Find a Solar Panel Installer you can trust in Kingston Upon Thames.

If you’re thinking of adding a solar battery to your home, you might be wondering whether or not it’s going to work in a power cut. If yes, then you’re not alone as this is one of the most common questions asked when it comes to solar batteries. In this post, we aim to provide you with a detailed answer to solve this concern once and for all.

The answer to this question is, it depends. The main reason why your solar batteries will usually not work or provide your home with the much-needed back up power is as a result of the several threats it poses. You should be aware that both your solar panels and battery are connected to the main grid. When a power cut occurs, your engineers will have to operate on the grid. If the solar panels or batteries are in operation at the period there’s a high chance the engineers would be electrocuted by the electricity that’s being produced. As a result of this, solar inverters are usually designed to automatically switch off once a power cut occurs. However, it should also be noted that if your solar battery possesses backup functionality, you’ll be able to make use of your solar energy in the event of a power cut. In other words, what determines if your home battery would work in a power cut is the availability or otherwise of a backup functionality.

Furthermore, you might also wish to know if your solar panels will continue to charge the battery in a power cut. Well, this depends on the type of backup system you possess. There are some more affordable batteries that are designed to automatically release their stored energy upon the detection of a power cut. And this is mostly because the battery inverter is usually smaller than the solar inverter which allows the energy from the solar inverter to the transmitted to the battery - risking an overload. However, if otherwise, then energy can continue to be transmitted to the battery until its fully charged.

To have your solar panels working at full strength at all times is crucial as this can go a long way to help you reduce your energy bill. In order to achieve this, you simply can’t afford to ignore having them regularly cleaned and free from all sorts of dirt, dust, debris, pollen, bird droppings and the likes. Now it’s quite reasonable to think rain or wind should be able to get the job done, but unfortunately this is not so. What solar panels need is a proper clean which you can decide to do by yourself or call in a qualified professional – the latter which is strongly recommended.

Cleaning of solar panels has to do with working at heights which can be very dangerous especially if you don’t have enough confidence to pull it off. And even if you have zero phobia for heights, solar panel cleaning requires experience as well as some specialized skills and tools possessed by the professionals. However, the question here is, how often should solar panels be cleaned to keep them operating at optimal efficiency?

Well, according to the manufacturers, solar panels should be cleaned twice a year. However, if this is something that you feel is not achievable by you, then you should at least give then an annual clean. The best or most advisable time to do this during the year is at the end of the summer months. This will ensure that you have a fully functioning solar array which is ready and prepared to withstand whatever the cold period throws at you. At the end of the day, you’d have them looking spotless clean while also working at full strength and reducing your energy bills.

Solar panels can be pretty expensive, so require an initial investment. However, a quality solar panel installation can be very financially beneficial, saving you money in the long run. It does this in two main ways.

Firstly, using electricity generated by your solar panels means that you have to use less power from the national grid. Once you’ve bought your solar panels, your solar electricity is essentially free, meaning that you’re saving money by using this instead of power supplied by your energy company. If you want to maximise these savings, invest in a solar battery so you can store unused solar electricity ready for when you need it.

You can also earn money with your commercial solar panels through the Smart Export Guarantee [https://solar-panels.quotatis.co.uk/smart-export-guarantee/]. This is a government scheme that says that all licenced energy suppliers with 150,000 customers or more have to offer a tariff to renewable energy generators. When you generate solar electricity but don’t use it immediately it gets fed back to the grid – the tariff pays you for every kWh of this.

At the moment there’s no minimum tariff that an energy company has to offer – it only has to be above zero. However, many energy companies are competing to offer the best deal, so you can definitely find a tariff that will pay you for all the unused solar electricity you generate.

Obviously the performance of a solar thermal system will vary depending on the location of the home, the insulation of the property, and your own hot water requirements. Solar thermal panels are capable of providing all of your hot water requirements from April to September. They will still make a contribution to your hot water needs for the rest of the year, but in general you will need a backup system to further heat the water in the colder months.

Like every other systems in your home, solar hot water systems will require periodic inspections as well as a regular maintenance in order to keep it running as efficiently as it should. Not only that, the various components will also require either repair or replacement from time to time. It’ll also be proactive to take the necessary precautions so as to prevent worrying issues like corrosion, scaling or freezing.

Is it a task you can handle on your own? Well, there are some inspections and maintenance activities you should be able to handle on your own, however, you’ll also require a qualified technician to carry out the more technical or complicated tasks. You should also take note that it may actually be more cost effective to have some systems replaced, shut off or removed completely than having it repaired. Here are some of the essential inspections that should be carried out on solar system components. They include:

✓ Collector soiling. Periodic cleaning of your collectors is important especially in dry and dusty climates.

✓ Plumbing, ductwork and wire connections. Check the pipe connections for fluid leaks. Examine duct connections and seals. Also make sure that all wire connections are tight.

✓ Roof penetrations. Flashing and sealant around the roof penetration should be checked to see that it’s in a good shape.

✓ Collector shading. Check for shading of the collectors on annual basis as this may greatly affect their performance.

✓ Support structures. Examine all bolts and nuts which connects the support structures to the collectors for tightness.

✓ Heat transfer fluids. Anti freeze solutions in liquid solar heating collectors will have to be replaced periodically. And this right here is a task that’s best handled by a licensed technician.

One of the things that has been on the UK government’s agenda for some time now is to promote the use of renewable energy sources. In fact, the Renewable Energy Directive put out by the EU instructs all member countries to achieve a 20 percent renewable target before the year 2020. The UK’s commitment to this objective has been made quite glaring with a number of funding options that has been put in place to help business owners looking to solar panels on their properties. This commitment was also showcased by a reduction in the cost of solar panels, so new investors have little to worry about. Although there aren’t any grants in the conventional sense, but there are opportunities for solar panel funding in the UK. At present, the only scheme open to new applications is the SEG - Smart Export Guarantee which came into effect on 1st January, 2020.

In general, there are four notable incentives in the UK for solar panels which includes the aforementioned Smart Export Guarantee, Reduced VAT on Energy Saving Products, Feed-in Tariff ( no longer open to new applications ), as well as the Renewable Heat Incentive ( RHI - applies only to solar water heating ).

Being the only one still open to new applications, we’ll provide you with some insights on SEG. The Smart Export Guarantee allows small scale low-carbon electricity generators to receive payments for surplus energy they’re able to export back to the grid. Although, this is not a direct government scheme, all licensed suppliers are necessitated to offer an export tariff to their customers. Those suppliers with more than 150,000 customers are obligated to offer a tariff, while the suppliers with fewer customers can partake on a voluntary basis.

There are two different types: flat plate, where lots of thin tubes carry water through a flat absorber panel, and evacuated tube, where vacuum glass tubes capture the sun’s energy directly. There is little difference in performance between the two but evacuated tube panels do more obviously extrude from the roof.