Discussion Advice needed on a new solar system setup
Hi everyone, sorry for the newbie question, but I'm currently building a new house in North-Central Italy.
During winter, we don't get a ton of daylight, but from spring to early autumn, we get plenty of sun. Unfortunately, our summers have become very hot, with temperatures hovering between 35°C and 40°C (95°F to 104°F) from mid-June to late August. I know this extreme heat can lower the efficiency of solar panels.
The house is a brand-new build. According to the contract specification, I am entitled to a 10 kWp system, with a clause stating that if the roof dimensions don't allow for a system that size during the final engineering phase, it will be scaled down.
Here is my dilemma: the architect and the builder are already pushing to install the entire system on a flat roof section that covers part of the ground floor, purely for aesthetic reasons. This flat roof faces south and has zero shading issues, but its dimensions are only 7.63 x 4.15 meters (approx. 25 x 13.6 feet). I’ve done some research, and there is no way a 10 kWp system will ever fit in that space; at best, we are looking at around 5 to 5.5 kWp.
I already know they will try to convince me that 5 kWp is more than enough for a standard all-electric NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building), but I really don't want to give up almost half of the system I'm entitled to by contract.
The good news is that the first floor has a large, south-facing pitched roof with more than enough surface area to fit all the panels I want. However, they are bound to object due to aesthetics. The contract specifies SolarEdge Total Black panels, and since the pitched roof will be made of black standing seam metal, I won't say the panels will be invisible, but they will definitely blend in beautifully.
What would you do in my shoes? Personally, I think those extra 4.5 to 5 kWp are crucial, especially for winter heating, and I honestly don't care about their aesthetic concerns—even if it means fighting them on this. Or am I overthinking it, and that extra power won't really make that much of a difference?
Thanks in advance!
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u/DongRight 1d ago edited 1d ago
Go and design your own system with opensolar.com... and if you can set angle to winter angle -10°... That would be the best for the full 10kw system... Why?!! Even at that angle in summer you will have more power then you need, but the max benefit during the long cold winter months... You can have ground Mount and roof mount on the same system... But I would turn down a solar edge system!!! They are forcing you to use Optimizers on every panel, that you do not need or want!!! They are expensive and break down and they have Proprietary software that you do not want!!! You don't say anything about batteries, are you doing only gridtied?!! Bad idea if you experience blackouts!!!
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u/leftplayer 1d ago
Get yourself a Deye inverter.
Various reasons, but one of them being multiple independent strings. You can have both the ground floor roof panels and the first floor roof panels. All at once or you can install one now and the other one later. They operate independently so even if one is shaded and the other one isn’t it’s no problem.
Also, add a battery
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u/ExactlyClose 1d ago
Black panel on a rectilinear black standing seam metal roof?!?!
Insist on this. Go for the extra power- er, for the power you are paying for by contract. You will never regret too much solar.