The Ultimate Guide to Buying Solar Panels

Thinking of purchasing solar panels? All the points to make the right purchase are discussed below. Keep reading.

Location

Depending on where you live, you might not get as much sunlight as someone living in the equator – the electricity you’ll be able to make would be much less. 

If you live in a cloudy location, you’ll need to increase the number of panels placed. This would make up for the lower energy produced.

Make note of the geographic location of your house as well. The south-west position generally is exposed to a lot of sunlight. Place the panels here. Are there tall objects like trees or satellite dishes in the vicinity? They might cast a shadow that would affect the electricity that could be made.

Roof Condition

Solar panels are durable. You can expect what you bought to last decades. What would affect how long the contraptions would last for is the condition of the roof. If it’s not in a good state and collapses, the panels would seriously be damaged.

Although the roof may seem like it’s fine, placing the solar battery and panels would add a lot of weight. The team you’re hiring would likely inspect the roof before the contraption is installed.

Three Phase Inverters

The Single Phase versus Three Phase electricity is basically low powered electricity vs electricity used to power heavy duty appliances. Everyday items, like televisions, would make use of single-phase power.

When solar panels produce electricity, there is an inverter that converts the high-voltage power to the appropriate voltage for things like televisions.

You’re recommended to get a three-phase electricity system installed into your home. Power would be spread across three wires instead of 1, so you’d be dealing with voltage fluctuations less.

Panel Type

You might not expect this, but there is a plethora of solar panel types. The most popular are ground-mounted ones; they can be installed anywhere, not just on roofs. These systems usually are pricey as quite a bit of labour is needed to install them.

You could place the contraptions with a tracker – the panels would rotate to follow the sun. You’d get as much energy produced as possible. As you can imagine, systems with trackers are the priciest. But they’d be the best investments due to the amount of electricity you’ll be able to make.

An option you might not have heard of is solar shingles. They aren’t as efficient as regular counterparts. However, they’re not easily noticeable; they’re great for homes that want discreet systems.

Final Thoughts

Let’s sum everything up. There’s thankfully not a lot of things to consider if you’re thinking of purchasing solar panels. Make sure that you place the contraptions in the right location – you’d need as much sunlight hitting them as possible.

You’d be able to produce a lot of power if the system has a tracker. The location of the roof should be sturdy as well. Although the panels are durable, the roof falling would greatly damage them.