CPS Goes Solar

Wed 22 May 2013



One thing that has interested me recently is solar power, so after reading an article on solar power generation in January Issue of “ The Shed” mag – I was impressed about what I was reading - so I gave the guys at “What Power Crisis” a call.

Henry came out and did a site visit – I wish all sales people that come and see me were as professional and knowledgeable as he was – I was impressed, they got the order.

The building that houses CPS has the perfect site for power generation - flat roof; north facing and no surrounding buildings to block the sun. Couldn't get any better!


Henry recommended a 10kw system (48 panels) which would take care of about 80% of our power usage ( at CPS we use about $600 worth per month). What really made sense for me from a business point of view is that you can depreciate it over 5 years, payback is about 8 years, and it last over 25 years !! So sometime in the near future CPS will be getting free power – not to mention doing its bit for the environment. Then on weekends and holidays we will be feeding our generated power back into the national grid, we may even get a little money back for this power. But this was never a factor in our decision.

So I told Henry to go ahead just before Easter and they started the install the day after Easter.

Along came Mark (one of their installers), again professional and he really knew his stuff – talked over the install and how it was a bit tricky due to the distance the roofing joints where apart. But by the end of the 1st day all the wiring was done and a lot of panel brackets has been attached.

See Pic



I can expand with more panels at a later date but as you can see its takes up most of our roof space as it is – one of the downfalls, you need a lot of roof space to get enough power.

The system has been signed off and is fully operational , on the first day we were generating 5.5 kw at 3 30 pm – not too bad at all?

So if you ever considered going solar do it, you will not regret it.



Chris


Reader Comments (4)
Test Er Mon Oct 21, 2013
tilt angles Hi, It looks like your array rows are too close together to avoid winter shading. It would probably be advantageous to reduce your tilt angle so that you are not loosing valuable energy through the winter months from inter-row shading. In Auckland, the winter sun angle at 9am and 3pm in June is 17 degrees. If the angle cut from the bottom of one row to the top of the other is more then this angle then you will have losses. Hoe that helps in some way. Otherwise good work and good to see more people going solar!
Chris Woudenberg Tue Oct 22, 2013
Hi Thanks for this - will look into, We did try and get as many as we could into the space we had but very good point Chris
Henry Cassin Mon Apr 28, 2014
tilt angles Hi Test ER & Chris. We do take into account the lowest sun angle in June to ensure we don't have a shadow. The photo angle may be deceptive but there should be sufficient space between the rows. We use Pathfinder as a device to measure the possibility of shadowing throughout the year. Thanks Henry. check out the new install on the Auckland Museum . http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/iconic-museum-trims-power-bill-solar-panels-5941387?fb_action_ids=10152155684178167&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B598899930206731%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D
Chris Woudenberg Tue Apr 29, 2014
thanks Henry
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