EDC Renewables: Your local South Wales Solar Install Experts

People fit solar for a number or combination of reasons:

• Reduce energy bills
• Reduce pollution in the environment
• Want to be energy-independent
• Looking for a better investment

Solar needs UV rays to work, not heat.

Solar will work best on a south-facing roof.

East and west-facing roofs have the benefit of being able to have more panels.

North-facing will only really work in high summer and is not recommended.

Most Panels are 1.135 wide and 1.72 high,
they can be fitted in portrait or landscape configurations.

PV Inverter

A PV Inverter converts DC Electricity to AC Electricity only. This is fitted when you have Solar only, or if a Solar PV system is higher than a hybrid inverter can cope with.

Hybrid Inverter

A Hybrid Inverter converts DC to AC and back again. These Inverters are normally used with Solar and Battery installations.

AC-Coupled Inverter

An AC-coupled system is used if you had a Solar system fitted during the feed-in tari, if the Solar system is too big for a Hybrid Inverter, or if you want to run your house during a power cut.

Micro Inverter

Converts DC to AC Electricity. Fits behind the Panel instead of in an attic or garage. Allows the Panels to work independently and individually, and tends to come with a 25-year warranty instead of 10 years.

Batteries Have 2 Benefits:

1. Batteries can store excess Solar produced during the day.
2. Batteries store electricity from the grid at night when energy prices can be cheaper if you

   are on a time-of-use tari.

Batteries are guaranteed in cycles: anywhere from 6000 cycles to 10000 cycles depending on the quality of the battery.

Batteries also have a depth of discharge rating, which is normally around 20%. This means a 10Kwh Battery might only actually have 8Kwh of storage.

What size Battery you should have can greatly depend on your lifestyle and your energy usage.

You might not use a lot of electricity but not be home during the day. In this case, you will need a bigger Battery to store the Solar electricity to use at night.

The Battery really becomes powerful in the winter months. Why is this? Solar does not work as well in the winter, so the ability to store energy at a cheaper rate from the grid can make a massive dierence to your savings.

• If you have Solar and Batteries together then you don't pay VAT.
• You can get paid for selling excess electricity back to the grid. This is called The SEG. This varies from Energy supplier to Energy Supplier. Some are 0p and others up to .027p
• Nationwide mortgage customers can get up to £15k in interest-free payments toward Solar.
• Some banks like NatWest and Barclays will give their first-time buyers mortgage customers £1000 towards solar, once purchased.
• If you are receiving benefits then it's worth contacting Nest before getting quotes for Solar.