Our picks
Every part on this page is one we fit on our own sites. Our best option for most projects is a Huawei inverter with LONGi back-contact panels, protected by ABB, CHINT and SUNTREE switchgear and wired in copper from Yazaki and LINK. Below is the reason behind each choice, and the alternatives we trust.
Looking for prices? Members can download the price list. Not a member yet? Ask through a consultation.
Inverters
The right brand depends on the site: roof shading, phase balance, battery plans and budget.
The inverter is the heart of a solar system.
It turns the DC power from the panels into the AC power your home or business uses, decides when to charge the battery or draw from the grid, and shuts the system down safely when something is wrong. It is also the part most likely to need attention over 20 years, so we choose on service first and price second.
Our first choice · 5 kW to 100 kW
Huawei is the inverter on most of our sites. What we love most is the service system behind it. We can submit a ticket directly to Huawei, no matter where your installer or supplier is, and you are treated as Huawei's own customer.
If a unit has to be claimed, Huawei delivers the replacement to your door and collects the faulty one for investigation.
Shaded and complex roofs
We love the optimizers, which let every panel work at its own best, and the long warranty. The monitoring app is excellent.
Homes with uneven loads
We love how it supports an unbalanced system at home, where the three phases carry different loads, and its practical remote app.
Microinverter
We love its safety and durability. Each panel has its own small inverter, so there is no high-voltage DC cable running across the roof.
Microinverter
A long-term warranty and a worry-free option for owners who want to fit it and forget it.
Energy management
Once the brand we loved most, and still one of the most comprehensive for energy management. Its one weak point, in our experience, is the support system for claims and inverter repairs.
Solar panels
The newest step in a long line of improvements. Here is how panels got to this point.
Each generation of solar panel has turned a little more of the same sunlight into electricity.
Our standard panel
HPBC stands for Hybrid Passivated Back Contact, the technology in LONGi's Hi-MO X10 range. With no busbars on the front, more light reaches the cell and the panel has a clean, all-black face.
It gives high output per panel, so the same system needs fewer panels, fewer roof fixings and less cable. It also copes better when part of a panel is shaded by a tree, a pole or a neighbouring roof.
Also installed
ABC stands for All Back Contact, used in AIKO's Neostar range. Both the positive and negative contacts sit on the back of the cell, leaving the front completely clear.
It is among the most efficient panels available for rooftops, and handles partial shading well, which suits small or awkward roofs where every square metre counts.
Breakers
Sized to the cable and the inverter on every circuit, DC and AC.
A breaker is cheap until the day it has to work. This is the wrong place to save money.
Surge protection (SPD)
Fitted in the DC and AC boxes, with a proper earth.
An inverter is electronics. Surge protection costs a small fraction of the inverter it saves.
Automatic transfer switch (ATS)
Used where a site has backup power, a generator or more than one supply.
The ATS is a safety device as much as a convenience. We size it to the site, not to a price list.
Cable and fuses
Copper throughout, sized to keep losses low.
Cable is hidden once the job is finished, which is exactly why it is the first place cheap installations cut.
Enclosures
For the AC and DC combiner boxes beside the inverter.
The box keeps water, dust and hands away from live parts for the life of the system.
Test instruments
What we measure with matters as much as what we install.
Every system is tested before handover and at each maintenance visit.
Supply
Installers and owners can order any of these parts through Solar ESS, with advice on sizing included. We do not publish prices here. Members can download our current price list with their password. Not a member yet? Book a consultation and ask for one.
kris@solar-ess.org
063 151 6694 · 089 429 6832