FAQs

Besides saving huge chunks of out your energy bill, a GB Solar system will increase the value and saleability of your property and improve its energy efficiency rating. You will also get paid by your energy supplier for sending energy back to the grid. Aside from the financial benefits, you’ll also be reducing your carbon footprint and lessening your personal impact on the environment. GB Solar can also provide back-up power to your property, should you experience brown-outs or have a critical load that cannot be without power.

Battery storage is a system that allows you to store excess solar energy generated during the day for use at night or during times of high demand. It can also provide backup power during outages or times of grid failure.

Solar panels work by converting sunlight into electricity. The panels are made up of photovoltaic cells, which capture photons from the sun’s rays and convert them into direct current (DC) electricity. This electricity is then converted into alternating current (AC) electricity, which can be used to power your home or business.

The amount of energy that solar panels can generate depends on a number of different factors such as the size of the system, your location, and also weather conditions. On average though, a domestic solar system can generate between 3,000 to 5,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year.

All our GB Solar panels come with a 25-year manufacturer warranty as standard. Another important aspect of a panel warranty is the efficiency guarantee. This could prove crucial when considering the long-term investment. A GB Solar panel comes with an efficiency guarantee; this means we guarantee that the panel will still be working to at least 80% of its original efficiency twenty-five years after we’ve installed it.

On-grid solar systems are connected to the electrical grid and can send excess electricity back to the grid for credits. Off-grid solar systems, on the other hand, are not connected to the grid and rely on battery storage to provide power when the sun is not shining.

This is totally down to how much energy you use. If you are a frugal homeowner whom likes to keep an eye on their electricity consumption, a smaller 6-8 panel system will be ideal to offset your energy bill and carbon footprint. However, if you’re a large family with a much heavier demand for energy, it would be most likely you’d benefit from a larger system, perhaps with the capacity to store any excess electricity in a battery system, to allow you to run the family home at night.

Adding PV capacity later might have costlier implications, such as inverter sizing, metering, not to mention paying for scaffolding again. The price of a solar PV system doesn’t correlate directly to the volume of panels you install. The cost to scaffold a property will likely be the same whether you’re having 8 or up to 20 panels installed, so whilst you’re paying more for the overall system, you’re spreading the cost of that larger system across the same cost base.

In short, no. A GB Solar PV system is completely self-managing. You do not need to wind anything up, push any buttons or plug anything in. Two things you might consider over the years, are to maintain a regular check on the inverter to make sure it isn’t showing any fault’s, and to ask a local ‘telescopic pole’ window cleaner to give your panels the once-over every few years. GB Solar panels are self-cleaning, though it wouldn’t do any harm to give them a little TLC, it might be the difference between generating a few extra watts per year.

All of our GB Solar systems come with complimentary system monitoring, showing the performance of the system from day one of the install. You’ll see exactly how much energy you’re generating at any time to allow you to maximise the use of the free electricity. With our battery storage systems, you’ll be able to see your generation, house demand and state of charge of the battery system itself.

No. There used to be a scheme called the FIT (Feed-In-Tariff) that paid you for every kWh of energy you generated, though this closed at the end of March 2019. You will however still get paid for sending energy back to the national grid under the SEG – Smart Export Guarantee. This will be a variable rate and is likely to reflect the wholesale rate of electricity. You can read more about the SEG here: Smart Export Guarantee