Solar Installations

Our typical residential solar power job takes us about 20-40 hours of installation time on the roof and about 10+ hours inside the house. We send highly competent technicians, so most jobs are completed in 2-4 days,  depending on the complexity of the project it can take several weeks.

Our qualified technicians conduct installations daily! We are a Customer-Centric Company and take pride in supplying high functioning solutions, irrespective of technology selected. This means you have a consistent experience with one company, all aligned on making sure you are delighted with your solar experience every step of the way.

Yes. Many customers feel that the pride and peace of mind of solar ‘pays for itself’ as soon as the system powers on. From a financial point of view, solar will recoup the outright cash investment in roughly 3 – 9 years (Grid-tied or Hybrid Technology respectively)

The Hybrid Technology will payback in less than 5 years if you are running a Generator daily. A Solar system can potentially provide a 10-fold saving in the first 25 years, if installed correctly with utility scale use in mind. 

Currently, company tax in South-Africa is 28%. With this incentive, you can deduct the value of your new solar power system as a depreciation expense from your companies’ profits. This means that your companies income tax liability will be decreased by the same value as the value of the installed solar system. The Income Tax Act, No 58 of 1962 (Act) allows a taxpayer (ie a person subject to tax in terms of the Act) to claim a deduction on the costs incurred in respect of plant, machinery, implements and articles owned by it.

In respect of photovoltaic solar energy of more than one megawatt, a taxpayer is allowed a deduction of the costs to the taxpayer, of the asset producing the electricity on a 50/30/20 basis. In other words, one is allowed a 50% deduction of costs in the first year of use, 30% in the second year and the balance in the third year of use. Where the photovoltaic solar energy system produces less than one megawatt of power, then the taxpayer is allowed a 100% deduction in the first year of use.

While the idea of cutting ties with the electric company may seem romantic, in reality, it is anything but practical except for very specific cases (generally when utility power is not available to that area and prohibitively expensive to install). To become entirely Off-Grid, requires multiple days of surplus energy stored, in case of extended cloudy and raining conditions. These additional batteries can increase the system cost, whereby you need to tackle it in stages, over time.

A standard PV system is made up of Photovoltaic (PV) panels and a solar inverter.

The PV panels transform the energy from the solar rays into Direct Current (DC), while the inverter converts the DC into Alternating Current (AC), which is the type of energy required for the traditional functioning of appliances.

Hybrid Photovoltaic Systems are composed of PV panels, an Island inverter and a solar battery, while a Grid-tied system excludes batteries and uses the Grid as the storage vehicle. The Hybrid system stores excess energy in the battery, which can then be used in the evenings, during bad weather and in cases of load shedding.

Solar power installation is a long-term investment. Depending on the size of your solar system, it can take between 5 and 8 years to pay for itself. After this period, it will save you money for the remainder of its productive life.

While a PV panel can generate power for over 40 years, the expected lifetime of a panel is between 20 to 25 years of optimal rated production.

Solar panels are made from small solar cells. The cells absorb the sunlight energy and turn it into DC (direct current) electricity. The DC electricity is then converted into AC (alternative current) electricity, by a device called the inverter, and is fed to your internal power grid which operates on AC electricity.

The size of the system you need depends on several factors: how much electricity you use, how much money are you willing to invest and what is the size of your roof. You should also consider if you want solar energy to meet all your energy needs or just a portion of them.

Typically, solar panels require very little maintenance. If rain doesn’t do the job, you can spray them with a hose a few times per year. You should make sure that there is nothing piled up on top of the solar panels which could block them from the sun. Ideally you should check with your installer about maintenance requirements, if any.

Roof mounted solar panels are generally less expensive because they do not require support structures. You also make use of otherwise unutilized space on your roof. On the other hand, ground mounted panels are a good option if your roof is not suitable for solar panels. Plus, solar panels installed on the ground can be tilted and adjusted to the sun which may increase efficiency.

Simply put – the sooner you get solar, the sooner you will enjoy its benefits! If you wait for some unproven technology down the road, you will have missed the opportunity to generate and use your own power now. Solar Panels have already dropped 99% in price over the last 4 decades as exports double, so efficiencies of scale have already been met. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181120073818.htm)

Solar is like saving for retirement – the sooner you start doing it, the better. If you want to benefit from future technologies, ensure your system is well designed by professionals to allow for expansion and modifications to your system over time

In South Africa, the ideal roof orientation is Solar North, but can be placed North East or North West, with slight reduction in power generation. Within this range, power output stays within 10 or 15 percent of maximum. Even more easterly and westerly roof installations are viable, especially on shallower roofs. For example, a flat roof that is due east or due west still achieves 77% of a system’s potential performance. More important than angle, generally, is shading. We don’t want to see any shading on a solar roof from 9 am to 3 pm, year-round. Technological improvements such as micro-inverters can compensate for shading issues to some extent. The best way to know for certain if your roof is viable for solar is to contact us for a free solar evaluation.

Every kilowatt of the solar array takes about 7 – 8 m2 depending on roof angle and spacing requirements. Therefore, a typical 3kW array (consisting of twelve panels) will take a roof area about 22m2 – 24m2, or 4m tall by 6m wide (two rows of six).

That varies from home to home (or business to business) based on energy usage, solar exposure, and the size of the building, alongside a few other factors. For a very quick estimate of your particular need, send us your electricity bill for an estimation. For a more exact estimate, follow that up with a chat with one of our System Design Specialists.

As people have converted more aspects of their life to solar (e.g. running heating, cooling, and electric cars) the number of panels we install in the typical system has increased as well. In 2018, the average # of panels installed for residential systems was 25.

Yes! Several studies demonstrate that solar homes are worth more money and sell more quickly due to the additional value that the home provides. To accurately determine how much Solar has increased the value of your home, will be dependent on many other variables such as price bracket, location etc.

Solar power inverters are relatively quiet – emitting about as much noise as a refrigerator. They are generally installed in utility rooms, Pantry or basements alongside existing mechanical systems, rather than in living spaces.

Solar Panel Manufacturers test their products to ensure that they are capable of withstanding hail storms. The Conclusion: Hail may be an impressive Physical force, but solar panels are well-equipped to withstand impacts even from very large Hailstones.

While hail can damage some types of thin film solar panels, the likelihood is very small, and occurrences are extremely rare. Many solar-electric modules and solar hot water collectors are made with tempered glass. The substrate is a flexible, plastic material and highly resistant to impact damage from rocks or hail.

Solar electricity is identical to grid power, so you will never notice that the house is running on solar power. What you will see, of course, is a smaller electric bill!

Most areas in South Africa average more than 2 500 hours of sunshine per year, and average solar-radiation levels range between 4.5 and 6.5kWh/m2 in one day. Receiving over 300 sunny days per year in South Africa will allow you to maximize the benefits of Solar Power. Each Kilowatt of Solar Panels installed will produce upwards of 1350 – 1650 kWh/year of electricity. With our energy auditing software, we use professional solar survey tools to assess if shade or off-axis issues will affect your system performance, and present an independently verifiable production element in your system proposal.

When the grid power goes down, the grid-tied solar electric system goes down, too. This is to prevent any accidental back-feeding of solar electricity to the grid which might endanger line-workers. However, a new generation of battery backup technology is revolutionizing Energy Storage, providing clean backup power in event of a power outage. See Super Capacitor Batteries for more information.