How to Look for The right Solar Specialist and to Choose The Best Solar PV System Offer?

 

Photovoltaics is not only the best renewable Energy Source (read this article), but the best solar energy technology too (read this article).

If you are interested in this article, please read this article first.

If the decision to go solar has been taken, your first step should be finding the right solar specialist company, which plans, delivers, mounts and puts the solar PV system into operation.

Where can I search for the right solar specialist company? How can I recognize a good solar installer? According to what criteria, should I compare the quotes?

In this article, you will find answers to these questions, which will help you to gain a good offer and the right solar specialist company.

Where can I search for the right solar specialist company?

In photovoltaics, just as in any other sector, you will find good, mediocre and bad solar installers. Finding the right solar specialist company, who will ultimately get your order, is not easy.

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Naturally, the simplest way is when in a residential area, friends or neighbors who already have a solar PV system, and who are satisfied could recommend their solar specialist. It is important that a local solar specialist company is selected.

Other sources of information can be local building, solar and energy fairs. Even regional newspapers or specialist magazines can contain advertisements for solar specialist companies.

Search the Internet

The right solar specialist can also be found online. In any case, it is important that whoever is awarded the contract, you have not based it solely on a ‘blind offer’ but from an on-site visit (because of the existing building) as it is important to assess the cost of installation.

Also, there are directories with lists of names on the internet, where you can choose a solar specialist company from your region and get in touch with them.

It can be useful that the company gives you some references.

How can I recognize a good solar installer?

For those who are not familiar with solar installations, it can be quite difficult, but there are some behaviors or facts, which demonstrate that the particular solar installer knows what he is doing. The good solar specialist company:

1. Inspects the roof and the house connection personally and only then will provide a quotation.
2. Responds flexibly to the wishes of a customer concerning certain solar components and will not insist on a particular product.
3. Does not put the client under time pressure constraints concerning delivery times or the declining feed-in tariffs.
4. Provides a quotation of solar PV system, in which individual items are listed and does not make an all-inclusive one.
5. Prepares a yield prognosis on the basis of realistic assumptions, which conforms approximately with the previous estimation from the solar
6. Gives a precise indication according to the solar PV system (its registration, putting it into operation, approvals, etc.)

Obtain quotes

Internet search has a distinct advantage: you receive several quotes, and you can quickly compare specialist companies, and separate the good from the bad ones.

Tip: You should not be satisfied with anything less than three quotations from a solar specialist!

Which criteria should I use to compare the quotations?

You have received the quotes from the trusted solar specialist, but what criteria should you use to compare them? And, are the quotes comparable?

It is not ideal to choose the cheapest quotation just because this is the lowest price.

You can compare them against one another (If the datasheets are attached to the quotation) according to:

• Solar panels: Which level of efficiency, nominal power, and performance ratio, do they have? What is the power tolerance and what warranty and guarantee is given from the manufacturer?
• Solar power inverter: Which level of efficiency, and nominal power? What extras are included (data logger, plant monitoring), and what is the guarantee period?
• Solar cables: cross section, losses, length (this concerns DC- and AC-cable).
• How optimal is the roof layout? Perhaps one design gives a greater plant yield than another.
• Price: This is also one of the selection criteria. Asking about the prices per kilowatt peak (net) for each quotation (or calculate them yourself) will make the comparisons more reasonable.