Attempting to fit new Solar panels

[Sinewaved]

Hi guys. I'm trying to figure out how to fit 8 325w solar panels in series on a outbuilding(2002 build)at my home. It's steel framed with timber joists and a corrugated concrete roof. I would like to do all the work myself and get a sparky to check and connect it to the grid. I'm only going for 8 as it wont be a MCS certified install and want to limit the amount I send to the grid as I wont get money for it. Would be nice to get it MCS certified later, is that possible?

The outbuilding is 35m away from my meter and it has a CU in it but I think the voltage drop would be too much to install an inverter within the building so im planning on running 4mm 2-core swa(too small?) in the ground to send the DC to an inverter in my garage which is next to the meter.

I was thinking of fitting the solar panels to the roof with 10mm SS hanger bolts(would galvanized be o.k?) at the top and the bottom of the solar panels with just 6mm flat alu bar to the pre-drilled holes, should I spend the extra and use proper rails? I'm trying to do it as cheap as possible and not fussed if it takes longer/is a bit of a pain to do.

I would want to use a 3.6kw inverter so I have a chance to add panels in the future and stay below the 3.68kw allowance.

Will I have any problems doing it this way? Do I have any other option that wont cost more? Are BC going to come around and give me a big fine? Cheers

edit- Forgot to say i currently have a very small off grid system on the building that isn't being used to it full potential. Would I have to remove this?

 

[binky]

Frame rails are around £15 for 4.2m, flat bar will not do what the rails do. Max span between hangar bolts is 1.4m. Unistrut might be cheaper if you want to reinvent the wheel, and any MCS registered installer will tell you to foxtrot oscar.... There's no FiT any way. Have a read of other posts on here, I'm getting fed up of repeating the same information . If you still have questions do please post them on this thread.

 

[ProDave]

Yes Unistrut is a lot cheaper than the aluminium rails sold for panels. That's what I used for mine.

 

[Sinewaved]

Thanks for the valuable info. Going to use unistrut now.

Yea, sorry for the noob questions will have a more thorough read on the forum. Was getting a bit overwhelmed with it all and rushing into it.

 

[Sinewaved]

Hi again. Its all up and running, currently generating 150ish watts, the weather is awful LOL. Was nice to see over 3kw yesterday when the sun was out.

I just want to double check my g98 form with you guys before I send it off. I've filled it in myself and left the the
Accreditation / Qualification part blank so presume thats accepted.

I've downloaded the ena form c for my inverter and will send it off with the G98 that I have filled out.

Just not sure that I have filled the final part out right. Do i need to add more infomation about the location off the hardware and also I'm not sure about the power factor? The're are three test results varying very slightly am I ok just to enter the average or any of the test results? There is a power factor of 1 in the other test results also?

Thanks.

 

[Berserkerboy]

Yes Unistrut is a lot cheaper than the aluminium rails sold for panels. That's what I used for mine.

Me too! 2 tilt adjustable arrays built using this and 1 fixed array just using tanalised timber I had spare. 6mm swa as advised by enphase to limit voltage drop.