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Are you looking for an easy, environmentally-friendly way to generate your own electricity? Are you running a large-scale public, commercial or heritage building, looking to cut monetary costs and carbon emissions?


Lowe & Oliver provide dedicated solar panel planning and installation for organisations across Oxfordshire, Hampshire, and Gloucestershire. Our Solar PV scheme is an excellent way to make use of spare wall or roof space to localise and streamline your energy usage via our professional-quality, top-of-the-range, scalable renewable panels.
 

What is Solar PV?

Solar PV is an abbreviation - it stands for Solar Photovoltaics. Photovoltaic cells capture sunlight during the day and convert it into a direct current of electrical charge. Photons colliding with earth from the sun agitate electrons within a silicon mesh, creating a continuous electrical field. This photovoltaic effect continues working even in bad or overcast weather.

Nevertheless, stronger Solar PV yields will always result from clear, sunny, still days. Peak Solar PV electricity production should occur each summer. For obvious reasons, Solar PV systems will not generate electricity at night.

The resulting charge is transferred into a lithium-ion battery bank, regulated by a computerised charge controller that prevents overcharge. The stored current is then transformed into alternating current via an inverter.

AC can then be stepped and used to run any standard mains electrical device. Solar PV is a popular choice to power electrical appliances and lighting circuits. However, it can also be used in heavy industry and public buildings with a large enough array and battery bank.

Some Solar PV electrical circuits allow excess solar energy to be transformed and sold back to the National Grid at a profit. A grid connection also allows for outside sources to take over local electricity production from the Solar PV array if the battery runs down, or on low-yield days.
 

Solar PV and Solar Thermal

Solar PV should not be confused with Solar Thermal. Solar Thermal systems use a different type of solar panel to trap heat from the sun and transfer it to a boiler. However, Solar PV can be easily adapted to power an electric water heater or boiler.
 

The Benefits of Solar PV

Solar PV systems offer users many advantages over an exclusive grid connection or local combustion generator.

  • They're highly adaptable, modular, and can be produced to any size and shape a building needs. Solar panels are self-contained, requiring minimal maintenance aside from the occasional clean.
  • In contrast to oil-fuelled generators, there are no ongoing maintenance costs for solar panels. They're long-lasting, too. Solar PV panels will generate electricity for an average of 25-30 years.
  • The environmental effects of Solar PV shouldn't be discounted, either. Renewable energy means that you won't incur any fuel costs, or generate harmful emissions or distracting noise.
  • Local, carbon-neutral generation of electricity is much cheaper than buying gas-powered electricity from the National Grid. On a large installation, panels can pay for themselves through savings and resold electricity within a few years.

 

Find Out More

To find out more about the benefits of Solar PV and if it is suitable for your building, please send us a message today

 

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