in price over conventional string inverters, but offer a variety of safety and performance benefits.
Optimiser systems on the other hand offer a great balance between micro inverters and string inverters. Optimisers strike the perfect balance between performance vs cost, while out performing string inverters and still being more cost effective than Micro Inverters.
Some of the benefits of Optimisers include:
- Future proofing the system and design should you need to expand in the future
- Future proofing your panels should you need to change a few panels a few year’s down the line, optimisers can virtually accept any panel size and any brand
When dealing with solar installations on the commercial scale, it could be difficult to justify such an expense to your business for micro inverters (for example) compared to a string inverter system that will effectively produce almost the same power.
String inverters represent a more cost-effective option – but some commercial installers may tend to lean towards chaining residential-sized inverters together, instead of using one large central inverter.
This preference is for a variety of reasons:
- Few commercial roofs suit a huge single array, and multiple smaller inverters gives design flexibility with different strings (MPPT’s)
- Access. It’s much easier to move and install briefcase-sized inverters compared to a central inverter that is the size of a small room – especially if you need to use heavy machinery to lift and position it.
- Redundancy. One failure doesn’t cripple the entire system.
Ultimately, it is up to the solar installer to make their recommendation based on your unique situation, and for you to decide whether you want a ‘no frills’ system or a work of electrical engineering art on your roof.
LEARN more about inverters.
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