The Client
Domestic Household, Witton Le Wear
The Brief
To design, install and commission a full solar energy system to a rural domestic dwelling flat roofed car port.
The Activity:
Our client contacted Tomlinson Longstaff head office via the MCS website’s approved register, enquiring about a consultation in advance of the installation of solar panels, storage battery and an electrical charging point to the external flat roofed car port, so they could take advantage of generating & harvesting their own electrical energy resource.
Our team visited the site and designed a bespoke solar pv system to meet the energy usage requirements, accommodate the flat roof installation and install an electrical vehicle charging point for anticipated future use by the client.
In advance of the start of the job, the team applied for a G99 to Northern Powergrid on behalf of the client and project managed the communications, information submission and approval accordingly.
Due to the distance between the home and the car port, 50 meters of armoured cabling was required and installed, as well as new distribution boards to both the home and car port, alongside 16 Trina Vertex solar panels, each fitted with a SolarEdge optimiser, 1 inverter, 1 SolarEdge energy bank battery and a myenergi Zappi electrical vehicle charging point.
The most critical challenge to the team on this project was the erratic lead times within the supply chain, specifically for the inverter, at the time of writing a global issue.
To rectify this & so as not to delay the job completion any further, a temporary inverter was set up for the client so the system could be commissioned and energy gains made as quickly as possible on their behalf.
This was compounded by the required coordination of a number of suppliers, delivery lead times and additional costs associated with that, which were handled and absorbed by Tomlinson Longstaff to ensure the best quality system for the client.
Due to these challenges there were some delays in the completion of the job, however the installation went perfectly to plan once it started.
Communication with both the supply chain and the end client were vital in this instance, something Tomlinson Longstaff prides ourselves on for every job.
The Result:
With the full solar package installed and commissioned, the client confirmed almost immediately that they were consuming around 97% of their energy from this source, and had been producing more than they could use even with the additional storage battery spreading the usage of the electricity generated throughout the 24 hour day.
The electrical vehicle charge point had originally been installed in anticipation of a future car change, from fuel to electric. However, with the discovery of the amount of electrical energy being generated, within a month the client had purchased an electric vehicle to maximise usage of the energy their system was generating.
Our client received an MCS certificate and NICEIC certificate for proof of works for future reference.
In terms of payback, during the consultation period we had estimated that payback would be within 6 years for this client. However, with energy prices due to rise and the levels of energy being produced and consumed by the client, this could very well be reduced, with the true payback being reached much more quickly for the client.
What the client said:
“Thank you for a very professional job. Please thank Stephen and Carol for me for the inventiveness as the project was not always straightforward and standard. The system works beautifully and so far keeps us off the grid!”
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Tomlinson Longstaff Ltd is an electrical contractor based in Country Durham, north east England. We offer a wide range of electrical services including design, testing, installation and maintenance.