Contractor Blog

We’ve written before about the possibilities of domestic ground mounted solar panels, and now there is an exciting development that could make these types of installation even more affordable. By essentially using the same mounting systems we use for flat roof PV, we can install Van der Valk ground mounted solar panels to cut time and costs for our clients.

Let’s take a look at how it works.

We’re thrilled to announce some exciting Tesla news (and it’s not Elon Musk’s new robot). Spirit has won Tesla’s Performance Excellence Award!

This recognises our work installing hundreds of Powerwalls to the exacting standards that enable us to be a Tesla Certified Installer. Much to our delight, the company also highlighted the value of our informative, impartial content in educating people about renewables and energy storage.

The world of solar cell development is a mass of competing technologies: an alphabet soup of acronyms and jargon. If you need to know your n-type HJT from your PERC P-N junction, this is the blog for you.

Heterojunction solar cells are one of the technologies touted to maximise potential PV panel efficiency. They are a combination of classic crystalline silicon and amorphous/thin film cells, theoretically providing the best of both worlds.

Not many PV panels have yet reached their end of life, but this is likely to accelerate in the 2030s as early systems (particularly those installed during the FiT boom) begin to reach old age.

Some panels, however, do get damaged, malfunction or are replaced for newer modules, becoming complex electronic waste.

What happens to the modules next is vital to ensuring solar remains one of the most sustainable forms of energy. The good news is that work is underway to tackle the complexities of solar panel recycling...

If you own a large generator, you may have received a letter recently about the Accelerated Loss of Mains Change Programme. This is related to an upcoming regulation change that may affect you and require you to make a change to your system.

We’re delighted to share a look behind the scenes at one of our recent big commercial installs: a huge 217kWp solar PV system at Old Thorns Hotel in Liphook.

Old Thorns is a vast resort with a golf course, spa, bars and restaurants, over 150 rooms, and self catering apartments. With such a lot of activity on site, energy demand is substantial to say the least. Solar PV offered a chance to cut down the club’s electricity bills, while also becoming a more sustainable venue.

Photovoltaic technology is forever changing, as researchers and developers pursue new ways to maximise performance. In recent years there has been an increasing focus on n-type silicon solar cells, which are doped with phosphorus rather than boron. They have the potential to reduce cell degradation and improve solar generation over the system’s lifetime. As such, n-type cells are being adopted by more manufacturers and may come to dominate the market...

The demand for lithium ion batteries is rocketing. They are used in everything from mobile phones and laptops to electric cars and Tesla Powerwalls.

Data source: Bloomberg.

Energy dense lithium batteries are proving an invaluable technology in fighting our dependence on fossil fuels. They can help to decarbonise transport and store renewable energy from solar and wind. That’s one of the reasons the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the developers of the lithium ion battery.

But with a predicted 9,300GWh of Li-ion battery capacity by 2030, what will happen to all these devices at the end of their useful lifespan?

When you work at the coal face of the solar industry (get your head around that one...), it is sometimes interesting to take a step back to see where the market has come from and where it’s headed.

We’ve spent some time taking stock of the current state of solar technology.

Solar PV panels work by converting sunlight into DC electricity which then undergoes a DC-AC conversion via an inverter (or multiple micro-inverters) to be used in your household. As the energy generation is dependent on the irradiance or amount of sunlight, it is no surprise that shading is the biggest enemy when it comes to solar PV.

Technologies over the years have dramatically improved to mitigate against the effects of shading, but like with any technology the most appropriate system specification needs to be deployed for a given scenario to yield the greatest benefits.

In the following solar panel shading analysis, we’ll investigate the causes, impacts and solutions for solar PV systems.