SOLAR ENERGY OFF GRID POWER SYSTEMS THROUGHOUT YORKSHIRE AND THE NORTH
Off Grid Electricity
It all begins with a chat, don’t worry we’re approachable. There’s no salesmen here, just knowledgeable off grid engineers.
Our Services
We provide off grid power systems fully installed, we don’t sell components, although we can often help if your existing system has a fault, or needs upgrading. If it’s a newbuild house or conversion a set of drawings would be useful. Having an understanding of your predicted power consumption is important. How many Kwh of electricity do you expect to use per day, winter will be more than summer. Each household is different, but our experience will guide you if your not sure.
An initial chat over the phone usually gives us a feel, to make sure off grid is right for you. Typically we carry out a desktop survey and then we will visit site for an in-depth study. If your an existing property we can install monitoring to understand exactly how much power you use. From this we can provide an initial design with costings. Every system is different, as lifestyles are not all the same. Understanding your requirements and designing / sizing the components correctly is of paramount importance.
We can provide a demonstration of a live systems. We find that seeing a system in person answers a lot more questions than an online presentation, its definitely time well spent. Seeing systems close up prompts you to ask us questions, rather than a pre written sales pitch that may be over whelming. We can also provide you with a link to remotely view a live system at your convenience, or you may whish to chat with us whilst viewing a live system remotely.
How long does it take?
Typically from initial design to handover takes several weeks on larger systems. But on occasion we have been able to turn a system around very promptly. A case in question was to replace a poorly designed and installed system. The previous installers were a sales based solar company who had little experience in off grid, their market was household solar PV systems. The system kept shutting down, it didn’t charge properly and displayed error codes all the time. It just did not work.
We designed and built a Victron Energy system, and tested it our workshop. On a prearranged date we removed the faulty “all in one” system and installed a quality Victron system. We had the power back on the same day with minimal disruption to the client. They were expecting to move out to a hotel, but didn’t need to!
Grow with you.
Our systems are flexible and expandable. Over time your requirements might change, you might have children, have relatives come and live with you, you might start a business at home.
Victron Energy systems are expandable you can add more solar panels if you require more generation. If you need more available power or need your generator to charge faster, we can install additional inverter chargers.
More storage batteries can also be added to your system meaning you can store more energy. This is useful if your family or business expands, or if you have a tight budget at the start of the project and need to keep costs down.
How much does an off grid system cost?
That all depends upon depends upon how much energy you require. A small holiday cabin will use less energy that a 5 bedroom house full of teenages. The solar panels, batteries, chargers and inverters are all sized to meet you energy demand and budget.
Often we find that an off grid system will cost less that a new grid connection. This of course depends on how many fields the poles would have to cross. A real benefit of off grid, is that for most of the year there is no ongoing cost for electricity, something that in today’s world of spiraling energy bills is welcoming.
When the grid goes down, you won’t!
The systems are reliable and do not shut down when there are grid power outages, you will have the lights on when surrounding properties have shut down.
The design phase.
During the design phase, our aim is to provide a cost effective off grid power solution for your building. We will coach and prompt you into making the correct energy efficient decisions, and we will always prioritize utilizing your energy efficiently.
An example of this is to create free hot water from the surplus solar power from the panels. When the batteries become full, there’s no grid connection so the system would just stop generating power. We can use this energy to heat the hot water cylinder, and possibly then cascade this to heat the UFH buffer tank. The aim is to use every bit of free energy.
It ideal if you have a plant room so all the energy equipment can be located together. Sometime this may be an adjacent barn, out building or garage. We can usually design our layout to fit into the space available.
Were with you for the long haul.
A reliable electricity supply is essential for a home to function properly. We understand this, and you will find our after sales service second to none. We respond promptly should any hiccups occur. We offer 3 months handholding with new systems to guide you into your off grid lifestyle. We remotely monitor your system and ensure you understand the functionality. If something looks amiss then chances are we know before you do.
Our systems have very long life expectancy with long warranties. In the event of a component failure, just that component can be replaced. This is a major advantage over some of the cheap all in one power systems.
Generators
All off grid power systems require a back up energy source, usually a generator. A reliable Generator is a must and its something that you should not skimp on.
For smaller off grid power systems, if you have an LPG boiler, then its possible to get LPG generators, but don’t expect to power a large system with one. For most systems we recommend a Diesel generating set.
They come in all sorts of sizes and the specifications can be quite complicated, but dont worry, were here to help. We don’t usually supply the generator, but we will point you to a recommended supplier when we have worked out the requirements.
Quality generators are usually liquid cooled with 3 or 4 cylinder, 1500rpm diesel engines, they are usually very quiet if placed around 10 meters away. A large fuel tank capacity is a benefit as this reduces the fill up frequency. Most of our systems are single phase so a single phase generator is usually the best bet.
The output is dependent upon the battery capacity and the power system size, but often a generator of around 20kVa is suitable for medium and some larger systems. Correct sizing is important, too small and the generator may not deliver clean power and connection issues can some times occur. Too large a generator and then it can be running at low output and this can mean increased fuel consumption as its running outside of its most economical range.
A used genset is an option but only if its been properly maintained. Our power systems are very reliable, but for the few occasions that we have a site visit, then its nearly always the generator fault, so don’t skimp on yours, consider it an investment and buy the best you can.
Get in touch.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us via email or phone, or send us a message using the contact form.
Telephone: 07500 932951
Email: info@offgridpowersystems.co.uk