Harnessing the sun s energy to power our future.

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1 Installing a well designed Solar Matters PV system on your property or building will protect you from increasing electricity prices, increase the value of the property, and help keep our environment clean. Solar System Performance Solar power systems performance will vary according to the amount and intensity of the sun. The UK receives ample amounts of daylight each year and this results in solar system performance that is up with the best locations worldwide. High electricity prices Electricity prices are currently quite high and forecast to increase significantly in the near future. With a Solar Matters PV system on your property or building you will be completely protected from rising electricity costs. As electricity costs rise, you will be saving an ever increasing amount, boosting your return on investment. Your Property Value International data shows that homes with reduced running costs appreciate faster and have a higher overall value on the real estate market. A Solar Matters PV system will reduce or eliminate your home s electricity bill and therefore your property or building will demand a higher value on the market. The A Solar Matters PV system is completely silent, motionless, and clean. Solar power systems reduce transmission line losses and the strain of peak loading on infrastructure. They can also directly offset the need for large power plants being constructed. Installing a Solar Matters PV system allows you to make a smart investment in your property, a positive impact on the national electricity infrastructure, and a long term positive impact on the environment.

2 Stay Connected Your building stays attached to the grid so you always have electricity available when you need it. Batteries are not required, although can be implemented if chosen, and there are no limitations to the items you can power. You can install a system size that best suits your property and budget. If at any time you need more electricity than your solar system is generating, the grid will provide it. 2. Solar Panels Your solar panels will generate clean electricity from sunrise until sunset. The only required input is sunlight. There are no moving parts, no emissions, no noise, and no fuel. Beautifully simple, reliable, and efficient. 3. Grid Connected Inverter A grid connected inverter efficiently converts solar electricity for use in your building and controls the flow between your building and the grid. It also stores and displays this information for you to view. 4. Metering A generation meter measures the flow of electricity from your panels into your building and out to the grid, the same as your current meter will measure the electricity flow into your building from the grid. At the end of each billing period, you will be charged for electricity imported from the grid, and credited for electricity produced and used or exported. 5. No Changes Your property s electric systems stay the same and you can continue to use all of your appliances whenever you desire. The only change you will notice is the reduction or elimination of your monthly power bill. Where mains power is unavailable, unreliable or prone to brown out, a simple inverter/ battery system with solar PV charging can ensure you are never without power. This can be to provide sufficient power for the complete property, or simply a reduced load until the power is restored.

3 Whats are PhotoVoltaics? PhotoVoltaic systems convert solar energy from the sun directly into electricity. This is a renewable form of energy production, and many electric power needs (short of industrialscale loads) can be met by an appropriately designed and installed PhotoVoltaic (PV) system. Who uses Photovoltaic (PV) systems? PhotoVoltaics are a very rapidly growing global technology with wide-spread applications. Homeowners, businesses, governments, local bodies, and non-profit organisations throughout the world use PhotoVoltaic panels to provide electricity for their needs. Users are found in rural, suburban and urban areas. What are PhotoVoltaic (PV) cells? The basic unit of a PhotoVoltaic system is the PhotoVoltaic cell. PhotoVoltaic cells can convert light into direct current (DC) electricity. They are usually made of silicon with traces of other elements. In practice, PhotoVoltaic cells are grouped into modules, which are sealed units of convenient size for handling. Modules in turn can be grouped into panels, which can then be grouped themselves. Disadvantages of PhotoVoltaic Solar cells produce DC current, which must be converted to AC current (using an inverter) to be used in existing distribution systems. Solar electricity is not available at night and is less available in cloudy weather conditions. Therefore, a storage or complementary power system is required.

4 Do Solar Systems Make Financial Sense? Solar Matters grid connected solar systems will reduce your electricity expense and add value to your home or business. Measuring the financial value of both of these qualities is relatively straight forward, and the methods and results are widely supported. Reduced Electricity Expenses A well designed solar system will last in excess of 25 years with little maintenance. Each year the system will produce a predictable amount of electricity. Since sunlight is the only input needed you will never have to pay for the electricity produced by your solar system. The UK Government have introduced an initiative called Feed-In Tarrifs (FITs), designed to encourage us all to invest in generating our own electricity. To provide this incentive, the Feed-In tarrif pays us an amount, roughly three times the amount of cost price, for every unit of power that we generate. This is paid whether we use the power for our own needs, or whether we don t, and therefore export the surplus into the grid, for which we get paid a supplementary amount. The Feed-In payments are destined to be provided for a period of 25 years, however a typical Solar Matters PV installation has a pay-back period of only 7 8 years. This means that for roughly 17 or 18 Years, your investment is generating a profit, at rates far exceeding the returns available on even the best investments available today, whilst helping to keep our planet safe. All this with without placing any constraints on your lifestyle.

5 Solar Energy Produces No Greenhouse Gases or Pollution Producing electricity using solar energy emits no greenhouse gases, emits no pollution, and uses no fossil fuels. When you invest in solar power for your property, you are directly offsetting the need for electricity from Coal or Gas fired and/or Nuclear power plants. Energy Payback It takes energy to build a solar panel. Solar Matters PV panels have some of the quickest energy payback periods within the industry. They take approximately months to generate enough electricity to repay the energy it took to build them. Given their long life expectancy of over 40 years, the majority of the panel s life will be used to generate environmental impact free electricity. Even if a panel failed right at the end of its warrantied life span of 25 years, it would still have generated 17 times the energy it took to produce it. They are, however, likely to last in excess of 40 years. Energy Conservation By the time electricity reaches your building from the power station where it is generated, it has typically lost between 5% and 15% of its energy. This is because there is resistance within the power lines which creates heat, resulting in a loss of power over distance. Losses increase over greater distances and with larger amounts of electricity transported from the source. Solar electricity is generated on site at your property or building and therefore does not have the same losses associated with transferring power over the utility lines. Transmission Lines Solar power directly offsets the need for building large power plants and upgrading the existing grid structure, because the bulk of your electricity requirement is generated on site. The grid remains in place but does not require expensive alterations to be able to transmit increasing amounts of power from distant sources. Solar Miles We import almost all of our solar panels and inverters from Europe. Our manufacturing partners adhere to the highest environmental standards and take every effort to reduce the impact of their processes. For example, our solar panels are shipped without cardboard boxes or polystyrene. We take every effort to source all other materials locally to limit the distance that the manufactured goods have to travel to the end user.

6 1. What components make a solar system? - You will need solar modules, a regulator, an inverter, batteries, array frames and cabling. 2. How much will it cost to set up a solar system? - Currently between approximately per kilowatt. 3. Can I just run selected items on solar and other appliances on the mains national grid? - Yes but it is not recommended due to the structure of the Feed-In tariffs. 4. How do batteries work? - If used, batteries store the energy from the sun for later use. 5. Who can install a system for me? - If you wish to take advantage of the Feed-In tarrif, then your system must be installed by a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) registered and accredited installer. Solar Matters are such an installer. 6. How many solar modules / panels will I need? - First we would need to complete a survey and discuss your budgets, so that we can get an understanding of your power consumption. We can then design the optimum system for you. 7. What is grid connect? - Grid connect allows you to plug into the sun and convert sunlight into grid-standard electricity. When the solar system generates more power than your household uses, any excess electricity flows into the grid effectively spinning your electric meter backwards, and building a credit against your electricity bill. 8. Can I incorporate solar and wind power together? - Yes, solar, wind and hydro power can be combined, and Solar Matters are well placed to provide all of the information and assistance that you need to achieve such a goal. 9. How long will the solar modules / panels last? - Most modules have an output warranty of 25 years, although modules can last longer than this timeframe. 10. Doesn t PV technology need bright sunshine to work properly? - The electrical output of PV solar panels is dependent upon the intensity of the light to which they are exposed. So PV cells will tend to generate more electricity on bright days than when skies are overcast. However, PhotoVoltaics do not need to be in direct sunlight to work, so even on overcast days PV solar cells will be generating some electricity. 11. Is PV suitable for use in cooler climates, such as the UK? - In the UK, we get 60% of the sunlight received at the equator - so there is still a lot of potential solar photovoltaic energy available. PV has been used in the UK for over 20 years or more for many applications, particularly in remote areas where grid connection is impractical, such as weather monitoring stations, marine navigation aids, etc. A modest sized domestic grid connected system, will provide a substantial proportion of a building s electricity needs, for over 6 months of the year. Installations on commercial buildings are particularly suitable, meeting the daytime demands of an office. Over 1.5 MW of building integrated PV is already installed within the UK.

7 For more information on what Solar Matters can do for you, please contact us: By Telephone By By Post 20 Woodside Place Charing Cross Glasgow G3 7QF Visit Us Online