DAIKIN Heat Pump yearly check up

Tuesday, we had our yearly Daikin heat pump check up, performed by the same company who did its installion back in 2008
With the rain, the technician decided not to go up on the roof and did not see the external main unit, and we will have to re-schedule an appointment for that part; He did clean & check the 5 internal units though, which is half of the job

I should have an SMA Sunny Boy 3000 Inverter installed soon

I recently talked to my solar contractor and since his home made grid tie inverter is delayed for now, he proposed to install a regular inverter few weeks ago, and last tuesday, he said it would be an SMA SunnyBoy 3000 (with galvanic transformer)
If you remember, bmy Uni-Solar PVL124 and PVL68 had been installed on the building zinc roof back in october ...
We talked a lot about the details, junction box, Wattson sensors, integration of my LiFePO4 ESS, etc
We are now waiting for the bad weather to go away  !!  :-)

Solar Panels Installation - 13 Uni-Solar PVL 124W 68W 31W

Today is the Big Day !

When I woke up, I discovered a very clear blue sky (what a relief !)

I had to take my day off to be there when it happens, but still I could not sleep anymore 

I checked right away and noticed that the forecast had not changed :-) and that it should be a nice day (all day)

My contractor called me to tell me he would come with one or two employees from another project nearby to help him out here and that he should show up right after lunch break so that the roof would be dry

And now they are here, the boss and one employee, on the roof installing the panels :-)

My last recommandations given showing pictures of the roof (from the sky) & Uni-Solar PVL technical documentation, ...

... my wife and I helped them passing the panels to put all of them on the roof

The ladder and opening to access to the roof

They installed some safety ropes between the chimney stacks

and started cleaning and scrubbing the the zinc so that the tar would stick better

It is getting hot on top of this roof in direct sun :-)

More pictures taken by my contractor:

All this was installed in only two hours and the employee told me it was the first time he installed this kind of panels and that it was easy

The PVL 68W and PVL 124W have been placed on either side of the U shaped building roof, avoiding attic air conduits, East and  West, in two strings of 3 68W and 3 124W; The additional small 31W has been added to the East chain

Here is a particular problem I was afraid of: the zinc sheets, overlapping each other, create a bump; I ask my contractor to be extra carefull at these points and not to try to put too much pressure on them because it would damage the solar panels ... He followed my advice and did better: he added a some silicone sealant between the zinc and the panel, blocking water and sticking this part too, which is a good idea :-)

Closer look at the nice result
I know, we have a lot of shade from the chimney stack, because winter is coming ..., but these panels are working do not really need direct sun to work well, they are fine with a white/grey sky
Also, if the shade is really bad, the cells affected are automatically shunted (each cell has a diode for that prupose), allowing better current flow only in sunny cells 

Awesome ! I am very happy with the job they accomplished :-)

Now I will have to be patient because their "Super" inverter is not ready yet, butI think it is worth the wait (I talked about it with the boss for an hour after the employee was gone)

Their website: Ecogelec

Sweaty Sunday ... Taking my 13 Uni-Solar Panels upstairs

This sunday I sweated a lot !! taking my 13 Uni-Solar Panels from the basement all the up to the 5th floor ... no elevator here, so 6 stories up and down
I was preparing for their installation on the building zinc roof the next day
After weeks of cold and bad weather, when I saw the sunny forecast of the next week, I insisted that my contrator comes to install themn, and saturday he talk to him on the phone and he said he could come monday ...

Paris - Hausmannian Building with a Uni-Solar Solar Panels Roof

Few years ago, as I started getting interested in Uni-Solar PVL flexible solar panels for our building, I found this quite unique project in Paris, 10 rue de la Boétie, 8th discrict, not far from Champs Elysees ...

They removed the existing zinc roof (traditionnal roofing in Paris and surroundings on older buidlings) and used Rheinzink (already made) metal roofing sheets with Uni-Solar PVL68 applied onto them

For me this is very important because it is a upscale and historical district and it has been approved by Architectes des batiments de France, the key to have this kind of building modification done; I think it is due to the fact that these 4mm very flat panels do not affect the visual aspect of the building from the street

More info about this project here, translated by Google    /  Project French link