Raemoir Garden Centre is a 30 year old family business which thrives on providing high quality service and products varied between fantastic breakfast and home baked goods from their restaurant, seasonal gifts and homeware in the shop as well as plants and garden care.
Raemoir’s Director, Mr Mair has a vision to deliver a pleasant customer experience with strong commitments in supporting local communities and the environment. They decided to invest in solar PV system and contacted Ceiba Renewables to help reduce their electricity overheads.
We suggested SunPower panels to match Raemoir commitments and business model as SunPower is known for their high ethical and environmental standards on top of their superior durability, performance and warranty which also ensure a long-term peace of mind.
The Result
The solar PV system is now fully installed and performing well at Raemoir Garden Centre. It adds value to their environmental commitment along with additional financial benefits. We have heard great reviews from Mr Mair and we are excited to share their story.
Elliot Mair, Director at Raemoir said:
“From the start of this project, we have been impressed by Duncan and his team.
We received excellent advice and assistance on the design and technical aspects of this project and from our initial meeting to the completed installation, the efficiency and high standard of their work has been apparent.
We are looking forward to seeing the benefits of our Solar system and working with Ceiba Renewables for many years to come.”
Mountcairn is a domestic property which has underfloor heating designed to operate at 30C. The home owner, Mr Burns, has bills for gas (heating and hot water) and electric (domestic circuits and lighting) and his aim was to become as self-sufficient as possible.
This project consists of:
21 x SunPower X22 360W panels with Solaredge power optimiser inverter system (7.56kWp)
1 x Tesla Powerwall 2 – 13.5kWh of storage
1 x Immersun immersion controller
1 x pre-heat cylinder for the Immersun to heat (up to 80C) and provide heating towards underfloor heating (UFH) system
While a PV and battery storage system is not unique, the unique part is that the solar-powered Immersun heats a pre-heat cylinder which is linked to the central heating and contributes to heating the house. Given the low operating temp of the UFH system then the solar PV will manage to not only reduce electrical consumption but gas as well.
We will be very interested to see how much the customer saves over the course of a year and we’re hopeful it will provide a valuable case study and blueprint for well-insulated homes which have underfloor heating.
Component Features:
Solar PV – We always recommend SunPower panels to our customers because of the fantastic 25 yr product/service warranty, the long life expectancy, enhanced performance and their environmental credentials (Cradle 2 Cradle). However, Mr Burns also wanted to maximise his power output per m2 for his small(ish) roof space. Using the SunPower X22 360W modules we were able to fit 21 panels on his roof to give 7.56kWp.
Inverter – Solaredge give us great flexibility when designing a PV system and the DNO (Scottish Power) told us that we would need Export Limitation due to grid constraints in the area. The Solaredge system allows us to easily set up export limitation as well as the other beneficial features such as optimising power output from each panel.
Battery storage – Mr Burns wanted to be able to use excess solar PV power at night and so the 13.5kWh capacity of the Powerwall 2 give him this ability. In addition to the simplicity and aesthetics of the unit, he now has access to the “Advanced Time Control” feature which will allow Mr Burns to charge from off-peak and use that power at on-peak times (i.e. in winter when/if there’s not enough solar PV power to charge the battery).
Pre-heat Cylinder – The existing central heating system was designed to operate at 30C for the underfloor heating (UFH). Ignite Plumbing modified the system and installed a Pre-heat Cylinder which can be heated to 80C giving us a significant heat dump for excess solar PV power using the Immersun. Using pumps and temp. sensors, the water in the pre-heat cylinder can then either be used to heat the hot water cylinder and/or to be blended down to 30C to heat the UFH.
Immersun – The immersun is designed to divert excess solar PV power to the pre-heat cylinder once the Tesla Powerwall 2 has been charged.
Results so Far (taken on 8/7/18):
The system was installed on 26th April 2018 so has only been running for a short period of time and during the better weather so the impact on heating is not yet fully known. However, since installing the property has been 90% self-sufficient and the solar PV has generated >2,750kWh of the estimated 6,300kWh per annum.
Customer Feedback:
“I had been getting fed up of the rising energy costs to heat and power my home and so I got in touch with Ceiba Renewables when I realised they were a Tesla Powerwall Certified Installer. We discussed the various options and I was impressed with the expertise shown by Duncan. Not only is the solar PV system able to produce electricity for my home day and night but it’s able to contribute to my heating as well which is a fantastic feature that I’m delighted with.
The installation and service from Duncan and his team at Ceiba Renewables was first-class. As a business-owner myself I demand high standards for my customers and I was delighted to see that Ceiba Renewables also take this seriously. I’m really impressed by the results so far and I’m very hopeful that the system will not only make substantial savings on my electricity bill but on my heating bill as well.”
Location
CK Contracts, Ayrshire
Estimated Annual SAP Production: 37871.40 kWh
Estimated ROI: 7 years
Actual Annual Production: TBC
Install Date: 21.12.15
Environmental Impact
Annual CO2 Savings: TBC
Products
System Size: 49.7 kWp
Panel Model: Sunpower E20 327W
Inverter Model: SolarEdge 2 x 16k 1 x 12.5k
The Project
CK Contracts are one of the leading providers of civil engineering services in Scotland, working in the construction, rail, renewable, utility & public sectors. They specialise in providing world class services in general civil and building works, provision of railway safety critical personnel and civil upgrades and remedial works on onshore windfarms.
CK Contracts approached Ceiba to provide a design and quote for a solar PV system for their new headquarters in Ayrshire. The aim for CK Contracts was to be as self-sufficient as possible, keep energy overheads as low as possible and to enhance their credibility further as a environmentally and socially responsible business. The mandate for Ceiba was to maximise the available roof space and have a high quality, reliable solar system that was going to work hassle-free for the long- term.
Given that mandate, Ceiba Renewables specified Sunpower E20 panels and demonstrated the benefits of Sunpower’s Maxeon technology to the Managing Director, Andy King. See “Demand Better” page for further details on the benefits of using Sunpower.
In order to minimise costs, CK Contracts provided labour for the roofing works under supervision of Ceiba Renewables and the solar panels were installed within 2 days.
The remainder of the installation was completed once the building was wind & watertight with the new three-phase supply brought in by Scottish Power. The system was connected online to the SolarEdge monitoring portal once CK Contracts moved in and just recently a SolarEdge meter has been installed to monitor the electricity consumption.
The Result
CK Contracts now have a cutting-edge solar PV system that is going to provide significant savings for decades to come. Having recently started monitoring consumption we can see that the PV system is covering the building’s day time consumption and the next phase is to look at battery storage to maximise savings further.
Home Hardware in Helensburgh contacted us after finding that their 51 panel solar PV system wasn’t producing the power that their now-defunct installer said it would.
Ceiba agreed to carry out an assessment of their PV system in order to identify any issues that could be limiting the power produced.
The initial finding found that some of the panels weren’t providing power to the solar inverter and at least 9 panels had been installed in permanent shading:
Ceiba proposed an action plan which involved fault finding to establish which panels were not functioning properly, tidying up of the DC cables and a re-design of the PV array layout in order to reposition the panels to minimise the shade.
After reviewing the report that Ceiba produced, Home Hardware were keen to get the problems fixed. Ceiba’s PV install team began by removing panels and mapping the string layout. It was discovered that poor crimping was responsible for a number of loose connections and every string connection was re-done and crimped professionally.
This fix ensured that all of the panels were now producing power to the solar inverter, later in the day when shading was less of an issue on the panels, the instantaneous power output of the PV array had increased by 36% by this measure alone.
However, Home Hardware wanted the job done properly and requested for the solution to re-designing the PV array layout be actioned.
Ceiba went to work, moving 17 panels to the north-west side of the roof which has now minimised the impact of shade across the entire system and the solar PV system has been recommissioned.
Duncan Crosthwaite, Director of Ceiba Renewables said, “With the original design shading occurred across 2 strings for more than 50% of the day. With our redesign we are confident that solar power generation at Home Hardware will be substantially improved.
We’re very happy that we could fix Home Hardware’s issues. Choosing your installer carefully is one of the most important things you can do when considering solar PV and even then you can get caught out as this case proves. Some key questions you can ask are: What components are they recommending? what are their warranty terms? Who do they use as their installers? Ask for references and do as much research as possible.”
Since undertaking the works Home Hardware have reported a major improvement in their PV system’s performance.
Having issues with your solar PV system? Contact us today and we’ll be happy to help.
Ceiba Renewables were contacted by The Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine to help them look at ways of using solar PV to reduce their energy usage.
Following a consultation where a number of roofs were considered, the most favourable location was on the roof of the main office. A number of solar panels were considered but the benefits of Sunpower – superior warranties, higher output per m2, aesthetics, performance and salt-mist environments – were such that the Scottish Maritime Museum quickly opted for the X21 Sunpower panel.
The installation was featured in NICEIC’s Connections Scotland magazine which goes into more detail about the project.
The Result
The all-black X21 panels look fantastic on the roof and the PV system is exceeding performance expectations.
Customer Quote
Chris Woodland, Commercial Manager at the Scottish Maritime Museum said: “We are always looking for ways to minimise our operational expenses without impacting on the visitor experience and this is an excellent example of the Scottish Maritime Museum’s dedication to improving its energy efficiency”
NICEIC Connections Magazine
See the article about this project in the NICEIC’s Connections Magazine here.
NICEIC are one of the UK’s leading assessment and certification bodies for electrical and building works.
