At Penfolds Roofing & Solar, we are true advocates of all the benefits solar energy provides. Solar power works extremely well in Vancouver. In fact, we are such strong believers in this technology and renewable energy, that we covered nearly every square foot of our head office with solar panels! 239 solar panels, to be exact!
This was a huge endeavor for our office, and it continues to pay dividends every single day!
See our installation process from start to finish!
Our goals with installing solar panels on our office was to reduce our carbon footprint and to reduce our hydro bills. We started by analyzing our electricity consumption and estimating how many solar panels we could install to offset this consumption. Overall, we are producing over 80% of our annual electrical consumption directly from the sun!
We’ve installed two different systems on our roof; a string inverter system and a microinverter system. We rarely mix these systems when doing residential installations, but we installed both systems so we could monitor efficiencies of each system first hand, in real time. By doing this we can also share this data with customers while showing the differences of each system.
Quick education: With string inverter systems, the solar panels are connected together. If one panel has decreased production due to shade or other obstacles, all connected panels will reduce their solar production output to the same level as the effected panel. This system works best in direct sunlight locations without any obstructions, such as on large warehouses. The micro inverter system allows every solar panel to be connected independently from the other panels. This way if one panel is effected by an obstruction, the other panels will still produce at their maximum potential. This system is ideal for most residential solar installations.
As our building is well situated for s string inverter system, 85% of our panels are connected to string inverters and the remaining 15% are connected to micro inverters.
When we completed this installation, we utilized a few different panels rated at 345 watts to 380 watts. Solar technology is continually advancing and we are currently using panels rated up to 445 watts to maximize solar electricity power generation for our customers.
See Our LIVE Solar Electricity Production! Updated Every 5 Minutes
Micro Inverter System:
This dashboard is available to our customers for daily monitoring on their cell phones. This app also shows solar production of every individual panel! If there’s every any problems, you know exactly which panel to rectify.
String Inverter System:
