Upgrading a FIT Solar PV system & improving grid independence with Battery Storage

In July our client in Bath required the decommissioning of a 13 year old Solar PV system in order to reduce the amount of roof space covered in Solar PV panels as the property was to be split into 2 separate dwellings this also gave the opportunity to upgrade the inverter to allow for online monitoring of system performance & incorporate energy storage.

The old system panels maunfactured by Sharp were rated at 185W each, of these we removed 24 which nearly covered the entire roof. Our PV panel manufacturer of choice once again was Eurener, a Spanish Solar PV module manufacturer whose commitment to sustainability has seen them recently win the Ecovadis award for sustainability placing them in the top 1% of the most sustainable companies in the World. We chose their 475W panels which incorporate half-cut and bi-facial technology to maximise their energy output with a foootprint that was only approximately a 1/5 greater than the old panels in length.

The residential roof being separated between 2 owners meant that only half of the roof space could be used as such 5 modules was the maximum number we could fit in order for edging spacings to comply with MCS guidelines & for effective roof maintenance to be carried out in future & managed to incorporate with the existing solar thermal system & other roof vents. The 5no 475W modules gave a 2.38kWp system.

The main upgrade was with the selection of the Myenergi Libbi hybrid inverter with 10.2kWh battery storage, the old system did not have any storage so most of the electricity generated was sent back to the grid. The client now has the ability to keep any generated electricity stored for usage at peak times as well as to benefit from cheap overnight electricity during the winter months to top up the battery & then reuse the energy at peak times without paying peak prices. The Libbi being weatherprooof was installed externally within a side access route & so does not take up valuable space inside the property & the owner can now monitor their energy generation/storage/usage all from their smartphone which is a dramatic increase in convenience as the previous inverter was installed in the loft space which the owner had to crawl into in order to read the generation meter readings, so hopefully this will also improve the condition of their knees!.