Sitting just south of Fort Scratchley and across the road from the Newcastle Ocean Baths, Solar Newcastle – LuvSolar is proud to have recently completed the upgrade of a solar system on one of Newcastle’s most beautiful and well known homes.
The owners of the ‘Red House’ contacted LuvSolar about replacing their existing 2kW solar system with something to provide more power for their electric heating and electric vehicle charging.
Solar panel power ratings have increased a lot since the original system was installed, and LuvSolar was able to design a new 4.5kW system to fit in the location of the existing panels. This required the replacement of the the 11 x existing 190W JA modules with 9 x new 500W Trina Vertex panels.
System Installation Challenges
This site was not without its design and installation challenges. These all had to be overcome in order to install a system that would deliver on the client’s needs while minimising costs and ensuring a safe installation.
The first factor that had to be considered in the new system design was the chimney to the west of the existing system. This was creating partial shading of the the original system. This disproportionately affected power output in the afternoon. To reduce equipment costs, while addressing the partial shading, power optimisers were used in all affected panels, while a string inverter was still used as the systems main power conversion.
This design saved on equipment cost while still addressing partial shading caused by the chimney.
Due to the height of the building, to complete the system installation safely, a scaffold was required to access the roof. LuvSolar organised this as part of the service (shout-out to Troy and Dane from DnT Scaffolding for getting access arranged so quickly!)
Another of the challenges with completing this system upgrade was the flat terracotta tiles on the roof. These require a section to be ground out underneath the tile, so that the tiles can sit flat over the mounting bracket. These tiles are also quite brittle, and during the installation the team found 2 cracked tiles on the roof. These tiles were replaced for the customer during the installation free of charge with spare tiles from their garage.
While there were a few challenges associated with replacing this system, these are the jobs that we love at LuvSolar! We’re proud to have been able to work on this beautiful old house. In a single day, LuvSolar was able to remove the old system and install and commission the new system. This resulted in a more than doubling of solar power output capacity, and protected against the partial shading from the chimney. The clients were happy with the end result, and when our clients are happy we’re happy.
Check out the completed system installation in the picture below
Get in touch with us if you are looking for Newcastle solar panels, or considering solar or battery installation
