How to add solar panels to your SolarEdge system

When installing your system, if you have more than 20 panels per inverter, you should use two strings verse one string.

Before doing any work, make sure you clearly understand what you are doing and to get all of the parts ahead of time.  A few extra bolts and nuts is always a good idea in case you drop something.

NOTE:  Your roof also must be able to handle the added weight.

NOTE:  You can't do this with micro-inverters.  This is a big area where SE blows away micro-inverters.

What is the Maximum Number of Panels per String?

SolarEdge will tell you 25 panels per string.  Use this when ever possible.  You can however normally get 27 per string and in some cases 30.  I do not recommend using more than 27 or so as you may have trouble in the winter.  The system simply works best with two strings with the panels equally divided per string.  Adding a new string is not difficult.  See below.  

Adding a second string to these inverters is also a simple process.  Always use the best wires and equipment and follow the electrical code.  Your local electrical supply company can be an excellent source and technical resource to guide you in the right path.  For example, I recommend only using 10 gauge electrical wire for your DC circuit.  All AC work should be done by an electrician.  You do not have to touch the AC system with an installed microfit system.

When choosing the wattage rating of your optimizers, I would go with at least 400 W.  Yes our panels on the west/east roof have 300 W optimizers but with the next generation of solar panels, our 304 W CS panels will out put around 340 W on a cold winter's day.  I will have to move the CS south panels to my 400 W optimizers.  Luckily I can do this.  When I built the system I opted for 300 W Optimizers on 250 W panels.  These are okay with my Heliene 300 W panels but the next generation CS panels produce at least 10% more power on average.  I could envision the CS panels with a 60 degree angle on a cold winter's day producing 360 W peak power.

Tools Needed:

Hammer, chalk line, hammer drill/ nails, roof sealant, drill/bit, fittings for panel clamps, tool to open MC4 fittings, MC4 wire crimp tool, wire stripper, Voltmeter DC to pot wires.  13 mm wrenches

Many times you can use your 20V hammer drill to loosen and tighten the panel hardware.  Always check that your roof mounts did indeed go into the wood rafter by tightening with a hand tool so that you can feel the torque as the bolt bites the wood.  Then check it out visually in the attic.

You also need to have a basic understanding of series electrical systems.  Possible Google and learn what you don't know. 

 Remember that there are two different clamps that hold your panels to the rails.  The inner clamps and the end clamps.

I recommend using 400 W optimizers, good for 200-400W panels.

Internet to find videos to install panels, MC4 clamps, ect.

See my ladder blog and use the best ladder that you can buy.

I use a rope tied to one of my anchors to make it easier to go up on my roof.

 I also lay a 1x6 board on the eve troughs to prevent damage from the ladder.

How to Add one or more panels to a string

First determine your existing string limitations.  Secondly try to balance both inverters if you have two inverters.  

Always be careful when working on your roof.  I do not recommend working on roofs with a pitch greater than 30 deg with out proper harness.

SE have some strange power recommendations per inverter.  Generally because of the superior design of the SE inverter/optimizer system there really isn't a maximum number of panels based on wattage.  SE simply turns panels off when you reach the maximum of the inverter.  That is a great thing and something that is needed in order to maximize your system output.  I know of a system that peaks early in the day, around 11 am, 2.5 hrs before solar noon.  That person's combined inverter output is 11.1 kW for 2 5000 W inverters and maintains this for about 5 hours on a good day.  Her peak output power record is 103.8 kW hrs for one day.  She provides power for that day to supply 6 or more houses that do not have solar panels.  Her projected annual solar harvesting is a very impressive 20 MW.  A local millionaire in Windsor has 25 similar 10 kW microfit systems.  In fact most of her neighbours do not have solar panels.

Now that you have your new optimizer and panel you first have to install you rails that support the panel.  We use rails and roof mounts from the same company.  Schelter in Windsor makes the best system.  You can go online to their site and  pick the parts that you need.

When installing your roof anchors, first locate your roof  truss and layout your mounts.  I use a hammer and nail and my chalk line.  I first find my ends and then every 4 feet install a mount. by using two SS bolts hand tightened to ensure that they are in the rafters and after wards visibly verify that that is true.  I also recommend you add sealant just before tightening and cover the mounts with the SS flashing or Alum flashing.  

Once my mounts and flashing are in, I add the rail mounting hardware and cut the rails to length.  I leave at least 2 inches extra.

Next I ground the rails and add my optimizers directly to the rails.  The optimizers need to be grounded to communicate with the inverters.  Using the little green things to hold the nut makes this job a wiz.  Every thing is in series.  You can either buy pre-cut wiring complete with MC4 fittings on line or make your own.  There is a 3 min video on U-Tube to show you how to use these simple, water tight crimp fittings.  If you are doing it yourself, buy a good quality crimp tool and line stripper.  I recommend using no. 10 gauge wires.

Caution:  Before opening any existing string, TURN OFF the inverter.  Wait until the voltage on the inverter is down to min.  Remember, every optimizer adds 1 V so if you have 10 panels you will see 10 V.  You can buy MC4 fittings on line for less than $1.50 each pair.

You system should have been installed with + and - MC4 fittings.  Using the blue or black tool, open up the closest circuit, pot your new circuit to see that it is correct.  If you are adding 5 panels, you should see 5 volts.  You are now ready to tie in you two new wires.  Make sure that you hear that click.  Now go back to the inverter and measure the voltage on your circuit.  You may have to open the circuit on the inverter so that you can pot it.  If you only have one string that will not be required to open the circuit.  The inverter will show you the voltage in the display.  

Now the inverter must talk with the new optimizers.  That is called PAIRING the panels.  This is a very simple procedure found in the SolarEdge Manuel.

Sorry that I have not included pictures, or step by step instructions but the total procedure is very simple.

The ability to have up to 50 panels per 5 kW inverter makes SolarEdge an outstanding system.  You will normally find that your roof limits you to 30 panels per inverter.  What I love about SE is that when you peak out your system, SE simply turns OFF the panels that are not needed.  You can mix 300 W and 400 W optimizers and 250 W and 300+W panels.

What I see in my system that 10% of the days are sunny and the system peaks early and long.  80% of the days we do not peak and could use some more panels.  We NEVER exceed the 10 kW nominal rating of our system.  We do not recommend that you ever exceed this when you have a 10 kW microfit system.  Remember the line coming into your house is most likely limited to 200 A or around 15 kW max.

  We need to maximize the output of our system to help to do our share to lower the carbon foot print of this county.  Around Windsor Ontario, a roof mounted 10 kW microfit system can produce a max of about 20 MW per year.  One rich guy has 25 such systems and is making about $400,000 per year after he removed all of his systems and re-installed them with SE, Schletter Rails, and the best 280 W panels that he could find.  We must let the free enterprise system work, by allowing people to make a little bit of money from their solar systems so that we can lower the carbon foot print of this county.  If he was on the current contract, he would make less than $200,000 per year with 25 systems.  He has to pay taxes, etc.  You do not get rich today.  Those big wind turbine people make money also.  So do the farmers who can retire on what they get paid.

retired P.Engineer of Ontario.  Proceed at your own risk.

SolarEdge system design Insights

Solar PV System Design:

As you have been reading my blog, you will see that SolarEdge is the only Inverter/Optimizer/PV harvesting system that makes any sense at this current time.  When ever you have more than 16 or so panels on an inverter, you should always use two strings.  I have come up with 4 good reasons for doing so.

4 Reasons to use 2 Strings per Inverter

The min number of panels per string is 8 and the maximum is  around 28 (25 SE).

1.0 By running two strings you reduce your power losses in your wires by 50%.  That could save you as high as $1500 over 20 years.

2.0  Having 2- 10 string panels verse 1 20 panels on a string will allow you to easily expand your system without much difficulty.  A 10 kW system would still be limited by the inverters.  That is how every other power plant is designed.  You can not track the sun's path, but you can increase your gross harvesting and help slow the CO2 growth. 

3.0  I was recently informed that the optimizer can fail and take out the circuit.  This would be a rare event but two strings will reduce your cost to find the faulted optimizer, improving maintainability. Optimizers when they rarely fail, normally fail without taking out the circuit.  I don't know how they are wired but an internal meltdown would most likely take the string down.  Don't worry about this but design the maintainability by using two strings.

4.0  Having two strings, the Inverter just works better at controlling the power curve.  A very good reason in it self for having two strings.  SolarEdge recommend two strings.

The only down side is if your panels are covered with so much snow that you will not turn on.  We clean our panels in the winter so that the system keeps working all year so that is not a problem for us.

Your installer may try to tell you that two strings are not needed.  You don't have enough experience to tell them other wise.  They just want to save the cost of wire and labor.  Put 2 strings per Inverter in you Engineering Specification for the above reasons for maintainability and overall system performance.  Makes sure that it is part of your contract in writing before you sign the contract.  If people want, I can post my Engineering Specification.

One Smart Designed Inverter

If you have enough solar panels to exceed the rated output of the Inverter that is a good thing.  The Inverter just turns the panels off that it doesn't need until it needs the power.  It does NOT dump the power to a resister and the Inverters always run cool, even in the summer on a hot day. It does another thing also.  The range of the DC voltage is 350 to 500 V.  When it detects that it is operating at maximum the Inverter increases the DC voltage from around 365 V to under 450 V.  The reason it does this is to reduce the amount of current flow, not power coming into the Inverter.  When you shut off the system, you still get 1 V per panel so the system is safe for Firefighters.

There is one very rich guy in Windsor who runs 25 microfit programs.  A few years back, he removed all of his systems and installed solaredge with some 40-50 panels per system.  He harvests the maximum that he can and gets paid the 80.2 cents per kW and not the current under 39 cents.  He would earn around $400,000 per year estimated or 20 MW per system per year.

I hope that these insights will assist you in getting the maximum out of your system.  The world is in really bad shape due to high CO2 levels, see my other blog.  

Go Solar.

Is CO2 Really a Problem?

Acidification of our Oceans:

Hi again.  I would like to share some information that recently became available to me.  One of my areas of expertise is Industrial Water Treatment.  I watched in horror a program about acidification of our Oceans.  I believe the area in question are pockets of ocean along the west coast of North American and other coastal areas in other countries.  These areas are not receiving the full mixing of ocean currents.

I keep hearing people say, we don't need solar or wind power.  Nothing could be farther than the truth.  Some people talk about a tipping point.  That is a point when you exceed, you can not go back and all hell starts to happen.  I believe that we have already passed that tipping point on the West Coast.

CO2 or rather 30-40% of it is absorbed by the Oceans.  We thought that that was a good thing.  Ocean pH. is normally 81.-8.2.  It has a bicarbonate alkalinity of about 120-150 ppm at this pH.  C02 forms carbonic acid  when dissolved in the water.  Every ppm of CO2 removes two carbonate atoms.

A oyster hatchery experienced 100% die off of their crop about 3 years ago.  They were totally puzzled until someone said check the pH of the sea water and they found it to be 7.6.  That is about 60 ppm of alkalinity.  Below a pH of 7.8 corals will not grow.  I used to have a salt water reef aquarium and sold products to raise the pH and to help people grow their corals.  These hatcheries are seeing a 50% drop in harvesting or  survival of shell fish in the Ocean due to this drop in pH from a normal level of 92%.  As it gets worse we will see a global decrease in the fish and shell fish populations. 70% or more people depend on the oceans for food.  The low pH effect the low level plankton survival in the oceans.  WOW or rather OH SH..T

FYI a pH of 4 is equal to 0 ppm of alkalinity.

We have already passed the tipping point.  It wasn't 400 ppm CO2 but much lower point.  China keeps burning coal like crazy along with the USA.  300 ppm could have been the tipping point for the oceans.

Simply put, the world is in big, big trouble.  We need more solar and wind generation or non-carbon based energy production.

Our crazy Federal Government is talking about buying Carbon credits.  Take that money and seed crushed limestone on the ocean where the pH is low.  You would most likely not see much happen but it would be far better than giving or buying stupid carbon credits.  This is an enormous problem.  Even squid need pH about 7.8 to form a small Calcium Carbonate bone the size of a grain of rice to help them keep their balance.  Below a pH of 7.8 and it does not form normally.  In the ocean you are either squid food or squid.  Many larger predators eat the squid.  All that will be left will be the jelly fish.

Note: CaOH would be the best but it is produced by driving the CO2 from limestone, just like how cement is made.  Thus all you would do by using this is to add more CO2 to the atmosphere.  By the way, with all of the cement that China is using, they have an enormous carbon footprint from cars, coal burning electric plants and the huge industrial growth of concrete buildings never mind the huge methane foot print of 1.3 billion people.

Conclusion:

I personally along with my other experts never thought that this would be happening now.  Lower your carbon foot print.  If you can, put solar panels on your roof.  We are now in a very, very bad point in time.  You can  add that I did not speak about increasing the global temperature.  This is the other problem.  Wait until the north starts to warm up and all of the methane gas is released which is even worst than CO2 at keeping the heat in.  This will be a run away cycle of destruction.  I don't see many people listening or even caring.

If you think after reading this that it sounds bad.  In reality is it is 1000 time worst than you may be thinking.  Be prepared for massive starvation across the planet as the rivers dry up in India and China runs out of food.  Both of these two countries will have 2 billion people each in another 10 years.

Review of Canadian Solar 305 W - 72 cell Poly-crystalline Solar Panels

23 March 2015

Introduction:

I am a retired Professional Engineer with an Ontario Microfit solar panel system.  I try to review various solar products to give the general public some feed back on the different panels out there.

First Impressions:

The panels arrived over 12 days ago, all in good looking condition.  The first thing that I noticed was a center support bar that added point load support in the center of the panel.  This panels look professionally made with screws in the ends holding the rails together.  The backing material is most likely EVA which may or may not give us some problems in the future.  I would have preferred Kynar or equivalent backing material.  They are warrantied  for 25 years.  It doesn't cover installation or shipping.  You can read my other blogs on the best backing material to use.

We have some 300 W. Heliene {H} Panels which we like, one mono Silfab and the rest 250 W poly.  The CS panels have been on the roof for over 10 days so the initial burn in should be over.  The Heliene panels are about 1 year old.

Sunday was finally a great solar day with very few clouds.  I positioned 3 CS and 6 H panels on the south roof and 3 CS panels with 2 H panels on the West roof for comparison.  Our roof pitch is only 22.5 deg so we are about 20 deg from perpendicular at this time of year.  I observed a peak of 304 W from one of(t)he CS while one H panel produced 270 W located at the roof line in the best location. All of the CS panels performed well and close in output to each other.

Results:

The Canadian Solar (CS) panels harvested as follows:  South:  2.21, 2.05, 2.15 kW. 

                                                                                         West: 1.68, 1.62 1.53 kW (first 2 panels get more sun as the sun slowly moves around our array in the am.)

 Heliene (H)  harvested:  South 1.96 (best position), 1.94, 1.91 kW

                                 West: 1.35, 1.4 kW

Discussion:

As you can see, the new CS panels blew away the H  panels.  Compared to the 300 W H panels, the 305 W CS panels are making about 330 W.  The H panels compare well with our other 250 W poly panels.  The improved performance is due to the fact that the CS panels are using the next generation poly-crystalline materials (according to my seller).  These panels are truly rated on the PTCUSA standard as all panels should be.  That would be the H panels at around 270 W(300 W STC) and the CS at 305 W (PTCUSA).

The low light harvesting of these new CS panels is outstanding.  The average output on south is 2.137 kW and for H is 1.937 kW  Or CS averages 10.3 % better on South exposure and 13% on West exposure.  This may decrease in time but that equates to a 330 W equivalent for South.  I will repose this in one month.  The day was cold which helps to keep the sky clear and the panels working great.  I want all of my panels to do this great.  For fixed roof applications, these are the best that we have seen  If other are also using the next generation poly-crystalline material, expect equal results. It is my understanding that CS have 3 plants that make their own crystalline.  That is a big advantage.  I have been waiting to see some type of improvement in poly for the past 3 years.  Off axis light is IMHO normal for all panels, especially east and west orientated.  IMHO, for most applications mono is out, it is too directional except for trackers.

The peak power production, low light and total kW harvested is just fantastic.  They are exceeding all of my expectations except for the backing materials.  You may be able to get a different backing material at a slightly higher price.

Poly-crystalline panels are generally the preferred type of panels except possibly when using a solar tracker.  So for fixed roof installations, the low light properties are outstanding for these CS panels.  The CS panels on the west roof produced the same amount of harvesting as did most of our 250 W south facing panels.  

 I can truthfully say: "Just loving it".  They help us even more to do our part in reducing our CO 2 foot print.

BUY Canadian Solar CS6X-305P None Ontario Poly Panels

All power levels from the SolarEdge monitoring system.

Thanks for dropping by.

May 11 2015 UPDATE:  Still seeing the same great results compared with existing panels.  WOW.  IMHO these are the best solar panels that I have ever seen.  Sept 2015 still going strong - Loving It.

On a ROI basis they are the best solar panels currently on the market.

NOTE: You can't buy Sunpower panels and they have a huge up front cost and are tied in with a terrible racking system and an outdated inverter system for most applications  SP have the best cell but it is the total system that counts and ROI.

Currently Strongly Recommended Sept 2015

Update: August 2014

For those people following our blog, I thought that I would give you an update for the summer of 2014.  It continues to be a great solar year.  Enjoy..


UPDATE: AUGUST 2014

The array peaked at about 28% more than south facing panels and approximately 50% more than fixed east panels.  Fixed east panels continue to produce some power up to around 6 PM.  Maximum system peak was around 92 kW hours (one great day). The array adds about 4 kWhrs daily over the year.  That translates to around an extra $12,000 over 20 years so it appears to be a good idea.  Control is via a PLC which I continue to modify the code,  It is programmed for the different months of the year.  I have to still install the auto shutdown due to high winds.  We have the parts.  Wind was only a  problem about 2 days this summer.  I do love how we continue to grab the last rays of sunlight late into the evening and early in the morning.  Again it is all about the ROI and using high quality, Ontario made solar panels.



 2014 due to the cooler weather and more sun, we will expect to harvest 18-20 MW for the year.  All of our testing has basically been completed. 


Being retired, the net income from these panels pay for themselves and pay for our remaining house mortgage which is around $115,000.  So now we only have to pay for the taxes, utilities and up keep.  What a nice retirement planning package.  It also lowers A/C costs by 40% while protecting your roof from the heat and harmful UV radiation. We consider this a Win/Win situation.  

So, provided you can finance at low interest rates, have an good sun exposure with a large roof area facing south or south east, you will do fine. 

Check first with the Flexible Solar people. 

 I am still PO'd with the other guys who don't care about their customers and will basically lie to your face. Some are much worst than others.

If you follow my suggestions you will be fine. You can even use my engineering specification which Mike Holmes would agree is a good idea to specify the work to be done.  Pay when the product arrives on your site.  A small start-up payment is required first.  You can email me if you have any questions.


It is the best thing that we have done in years. Last month we were paid $860. plus HST.  Yes, some people made more than double this but those days are long gone.  Their investment was normally double that of ours.  We expect a December low of around $400.  This will depend on how bad the clouds are.  

An amazing thing happened this year, the system peaked in July and not in May.

Kirk is a retired Professional Engineer with experience in the Electrical Utility sector.  We have no connection with Heliene, Silfab or Flexible Solar.  We just believe that an informed consumer is the best consumer.  Your results may vary from ours. All monitoring results were obtained from SolarEdge panel monitoring reported data.

NOTE:  Life is Short - Try to Help your neighbours and people in need

Being retired, because of the small income from the Solar Panels, we were able to re-start our support of a child in need from Nicaragua.  If you are better off, please also consider helping those in need though the Christian Children Fund of Canada.

More information:

If you are interested in installing a Microfit or Fit solar panel system, I strongly recommend giving Steve a call at Flexible Solar Solutions in Windsor, Ontario serving Southern Ontario.  They are the best and most honest microfit solar panel installers that I have had the pleasure of working with.  They will give you a straight analysis of your roof and what you can expect to earn.  Don't forget to tell them that Kirk sent you.  See my first post for more information on going Solar.

We expect to earn $6500-7500 per year depending on the weather for 20 years.  That should work out to us having an extra $100,000.00 income for our retirement over and above your system costs.  At that point we grid tie and earn the going rate of power which just might be very close to what we are currently being paid.

 Steve at Flexible Solar Serving Southern Ontario 519-962-9218

My Solar Panel System does not seem to be working very well. What should I do?

I heard a terrible story the other day.  An elderly woman in a wheel chair had a solar panel system installed on her roof in Windsor, Ontario.  She had been taken advantage of by both the Solar Panel installers and a high interest loan by the Tom, Dick and Harry screw you bank.  She is losing money, that is how badly these greedy people are.

IMHO there is a special place in Hell for theses people.

Consumer Alert Against Certified Solar Windsor (Click to see): 

One of the problems in the life is that we can never go back, we only can go forward.

Installing a microfit program in short is a business.  You get a certain rate for 20 years of electrical production.  It is up to YOU to maximize your return of your investment ROI.

If I have a bad or poor install I can get Flexible Solar to analyze my system and to make recommendations.

First and foremost, I want to borrow the money at the lowest possible rate.  Stay away from those 6 1/2% loans.  Instead go with a Home owners loan or line of credit.  Ours is at 3 1/2 %.

The first part of the problem is already done.  You have a contract for either 80.2 cents or 54.9 cents or like us 39.6 cents per kW hour.  Now lets maximize our production.

Most applications have some type of shading issues.  This is where Solar Edge really shines.  Remember, if you have string Inverters installed they are a weak link in your system.  A HUGE one with shading of any panel in the string.  Solution: Remove them and install optimizers and SolarEdge Inverters.  The good news here is that most String Inverters only last 10-12 years so replacing them early and taking out the extended warrentee with Solar Edge is not the huge penalty that you may think that it is.

Hopefully you didn't also get poorly producing panels like some locally produced products.  The great news is that panels today cost 1/4 or so of what they did 3-4 years ago.  If you have a very limited roof area then upgrading your panels to Heliene's 335 W mono panels might be a very good way to go.  Almost all early installs were 12 kW on the DC approved by the OPA.  Some installers actually put in great panels but the wrong inverter system.

You may also be able install some panels on the east or west roof.  East is the preferred roof over the west side.

Example:  One rich property owner in Windsor is reported to own 30 microfit applications at 80.2 cents per kW hour.  He removed all of his panels and inverters and went with 280 W mono panels and Solar Edge.  It is now reported that he earns $30,000 per month from all of the installs.  His refurbishing of his installs quickly paid for itself.  You of course will NOT do as well as the tariff rate is 1/2 of his now but you May see a big improvement in your bank account.

You have to do the math.  If your install is so poor (like on a North roof), you most likely will have a South roof to install panels on.

Kirk is a retired Professional Engineer with experience in the Electrical Utility sector.  We have no connection with Heliene, Silfab or Flexible Solar.  We just believe that an informed consumer is the best consumer.  Your results may vary from ours. All monitoring results were obtained from SolarEdge panel monitoring reported data.

NOTE:  Life is Short - Try to Help your neighbours and people in need

Being retired, because of the small income from the Solar Panels, we were able to re-start our support of a child in need from Nicaragua.  If you are better off, please also consider helping those in need though the Christian Children Fund of Canada.

More information:

If you are interested in installing a Microfit or Fit solar panel system or upgrading your system, I strongly recommend giving Steve a call at Flexible Solar Solutions in Windsor, Ontario serving Southern Ontario.  They are the best and most honest microfit solar panel installers that I have had the pleasure of working with.  They will give you a straight analysis of your roof and what you can expect to earn.  Don't forget to tell them that Kirk sent you.  See my first post for more information on going Solar.

We expect to earn $6500-7500 per year depending on the weather for 20 years.  That should work out to us having an extra $100,000.00 income for our retirement over and above your system costs.  At that point we grid tie and earn the going rate of power which just might be very close to what we are currently being paid.

 Steve at Flexible Solar Serving Southern Ontario 519-962-9218

Does Installing Solar Panels on my Roof Help or Hurt our Roof?

Before installing anything on your roof, it must be assessed of capability to handle the load and the life left in your current roof.  Most truss roofs should be able to carry the load.  Some trusses may be borderline and may need an engineer's assessment.  Normally solar panels only add the equivalent weight of a layer of shingles.

If you current shingles are older than 7 year and look poor, they should be replaced with 40 year fibreglass shingles or long life roofing.  The load of the panel railing system must be supported by your roof's structural members, ie: your trusses or roof 2x4's or 2x6's.  Every point load is then screwed into each truss and the tie point sealed with roof caulking.  In our case, this tie in was verified by the installers, me and then the engineer.  The tie point was further protected by a SS flashing which has a rubber seal where the mounting bracket for the railing goes.  This gives a 3 point protection system which is never removed, even when you may have to replace your roof some 30-50 years later.

Our south facing roof is almost 100% covered with solar panels.  What destroys roofs are UV radiation, heat and high winds. You must also have good air circulation in your attic.  If the shingles are installed during warm weather, then they seal themselves from wind damage.  Basically, the solar panels form a protective roof over our asphalt shingles.

So now you have a roof over a roof.  Our roof is 95% shaded as best as possible.  The temperature of the roof on a hot summer day is the same as that in the shade.  Our Air conditioning load is thus greatly reduced.  Further shading comes from mature trees on the west side of our home.  Most days we may not even require AC

There is a 6 inch gap under the solar panels that will allow air to flow upwards cooling the roof further. Almost no snow accumulates on the roof.  It accumulates on the panels and we remove it so that we can generate energy.  The roof does get wet, but tar will repel water for a long time.

In addition, IMHO, the panel rails help to strengthen the structure by stiffening it.  All components are either stainless steel, aluminium or copper wiring.  These are all long life items.  The panel railing system will outlast our house.  The solar panels themselves can be replaced in 30-40 years if you are not happy with their output.  Their output may decrease 0.5% per year or 15% after 30 years.  Inverters may last 12-15 years and we recommend that you buy the extended warranty to make 20 years.  The new smart inverters do not get hot.  They lower the solar panel production output to maintain it below your nominal 10 kW rating.

Using SolarEdge with optimizers also lowers the voltage to 1 V DC at each panel when turned off.  Fire-fighters will like this feature.

Conclusion:

IMHO, solar panels help you to maintain a cool roof and greatly extend the life of your roof.  At the end of your 20 year contract, you grid tie and get pain 3-4 times what you use in your home.  This should pay for all of your energy needs (electrical and gas).  Electrically heated homes are not included here. You also save on your AC bill.  The panels must be installed properly by an experienced installer.

So, I only see a win/win situation where your return is 100% guaranteed.  Hydro-One put our monthly check directly into our account and we pay them for the power that we use like everyone else. Our last bill for our house electricity was reduced by 10% because of our green energy program.

Kirk is a retired Professional Engineer with experience in the Electrical Utility sector.  We have no connection with Heliene, Silfab or Flexible Solar.  We just believe that an informed consumer is the best consumer.  Your results may vary from ours. All monitoring results were obtained from SolarEdge panel monitoring reported data.

More information:

If you are interested in installing a Microfit or Fit solar panel system, I strongly recommend giving Steve a call at Flexible Solar Solutions in Windsor, Ontario serving Southern Ontario.  They are the best and most honest microfit solar panel installers that I have had the pleasure of working with.  They will give you a straight analysis of your roof and what you can expect to earn.  Don't forget to tell them that Kirk sent you.  See my first post for more information on going Solar.

We expect to earn $6500-7500 per year depending on the weather for 20 years.  That should work out to us having an extra $100,000.00 income for our retirement over and above your system costs.  At that point we grid tie and earn the going rate of power which just might be very close to what we are currently being paid.

 Steve at Flexible Solar Serving Southern Ontario 519-962-9218