Useful Tips

In any solar system keep your panels as close as you can to the batteries to avoid losing power in the cable. Always make sure that your panels are not shaded.

 

Before installing a solar system try to make your home as energy efficient as possible - install double glazing, add new insulation where possible, replace incandescent light globes with fluorescent etc. By reducing your needs you can reduce the size and cost of the system you're installing.

 

When calculating the number of panels you need, do so using winter sunshine hours rather than summer hours - there are roughly twice as many hours sunshine in summer and the wrong calculation could leave you needing to use backup power in winter more often than you would like.

 

Keep solar panels clean - even if it means getting up onto your roof once a month. A thin layer of dust or dirt on the glass cover will effectively block off some solar power and the system will operate below its maximum efficiency.

 

Before meeting a consultant regarding the installation of a solar power system, always have on hand a list of all your electrical appliances together with their wattage and the hours of use.

 

Begin your solar farm by developing a business plan. This method will help you realize your purpose for starting your business. A good business plan should contain your purpose, mission, vision and objectives in starting the business. It should also describe your method on how to get your job done and your needed resources.

 

Sloped land, excessively rocky or sandy terrain, uneven land etc. can all significantly add to the cost of installing a solar farm.

 

Desert conditions often coincide with excessive dust fall, flooding and flash flooding, high erosion etc, and these can limit the viability of a solar site and in many cases can make a site non-viable.

 

One of the biggest hidden costs of a solar farm is the distance required to connect a system to high voltage lines capable of carrying the excess production. The costs of even a few extra kilometers can completely destroy the profitability of a solar farm.

 

In many places, power grids are not able to handle the excess capacity that a solar farm would introduce. So check this important parameter before proposing to install the Solar Farm.

 

Panel and land costs are not the only costs to consider – installation costs, cabling and O&M are all less costly in smaller solar farms. As the scale gets bigger, this becomes more significant.