Solar Products
We have been designing and installing solar products since 2010 and have built up a wealth of knowledge as to which solar products exceed the manufacturers claims and which don’t. Equally as importantly, we know which manufacturers provide reliable technical support to their local installer base.
We therefore, only recommend quality solar products to clients which meet both these criteria.
The product selection below meets these criteria, and in our opinion and experience, represent value for money over the expected life time of the system.
Please also visit our blog pages for more in depth reviews on many of these products.
Solar Panels
This selection of panels represents a good cross section of high quality products, each with specific attributes, from which we hope you will find a product that meets your requirements. If not, just ask, we have access to all the solar products available in the UK.
In the summary table below, we set out the various key parameters of the brands we recommend and install.
Solar Panel Comparison Table (data as of September 2023)
| Classification | Panel | Features & Benefits | Warranty terms (Product) | Warranty terms (Performance) | URL | Country of Design/Manufacture | Cost_____ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PREMIUM | Maxeon Technologies (SunPower) | Unrivalled aesthetics & warranty terms | 40 | > 88% @ year 40 | https://sunpower.maxeon.com/int/solar-panel-products/maxeon-solar-panels | France/Mexico | |
| QUALITY | Meyer Burger Glass/Glass | Exceptional lifetime yields | 30 | >93% @ year 30 | https://www.meyerburger.com/en/solar-modules | Germany | |
| QUALITY | REC Alpha Series | Exceptional lifetime yields, lead free & high wattage | 20 | > 92% @ year 25 | https://www.recgroup.com/en/alpha | Singapore | |
| QUALITY | SolarWatt Vision (Glass-Glass) Series | Exceptional lifetime yields | 30 | > 87% @ year 30 | https://www.solarwatt.co.uk/ | Germany | |
| VALUE | REC Twin Peak 5 Series | 20 | > 86% @ year 25 | https://www.recgroup.com/en/products/rec-twinpeak-5-en | Singapore | ||
| VALUE | Q Cells - G11A Series | 12 | > 86% @ year 25 | https://www.q-cells.eu/products/solar-panels.html | Taiwan | ||
| BUDGET | 12 | > 85% @ year 25 | China |
All of the above installed with SolarEdge inverters / Enphase microinverters with a 20 year warranty cf budget inverter systems which offer a 5 or 10 year warranty.
SunPower
The premium panel on the market today. SunPower was established in 1985 in Silicon Valley, USA and so have massive experience and claim to make the highest performing and therefore best solar panels in the world and justify this with three key statements below and back it up with a comprehensive 40 year warranty.
Key Attributes include:
- Trusted durability – SunPower solar panels are engineered to operate flawlessly in real-world environments.
- Proven reliability – SunPower ensures your solar panels operate with uncompromised performance and dependable results.
- More energy – SunPower delivers more energy over a system’s lifetime, powering your path to more predictable savings.
Meyer Burger
High performing, sustainable, designed in Switzerland and made in Germany. The patented solar cells tend to absorb much more solar energy than conventional cells and the converted electrical power flows through the module with less resistance – even when it’s cloudy.
Key Attributes include:
- Aesthetic design – Elegant Swiss design suitable for all roof shapes and sophisticated architecture.
- Guaranteed reliability – Industry-leading 25-year product and performance warranty.
- Consistently sustainable – Regional value creation, made without lead and PFAS, produced using 100% renewable energy.
REC
REC was established in Norway in the year 1996. Since then, they have produced in Singapore more than 46 million panels. It is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance New Solar Energy Limited, India.
Key attributes include:
- Maximum power – In a regular residential installation, the REC Alpha Pure-R offers more power than conventional panels for more energy and more savings (based on an available roof area of 30 m2)”
- Exceptional quality – Consistently one of the lowest warranty claim rates in solar.
- High efficiency – Performs better at hotter surrounding temperatures
Solarwatt
Solarwatt stands for German premium quality – their products are developed in Dresden and Hürth and manufactured partially in Dresden. All products are designed and rigorously tested at their headquarters in Dresden, Germany. All German factories and offices run on green electricity.
Key Attributes include:
- Long-lasting – All glass-glass panels come with a 30-year warranty and 5 years’ FullCoverage.
- Durable – Products generate consistently high yields over decades, saving costs and emissions. They are rigorously tested and withstand all imaginable challenges.
- Consistent – More than 10 million panels have been sold worldwide.
Inverters
Let’s begin with what the inverter does: the brain and heart of any solar power system, it’s a small box with a big job, sitting between the roof panels and fuse board. Without it, your system won’t work. Its role is to convert electricity from DC to AC household current as efficiently as possible. One of the very important solar products to choose.
Solaredge
SolarEdge inverters use a power optimiser on each solar panel so every panel works independently. The current and voltage is adjusted panel by panel to deliver maximum power throughout – a constant optimal 350V d.c. with single phase systems.
- Optimum power in light or shade
- Up to 25% more energy
- Maximum power from individual panels
- Maximum power point tracking (MPPT)
- Easily adjustable current and voltage
SMA
SMA, a German company, are the world’s leading manufacturer of grid tied inverters. And let’s face it the Germans do engineering well.
SMA is a global leader in the development, production and sales of PV inverters. SMA have a well established technical support team at their UK offices in Milton Keynes.
- The SMA inverter from the Sunny Tripower or Sunny Boy family is the core of SMA Energy Systems Home.
- It ensures optimum energy usage so that you have to purchase as little additional power as possible from the utility grid.
- Even in shady conditions, innovative technology ensures optimum usage of the energy supplied by the modules. Sunny Places (or, in the future, an app) allows you to keep constant track of your energy yields.
Enphase
Solar panels may be on top, but it’s the inverter that does all the real work. Choosing an inverter technology is the most critical decision you’ll make when going solar. Enphase Microinverters offer the most advanced inverter technology on the market, which means higher production, greater reliability, and unmatched intelligence.
Enphase microinverters are proven to produce more energy than other technologies.
- Microinverters operate independently, so each panel performs to its fullest. One shaded or dirty panel won’t affect the rest of the system.
- Burst technology lets microinverters produce more at dawn, dusk, and in low-light conditions, for a longer solar day.
Battery Storage
Battery storage is now one of the essential solar products for the renewables sector. All the benefit of generating solar electricity comes from being able to use that energy within the home or business, thereby reducing electricity bills.
In most scenarios, this will require installing a battery, which will store the surplus energy generated during the day, when demand is low, thus making this energy available for use when the panels stop generating (at night) and the demand increases.
Battery storage therefore enables your consumption whilst reducing your energy bills.
We have been installing battery systems since 2016, and have a vast amount of experience across the systems we specialise in. In keeping with our overall approach to all technologies, we only offer products from leading international manufacturers with whom we have longstanding working relationships, and have earned Manufacturer Accreditation.
In the summary table below, we set out the various key parameters of the brands we recommend and install.
| Product | Usable Capacity (kWh) | Charge Rate (kW) | Outdoor Rated | Backup Function Included | Installation Guide Price(ex VAT) May 2020 | Warranty | Chemistry | AC / DC Coupled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enphase | 2.4 - 6.0 kWh | 1 | N | N | £3608 - £7400 | 10yrs or 3650 full cycles | LiFePO4 | AC |
| LG Chem Resu 7H/10H | 6.6 / 9.3 kWh | 3.5 - 5.0 | N | N | £5600 - £6200 | 10yrs or 19.6 / 27.4 MWh | LiFePO4 | DC |
| Sonnen 9.43 | 5 - 15 kWh | 3.3 | N | N | £5300 - £8800 | 10000 cycles | LiFePO4 | AC |
| Tesla | 13.5 kWh | 3.68 / 5.0 | Y | Y | £7550 - £8300 | 10yrs (unlimited) cycles | LiNiCd | AC |
Tesla Powerwall
Tesla Powerwall is a fully integrated AC battery system for residential or light commercial use. It’s rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack provides energy storage for solar self-consumption, time-based control, and back up in the event of a power cut.
It’s revolutionary compact design achieves market leading energy density and is easy to install, enabling owners to quickly realise the benefits of reliable clean power.
Sonnen Batterie
Sonnen battery is a premium quality battery system suitable for residential or commercial applications. It is available as either an AC coupled or Hybrid unit. The all-in-one system allows for an easy installation and can connect to any existing or new solar panels.
The Sonnen battery will help you save money on bills by maximising your solar self-consumption. It also offers time based charging enabling you to charge from the grid using cheap ‘off peak’ electricity.
LG Chem
Part of the LG group, LG Chem offers world class solutions for the photovoltaic storage market with exceptional price performance and warranty.
The LG Chem battery is compatible with the SolarEdge StoreEdge solution which enables customers to monitor their battery level as well as their PV generation from the cloud based software.
The battery is automatically charged and discharged to meet consumption needs and reduce the amount of power purchased from the grid. Existing SolarEdge systems can be upgraded to the StorEdge solution too.
Enphase
Enphase is headquarted in California, USA. Enphase designs and manufactures software-driven home energy solutions that span solar generation, home energy storage and web-based monitoring and control.
The AC Battery is a key component of the Enphase Storage System which uses unmatched innovation to create a modular, safe solution for the home delivering the highest lifetime value.
EV Chargers
The key to linking your electric car to your solar energy system so you can refuel from solar. Smart chargers are compatible with all full electric and hybrid cars, and with more and more manufacturers bringing EV’s to market, this is surely the smart way to drive ! Another one of the important accessory solar products to make sure you maximise your usage of your generated energy and refuel with solar.
MyEnergi – zappi
zappi is a smart EV charger with a difference. Not only does it operate as a traditional EV charger, it can also charge your EV using 100% FREE energy generated from your Solar PV or wind generation.
Here’s the SMART bit. zappi can charge for FREE using your Solar PV during the day and be set to charge at the most economical times at night if you have preferred economy rates from your energy provider. All controllable by the myenergi App.
SolarEdge
SolarEdge’s EV charging single phase inverter enables homeowners to charge their electric vehicles directly from the power of the sun, maximizing their solar usage and further reducing their electricity bills. They will also benefit from the ability to charge EVs up to 2.5 times faster than a standard EV charger through an innovative solar boost mode that utilizes grid and PV charging simultaneously.
By installing the EV charging inverter solar product, you’ll benefit from the reduced hassle of installing separately a standalone EV charger and a PV inverter, as well as integration with the SolarEdge monitoring platform.
Immersion Controllers
An important member of the accessory solar products that uses your generated solar energy to heat your hot water by using an immersion controller. This reduces your cost of imported energy,
MyEnergi – eddi
Myenergi are a British company making a number of interesting products. The eddi is a solar power diverter for free water heating from excess energy from your solar power system
eddi is a solar power diverter for use with grid-tied solar PV. Excess energy from the micro-generation system is used to heat water or rooms rather than exporting it to the grid.
The SolarEdge inverter increases self-consumption by diverting excess solar energy to the hot water boiler. It minimizes the electricity needed to heat water, for reduced electricity bills.
- Enables cost-effective thermal energy storage compared to Li-ion batteries
- Delivers high efficiency of >98%
- Powers purely resistive loads of up to 5kW
- Reads water temperature using an optional temperature sensor
- Connects to SolarEdge residential inverters via wireless communication
- Integrates easily with the SolarEdge monitoring platform
Iboost
Marlec’s innovative Solar iBoost+ is a solar product that enables you to automatically consume the excess energy generated at your home so you can just sit back and enjoy the extra savings.
- Cut the cost of water heating in your home.
- Reduce the use of your boiler.
- Maximise the use of the free solar energy generated at your property.
Energy Meters & Monitoring Devices
An important part of monitoring and knowing where your energy is being used and which of your solar products to direct it to.
Solaredge
The energy meter is used for production, consumption or import/export monitoring, and for export limitation. The meter has high accuracy readings.
The meter connects to the SolarEdge inverter
- High accuracy meter readings (up to 0.5%) for production/consumption monitoring
- Supplies meter readings to the inverter for export limitation
MyEnergi hub
The hub allows remote control and monitoring of your myenergi devices:
- Access to the latest firmware updates
- Device status LEDs
- Will support time of use tariffs in the near future.
- Required for zappi OLEV approval
MyEnergi – harvi
harvi is a clever little device that enables the zappi and eddi products to be installed without using a wired current transformer (CT) for measuring the grid and or generation power; instead the CT is connected to harvi.
No power source is needed for harvi – the energy from the CT is harvested and used to transmit the measurement signal to the zappi or eddi. This means batteries or electrical wiring are eliminated!
