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Toby is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Engensa. Toby leads our procurement and installation teams and has responsibility for the operational side of Engensa's business. He has experience working for General Electric building their renewable energy business in Munich nestled in the heartland of the German solar industry. Prior to GE, Toby worked for New Energy Finance in London. Toby has a BA and MSci in Physics from Cambridge and a PhD in solar technology from Imperial College, London
Meet a Happy SunRoof (Free Solar) Customer
14 May 2011
As we ramp up the number of installations we do under our pioneering free solar scheme, we thought we'd start to showcase the customers that are benefiting from it. First up are Mr and Mrs Hallett who have kindly given us their permission to be profiled.
Like many SunRoof customers, the Hallett's had been thinking about solar energy for a long time. The problem was that even with the Feed-in tariffs there, meeting the large up front cost of the solar panels didn't fit with their financial plans. Our SunRoof program means that the Hallett's now...
Matching your inverter to the number of panels
07 May 2011
Understanding how to design a PV system is not rocket science, but it is more complex than many people consider. Here’s a very quick overview of the important points.
Solar panels produce direct current (DC). This means you need an inverter to turn that electricity into mains frequency alternating current (AC). Inverters come in a range of power ratings. The more solar panels you have, the more power the inverter has to deal with, so its capacity and cost increases. It’s very important to correctly match the capacity of the inverter to the number of solar panels.
If...
Solar energy is the world’s largest energy resource… by far
25 Apr 2011
One of the biggest objections to solar energy that I hear, especially in the UK, is the belief that there just isn't much energy from the sun. Many people harbour the misconception that the amount of energy we get from the sun is not very significant, and that it is not a 'real' energy source like nuclear, coal, or even offshore wind. If you look at the numbers, you can clearly see that this couldn't be further from the truth. The sun is the world's largest energy source by far - and this applies in the UK...
How much power are we getting with all this sunshine?
The amazing weather over the last few days has produced some great performances from our customer's solar energy systems. We have measured the solar intensity get up to 1000 watts per square meter on a number of days - this means the panels are delivering their rated output capacity. Over this period our customers are unlikely to be paying for any daytime electricity whatsoever.
Sunny days are interesting as they allow us to study our installations closely and see if they are performing above or below expected. In particular, we can see the effect of...
Ha-ha! Now that’s a funny place to put some solar panels…
18 Apr 2011
Do you know what a ha-ha is? I must confess my ignorance in not having been familiar with this term before. As I found out, the term actually comes from garden landscaping and Wikipedia describes a ha-ha as follows;
"Ha-ha is a term in garden design that refers to a trench in which one side is concealed from view, designed not to interrupt the view from a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, while maintaining a physical barrier at least in one direction, usually to keep livestock out."
Well there you have it. A ha-ha recently came to our...
Recent blog posts
- What’s the deal with the Green Deal? A how-to guide for homeowners
08 May 2012
- Solar and your mortgage: a guide to a smooth installation
25 Apr 2012
- Engensa welcomes the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Government’s appeal over FiTs
27 Mar 2012
- Engensa Launches Solar24!!
03 Mar 2012
- Phase 2 of FiTs Consultation Released Today: Further Cuts Coming This Summer
09 Feb 2012