Solar#4: Installation

 

Introduction:

So decision made; just a final back and forwards with Lovatts, the selected solar panel installer:

• Agreed approx. start date ~Mon 26th Feb 2024 for scaffolding:
• Given that this was almost 6 months away & inflation high, I got written agreement that the price was fixed (eg no surcharges due to high inflation rates - typical in 1970's high inflation period)
• Programme:
• Week 1: scaffolding & skip arrives
• Week 2: roof stripped, new felt and batons, new tiles and PV panels fitted
• Week 3: wiring and commissioning
• Week 4: scaffolding removed
• 24th Oct '23: deposit paid (25%)
• I provided an MPAN number for my smart meter so that Lovatts could get the approvals underway ahead of the install

...& now the long wait

 

I agreed that I would check in with them in the New Year...

...9th Jan: Lovatts confirm 26th Feb start date still good

 

The Installation:

I am really impressed with Lovatts project management:

• I got a phone call a few days in advance - scaffolding due to start on Mon 26th Feb & skip arrives on Fri 1st March
• This all went exactly to the October plan.
• Week 2:
• roofers complete their work on Monday and Tuesday
• I get a phone call from the electrician to fix a date for wiring. Critical in setting this date was the upcoming Wigan Vs London (Rugby League) game coming up in London - he is a big fan.
• Good news the wiring was completed ahead of plan in the 2nd half of week 2 and on Saturday Wigan beat London 60-22.
• Friday - the commissioning engineer arrives to set up the system and show me how to operate it
• Week 3:
• System operational
• No work other than skip removed
• Week 4
• Scaffolding removed.

 

The Good:

• Project management: hitting a date 5 months in the future for starting a job like this is impressive. Given all the vagaries of winter weather and unexpected work in all the previous jobs in the queue I was expecting at least a week or two change in start date. The whole programme went like clockwork and the system was in operation a week early. While installing solar panels and a re-roof is not putting a man on the moon, it is still a tricky scheduling task for 4(?) different trades and a variety of materials, safety checks, etc. It is clear that Lovatts has done this before and know what they are doing.
• The roofing team overcame issues as they arose and discussed solutions with me, eg:
• Soil pipe vent would block one of the PV panels - they replaced the top of the vent with a flexible pipe and moved it forward so that they could install a vent tile - see photos. BTW, this seems an advantage of in roof install with a roofing company; I guess that a traditional on roof install would miss out this PV panel and leave the top of the soil pipe as is.
• Shower extract fan flexible ducting had come loose and was no longer venting through the soffit vents - it now went into the attic. They installed a vent tile and attached this properly (can not be seen on below photos)

A really neat job. Again shows experience of many jobs installing in-roof solar PV

Roof after (note: blue sky in Lancashire)	Roof before (note: soil pipe in location of one of the PV panels)

• Electrical installation also completed with discussion at each stage, eg:
• Routing of cables from the roof to the garage
• Location of the system in the garage (important as we are one of the last people in the UK to keep a car in the garage!)

Electrical installation is also a really neat job:

Connection to the Existing Electrical circuit breakers and Smart Meter O Inverter circuit breakers O Grid connection current sensor O 3-way 'chocolate block' - Grid, inverter, home O Original grid connection 80A fuse	GivEnergy battery and inverter and

• Commissioning completed with the battery cycling a full charge and discharge (I think that it does this to calibrate the sensing of full and empty voltages across the array of cells - apparently the 20% and 80% voltages are key)
• I was shown how to register, install the app (iPhone) and the cloud app (web browser) that GivEnergy provide. The commissioning engineer also gave me a short tutorial and the electrical engineer showed me the key controls (isolators, etc)
• Documentation - this is key for registering the system and earning money from electricity export:
• NAPIT building regulations certificate
• "Fast track Generation letter" (from Electricity North West to Lovatts)
• MCS Installation certificate

All of these were received on 11th March '24 - just a few days after the commissioning was completed and allowed me to quickly get set up for exporting electricity with my provider - Octopus.

• Invoice: 12th March - after the work was completed, including documents received.

 

The Bad:

• Scaffolding was sub-contracted. The team did an efficient job but managed to squash a couple of plants in the garden, including one of my neighbours.
• They did not discuss any the issues (eg they needed to put a support strut into a neighbour’s garden).
• Commissioning engineer could not really provide advice on scheduling the system.
• My view is that this is a bit like Lovatts selling a car and not knowing how to drive it.
• This ended up being a bit of a saga, and I will cover it in a future post.
• The EPS (Emergency Power Supply) function of the inverter needs some additional (non-trivial) wiring work:
• To be fair on Lovatts they did not promise this functionality, but the GivEnergy website does speak to it.
• I did not ask Lovatts if this would be implemented, but nor do you ask the garage, when you buy a car, if the car seats promised on the manufacturer's website are included.
• Again more on this later.

 

The Outcome:

• A neat installation and functioning system ahead of schedule.
• We are generating electricity, charging the battery and exporting excess to the grid (without being paid initially, awaiting set up of the feed in tariff).
• Really cool software with enough graphs and data to keep me happy for years and giving really great insights into the system operation
• A future challenge to understand the app and how to schedule the system to maximise return on investment (eg charging the battery at cheap rate and discharging to the grid at peak rate). In the mean time the built in ECO mode does a good job when you are on a flat rate (ie no peak rate and no cheap rate).
• Disappointment that EPS is not working, but some idea of a path to make it work
• I am sleeping easy at night knowing that a reputable roofing company has done the work on the roof.