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The installation of 6 extra solar panels generate now 2500 Watt Peak…

After the success of my 1500 Watt with Solar Panels, I have been looking for ways to increase my electricity production. The solution is simple, just add more solar panels.

Surface area

Unfortunately there is besides my budget one more limiting factor. The amount of available surface area on my flat roof which can be used to place additional solar panels. I my case I only have 60m2 of roof surface area available. On first glance you would expect that I can then install 60m2 of solar panels, unfortunately this is not possible due to the fact that there is a minimum distance needed between the solar panels rows to prevent shade. See also my article on this subject 1500 Watt with Solar Panels. The space left for solar panels is around 20m2 (33% of my roof surface area)

There is a minimum distance needed between the solar panel rows.

Minimum distance from the roof edge

In the Netherlands there is a law regarding the positioning of solar panels. The panels need to have the same minimum distance from the roof edge as the height of the panels (only for flat roofs). This ensures that the panels are not visible when someone is looking up from street level. What a shame, they will miss the beautiful view of ultra-clean renewable power generation….

Bigger panels

To get the maximum yield out of the remaining space left on my roof, I have decided to use three larger solar panels on the back of my roof. The are located on the north-side (facing south of course) so they do not shade other panels.

Three bigger solar panels on the north-side of my roof

I have been very satisfied with the performance of the Kyocera KC125GHT 125W panels. Therefore I have chosen to use Kyocera KC190GHT panels for the larger panels on the back of my roof. These larger panels are 190 Watt Peak, around 1,5 times the amount of the smaller 125W panels. The higher yield is reached by 1,5 times more solar cells on these panels. The cells on both panels (125W and 190W) are identical and have a cell efficiency of 16%.

Maximum peak power

I have been able to two more rows of solar panels to fill all the available space on my roof. Each row consists of three panels.

My whole roof is now filled with solar panels

The photo gives the impression that there is a lot more room for additional panels. Unfortunately that roof belongs to the houses of my neighbours. After the installation of these 6 extra panels, on top of the existing 12 solar panels,  I got now the following amount of peak power: 1500W + 3 x 125W + 3 x 190W + 88W = 2533W.

Expected annual yield

The expected yield for all the panels together is around 2280 kWh / year. With the current electricity price of € 0,20 / kWh (price 2006, Netherlands) this will save me € 456 annually. However it is to be expected that the electricity price will increase the coming years due to Peak Oil. This will result in an increasing bigger saving every year.