PV System Upgrades

Monitoring

One popular upgrade is a wireless display, showing your PV production throughout the day (and year). These can be retrofitted to almost any system, and are available in various degrees of complexity, from a simple, single display unit showing PV production, to more in depth, production/consumption & import/export, multi display, web based devices that let you monitor exactly how much energy your house is using, consuming and importing/exporting, from anywhere in the world (often on a smartphone app). I am highly experienced in fitting (and troubleshooting) a wide range of monitoring equipment.

 

Immersion Switches

A recent development in PV systems is the 'immersion switch', which is a device that sends any excess energy into a hot water tank (via an immersion heater). For the vast majority of domestic PV systems where there is an immersion heater in the house, these can offer a significant saving. Exports are greatly reduced, but for most PV owners the majority of their Feed In Tariff payment comes from production, which is of course unaffected. I have an immersion switch installed at my own house, and it gives me more than enough (free) hot water for most of the year. 

 

Optimisers

Another recent development is 'power optimisers', which allow PV panels wired together to perform at their individual peaks. They can be a good investment where partial shading is a problem, and can be retrofitted to most systems (although in some cases it can mean replacing the inverter too.)

 

Batteries/Energy Storage Systems

(See 'Batteries' page)

 

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