Solar Panels

Solar is worth doing when the aim is to cut diesel, not when the aim is to have solar. That distinction decides the whole specification, and it is worth being honest about before anybody quotes a panel count.

A system that offsets daytime load - offices, schools, clinics, anywhere the demand is highest while the sun is up - pays back fastest, because the generation and the consumption line up without needing much storage. A system meant to carry a building overnight is mostly a battery purchase with panels attached, and it is priced accordingly.

We supply panels, charge controllers, hybrid inverters and mounting, and we quote them as a system rather than a parts list. The controller and the inverter have to match the array and the battery bank; mismatched components are the most common reason a solar installation underperforms its brochure.

Roof matters. Orientation, shading from a water tank or a neighbouring building, and whether the structure will take the load and the wind uplift are all site questions, and a partly shaded array loses far more than the shaded fraction because of how strings behave.

Send the monthly diesel spend, the daytime load and a photograph of the roof. Those three tell us whether this is worth quoting at all, and we will say if it is not.