Solar Panels and Churches are a happy marriage.  The large roof space of a typical church is ideal for solar panels and can go some way to creating revenue for a cash strapped church building and parish.  In the UK the Church of England’s "Shrinking the Footprint" campaign is encouraging dioceses, cathedrals and parishes to reduce energy bills and lower carbon emissions through energy efficiency. Measures from installing energy-efficient lightbulbs to switching to renewable energy including solar panels are promoted.

Currently more than 400 churches & church buildings have solar panels installed in the UK, with o the first carbon-neutral churches being developed . Ground source heat pumps have also been installed in some churches which in turn also compliments the installation of solar panels.  With the high heat requirements of churches in the Winter it helps to have a low energy heating system installed to reduce bills and increase comfort.  Heat pumps and solar panels go hand in hand as the heat pumps use electricity while the solar panels produce it.

The position of the church as community leaders is also important here.  What a great signal the church would send about taking action on climate change if solar panels on church roofs were visible to all to see.

The post Solar Panels on Church Roofs appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

Solar panels and community energy are featured strongly in the new partnership for government published this week.  Community energy is where people living in the community own or co-own renewable energy generators.  These  generators can be solar panels, wind turbines, CHP units, water turbines  etc..

The idea is that these smaller micro generators are installed using finance from a community and the community then benefits from the energy produced from the plant. The energy can be used by the community or sold  back to the grid making money for those who have invested.  The return on investment for these projects can be very good and far outweigh the financial return from leaving money stagnate in the banking system.

Financial benefits aside, the community benefits are also very strong with possibilities for lower and more secure energy costs and of course the long term benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions so our children's futures are protected.

Glenergy is committed to the  advancement of this ideal of community ownership and is working closely with the Wicklow Sustainable Energy Community to make this ideal a reality.

You can read more about the community and climate change goals of this government here:http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2016/05/programme_for_partnership_government.pdf

More information on the Wicklow SEC is here: http://www.seai.ie/SEC/

The post Solar Panels in the Programme for Government appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

This is a birds eye view of the future of energy production in Ireland. Amazing video footage of the solar panels installed on the civic public buildings in Dublin.  Clean renewable electricity produced from solar panels in the heart of Dublin City.  Very impressive!

The post Solar Panels in Dublin appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

A maintenance worker examines solar panels at a solar park in Villaldemiro, northern Spain. Photograph: Cesar Manso/AFP/Getty Images

Starting from the 1980s, solar panels to generate electricity from sunshine have reduced by 10% in cost each year. That will continue, the research says, meaning solar is predicted to produce 20% of global energy requirements by 2027.

Even in its “high renewable” scenario, the IEA assumes solar panels will produce only 16% of electricity by 2050. .

Mathematics professor Doyne Farmer, who co-wrote the paper, said the research could help to shape renewable energy policy.  Doyne has stated that “Sceptics have claimed that solar PV cannot be ramped up quickly enough to play a significant role in combatting global warming... "

The research was supported by the European Commission and US Department of Solar Energy Technologies Office.  It comes as India and France are looking to create a solar alliance to scale up the adoption of solar panels worldwide, increasing access to energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

India’s coal minister Piyush Goyal said using solar panels is now cheaper than coal in some states. He said through his twitter account “Through transparent auctions with a ready provision of land, transmission and the like, solar tariffs have come down below thermal power cost”

CLICK HERE FOR SOLAR PANELS PRICES

 

 

The post Solar Panels costs continue to fall appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

Solar Panels go hand in hand with other renewable energy technologies.  Many ask the question about which renewable energy is best but the real question is what is the best combination of technologies to suit a particular situation. Solar Panels either for heating water (Solar Thermal) or producing electricity (Solar PV panels) are a great compliment to other renewable and low energy technologies.  Examples of this combination would be solar panels and heat pumps or CHP systems.

Below you can see a video testimonial from one of our customers who decided to go down this route and utilize a number of different renewable and low energy technologies to heat his home.  In the video you can see that solar panels and heat pumps were used for heating water and space.  In the summer and warmer months of the year the solar panels heated water and heat pumps were then used to produce the bulk of the hot water in Winter.  This is a happy marriage as the best application for solar panels is heating water in the warmer months of the year with no requirement to turn on a large heat pump to heat a relatively small amount of water. Heat pumps then only have to come into action only when the solar resource is reduced as Winter approaches.

Solar PV can also compliment heat pumps brilliantly.  The idea is that in the event of a FIT you can produce electricity during the summer which creates a credit with your electricity provider.  Once Winter kicks in you start to spend that credit on running your heat pump.  This has been tried and tested in Ireland a few times and works very well.  If your house is well insulated and you have a low heat load it is very possible to become cost neutral on your heating costs using solar panels and heat pumps combined - i.e. you will pay nothing to heat your home and water..  for ever.  Nice.

See here for some info on someone who uses solar panels and heat pumps and pays nothing on their heating bills..

The post Solar Panels and Heat Pumps appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

Well it's nearly Christmas and 2016 is around the corner.  We thought we would take this opportunity to have a look at what happened in 2015 and what is in store for Ireland and solar panels in the coming year.

2015  and the grant for solar panels

The biggest change that came in in 2015 was the increase in the grants  for solar panels. Long held at €800 per installation this has increased to €1200 per installation - a nice sum taking away about 30% of the cost of installing solar panels for heating water.  Solar panels that produce heat are often talked down because the cost/benefit is not as much as other measures but the reason it is favoured for subsidy is because it is a great bang for the buck when it comes to reducing carbon emissions which essentially will cost us money in the long run - this is never factored into any payback calculation but it should be..

Another influential occurrence came in Paris at COP21.  For the first time all the countries of the world came together and declared their intention to reduce carbon emissions to limit the catastrophic effects that climate with change will bring.  Ireland spoke a good game but the reality was that  Enda and the incumbent government are intent on increasing Ireland's emissions stating that we are a special case.  The result of this will be to expose Ireland to potential fines from the EU which will reach into the billions territory. More needs to be done in the run up to 2020 to reduce our emissions to avoid these penalties - basically more solar panels and other renewable energy technologies like heat pumps need to be installed at the same time as reducing our energy use through greater efficiency - easy as that.

2016 Predictions

The biggest impact in 2016 will come when a decision is made on the Feed in Tariff for microgeneration.  This is where electricity produced by solar panels and other renewable energies is exported to the grid and the owner of the solar panels gets paid for this.  The official line at the moment is that no decision has been made however there are many companies who have been laying the ground work in 2015 on the basis that this will happen - encouraging.

This will affect solar pv panels for electricity generation only and not solar thermal for providing heat.  There will be another mechanism for payment for that technology, whether it comes in 2016 is unclear.

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year from Glenergy!

The post Solar Panels – 2016 predictions appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

The UK government has recently cut the Feed in Tariff rate payable for installing solar panels for electricity production installed in the UK.  What does this mean for Ireland?  Well with a decision on the introduction of a FIT for solar panels looming here there are lessons to be learned from their experience.  The reasons why the UK cut the tariffs are numerous but essentially they boil down to money available and political will.  Essentially the scheme was too successful - installing solar panels is extremely attractive when the price is right and the FIT in the UK created a huge demand which exceeded the financial projections and the budget.

Price WaterHouse Coopers (PWC) have recently released an analysis of the current situation in the Solar PV market in the UK called "Solar PV - A partial eclipse"  The information below is taken from that study.

The Market for Solar Panels in the UK

In the UK the solar photovoltaics (PV) market has grown from 5,000 to 750,000 installations in the last 5 years driven by these subsidies which have led to project returns of between 10–20%. The speed of deployment has caught the UK Government off-guard and the total solar PV subsidy is forecast to be overspent by £1.5 billion. A material reduction of subsidies has been announced to address this with tariffs slashed by 87% and 71%, for residential and commercial installations respectively, affecting new projects from 1 January 2016.

The Government has also introduced restrictive caps on the number of new projects that can receive the subsidy which will be limited to 18% of 2014 volumes.

Market Contraction

High levels of activity are expected across the supply chain ahead of the January 2016 cut to the solar subsidy. Thereafter, PWC anticipate an 18-24 month market downturn as installers struggle to make all but the best projects financially viable.

The sector is set to recover in the longer term as the performance and cost of solar panels continues to improve with market commentators indicating solar power will be on par with the wholesale market price of electricity by 2020.

As a result of the reduction in the Solar FiT a number of solar panels and development/installation companies have already entered administration (October 2015) due to the fundamental worsening of the economics of solar projects.

There has been a strong response to the proposed reductions to the subsidies from the renewables industry which has also gained support from a number of conservative MPs. As a result, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) may consider phasing-in the cuts over time rather than a sudden step change in 2016.

Summary

• DECC has announced that FiTlevels will be reduced in every category from 1 January 2016.
• Residential projects have seen the largest reductions ofnearly 90% from 12.47p to 1.63p/kWh.
• There are further reductions on a planned quarterly degressionto remove all subsidies by April 2019.
• DECC has also introduced caps on the total volume ofinstallations that will qualify for the FiTsubsidy.
• The cap for 2016 is 24,140 installations which is only 18% of the 135,000 actual installations in 2014.
• Therefore, even if installers can make projects viable under the new subsidies they will soon hit volume limits

Lessons for Ireland

The biggest message to take from all this is stability.  From the offset the FiT for solar panels has been in a state of flux in the UK.  The price has dropped for a number of years causing an unstable foundation for an infant solar industry to establish itself. The result is a boom and bust cycle which leads to job lossess and hampers the creation of a sustainabe industry. If Ireland is to introduce a FiT for solar panels it needs to be modest but enough and at all costs it must be stable and dependable if we are to avoid the pitfalls of our neighbours.

The post Solar Panels – Solar PV Feed in Tariff appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

As part of our daily conversations about solar panels we will often have a discussion about efficiency with a prospective customer.  Naturally the conversation will usually revolve around the desire of the customer to buy the most efficient solar panels for the least amount of money.   The term "efficiency" however needs to be defined so it is understood completely,  this is important because you could buy the most efficient solar panels but actually get less energy from them than cheaper less efficient solar panels.

Size Matters

The amount of energy solar panels can produce depends on two things; the size and the efficiency of the panels and like in other things in life - size matters!  The size relates to the amount of surface area of solar panel that is exposed to the sun. So the bigger the size of this area the more radiation is collected by the panel and thus the more energy it can produce.

As an example - a maximum of 1000 watts of solar energy fall on 1 m2 of horizontal ground on a clear summers day in Ireland.  So if you have 2m2 of solar panels exposed to this you will be able to collect 2000 watts.

Efficiency of Solar Panels

Efficiency then comes into play.  This is the ability of the solar panels to change this solar energy into useable heat/electricity.  There are three factors that influence the efficiency of solar panels:

1. The energy loss from the panel - influenced by insulation levels, reflection and the weather.  Cold windy weather means the solar panel loses more of the collected energy back to the outside.
2. The temperature of the panel - the hotter a panel gets the lower it's ability is to convert energy - i.e. the lower its efficiency.
3. The build of the panel - how well the solar panels are designed to transfer solar energy into heat.  This can be expressed by the zero loss efficiency factor, i.e. how efficient a solar panel is without point 1 or 2 applied.

The zero loss efficiency of Savo Solar panels is around 80%.  If one of those solar panels can collect 2000W it will be able to process 80% of that i.e. 1600W.  Of that 1600W some of it will be lost back to the atmosphere due to the outside weather conditions and the temperature of the solar panels.

Which to choose?

So when choosing solar panels the size of the panels can be just as influential as the efficiency in terms of how much energy you will actually get from the system.  For this reason Flat plate solar panels which are typically less efficient than tubes can outperform tubes in overall annual energy production.  But there's always something  Give us a call and we can  boil it down to brass tacks for you.

The post Most Efficient Solar Panels appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

Mounting solar panels on flat roofs and on the ground can often be the best option when installing your solar system.  You may not have a suitable pitched roof facing south or your roof may be flat.  You may also want to utilise some ground at the back of your garden and installing solar panels would make a once redundant area more productive.

The great thing about solar panels is that they are so flexible in terms of installation - they can go almost anywhere they can sit and face the sun.  So if you have a flat roof or a piece of suitable ground here are a few pointers to consider when installing solar panels.

Solar Panels on Flat Roofs

Solar Panels on flat roofs

A Frame: When mounting on a flat roof the solar panels are typically mounted on an A frame which is tilted somewhere between 15 - 45 degrees. The lower pitch lessens the exposure to wind and is typically the pitch for Solar PV flat roof mounting.

Fixing/Ballast: Depending on the type of roof the fixing is very important.  This is the method which the A frame is attached to the roof.  Mechanically fixing to the roof structure can mean drilling through the roof covering so care has to be taken to ensure this penetration is thoroughly weather proofed.  The other  option for solar panels is a ballast fixing where no penetration occurs, the A frame is fixed instead to weights (concrete lintels typically) which fix the solar panels  to the roof.  This is very common when mounting solar PV and less common with solar thermal.

Pipework/cabling: Again the need for a penetration through a roof to bring solar pipes or cables would need to be weather proofed sufficiently.

Wind Load: When on an A frame the solar panels will be exposed to wind lift.  It is important that the method of fixing is appropriate to the amount of wind load - tubes can often be more suitable than flat plate solar panels as they present less of a sail area to the wind.

Solar Panels and Ground Mounting

Foundations: Mounting solar panels on the ground requires a foundation to be installed to fix the A frames to.  This is typically a concrete foundation but there are other options available that don't require concrete depending on the stability of the ground.

Pipe/cable run: If on the ground the solar panels may be mounted some distance from the house.  Longer distances require consideration to be made about the size and length of pipe/cable.  The size of the array may have to increase a little to cater for any energy losses.

If you need any help on this please feel free to give us a call on 01 5563100

More Info on solar pv flat roof mounting

The post Solar Panels on Flat Roofs appeared first on Glenergy Solar.

A recent article in the Independent talks about solar panels producing electricity on a larger utility scale.  These solar pv farms where lines and lines of solar panels are installed to produce large amounts of electricity in the multi MW range.  These "solar farms" are set to become a feature of the land scape in Ireland particularly if a Feed in Tariff (FIT) is introduced in Ireland.  There are certainly many solar companies currently vying for suitable land to install solar panels in advance of a favourable decision on the FIT.

Solar PV Farms

The article itself is well worth a read - you can see it on independent.ie here  but we have outlined some of the best points below:

1. Farmers have been offered over €1,000/ac for 25 years by a number of different developers looking to secure the most advantageous sites in advance of the Government publishing its policy on renewable energy in the coming months."

2. It is believed that the next 15 years will see up to 10,000 jobs being sustained by solar power projects here."

3. The main driving forces in determining where solar pv farms can be installed in these numbers are the solar resources available and the grid connections available. The areas where the resources for solar panels are high and grid connections low are the most attractive now.

4. Farmers are those who are being approached with offers to install solar panels on their land - the advice in the article is for Irish farmers to proceed cautiously with any approach and do their research.  Get a few quotes if possible.

5. The IFA are warning farmers who are being approached regarding land deals to be cautious about the companies they are talking to. They should firstly make sure these companies have actually produced solar energy previously and have experience managing solar pv farms.

6. Solar pv farms and solar panels will increase in popularity in Ireland.  There is plenty of scope in the country for solar panels. Also investors like the technology because it is a stable investment.

7. The costs involved in these solar farms are still higher than wind or Biomass but there are advantages to using solar panels that other technologies don't have. Notably there is no maintenance, little visibility and the project can be completed much quicker than other renewables.

Some facts about Solar Panels

• In 90 minutes, enough sunlight strikes the earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one year
• 35,000 people are employed in the British solar industry (10,000 could be employed in Ireland)
• Solar power costs up to €150/MWhr, compared with €69 for fossil fuels. However, it is the cheapest source of renewable energy after wind.
• Solar panels prices have fallen by 70pc in the last five years
• Solar farms installation costs will fall by 21pc by 2018 if import tariffs are lifted on Chinese panels

The post Solar PV Farms in Ireland appeared first on Glenergy Solar.