Andy Wood | Surrey

Another 5* review from one of our clients

When it comes to choosing a solar panel installer – keep reading to learn all about Andy’s experience with us!

“What a great team! I was referred to sonnen and SolarCentric by my energy supplier, Shell Energy. A couple of very friendly and helpful Zoom calls enabled me to take a quick decision on a combined PV panel and battery storage installation including iBoost and Tigo panel optimisers which allow monitoring of individual panel performance.

Despite coinciding with the second national COVID lockdown, the installation went ahead in November more or less as planned and was successfully commissioned without any hiccups.
Everyone involved who handled the contract, admin and installation were highly efficient and friendly and conveyed a real passion for renewable energy.

The subcontractors employed by SolarCentric were also very professional, especially the electrician who worked very long hours to get everything wired up correctly.

The wealth of data provided by the sonnen app as well as the Tigo optimisers will keep me happily occupied through the dark winter months until spring – and the day I can turn on my solar water heating booster.

Many thanks all round.”

We are delighted to hear you were so happy with our service. It was great working with you, Andy!

Keen to try and get their house to allow a low carbon footprint, Michael Hominick and his family worked with us to install Solar PV and a sonnen battery into their beautiful home in Wokingham Berkshire.

As well as wanting to generate their own power to save money instead of purchasing from the grid, their reasons for investing in renewable energy was primarily a green one.

Michael said: My reasons for making an environmental stand is simply due to the dangerous rate of climate change, the whole world needs to be doing more and I feel the country does need to move quicker towards electrification. I wanted to go ahead with this project because it’s about being able to do our bit for the environment.

When I got the phone call from SolarCentric, I had a really good experience and then on the Zoom call, there was a 3D render of the house where we were able to discuss efficiency of the panels and work through what my options and preferences were, so I was very pleased with the consultation.

“Everything happened the way you guys said it would, even in lockdown without the face to face visit, it all worked really well”

Michael explained what his favourite feature was from his new system and said he really likes monitoring how much the battery is charging during different times of the day. Michael can see how much power is being used overnight when the sun is not shining and optimise how much he can draw from the battery.

When asked about his children’s understanding of their new eco-friendly system and what it means to educate our next generation, Michael proudly said:

They are really excited about it as well as myself! They are only little, so I explain in simple terms of course, but they understand how different energy is used and I have shown them how the panels work and they are really excited about it which is sweet. We walk rather than drive to school as well, so we really do try and get these habits established early with our children and it’s nice to think they will grow up in a house that is solar powered.

Overall, I have to say the service was excellent and the after care, I am already in discussions about upgrading my battery with SolarCentric for various reasons and I know the team are there to see that through, so that’s really good.

Excellent end to end service!

Peter Gilbert and his partner connected with SolarCentric to action their green ambitions to create a more energy efficient home. Since leaving their last house to build a sustainable home, their entire objective has been to keep their running cost down and lower the environmental impact. Their past experience with properties has definitely taught them the importance of saving energy for future financial security and how to do it an environmentally safe way.

Peter said: We always had our mind set on creating our own home one day and putting as much renewable materials into it, so this has been a fulfilling experience. My friend also inspired me with his own new build, but we were determined to put renewable technology into our property in order to keep our running cost down and have it benefit the environment.

With the help of SolarCentric, we now have 29 solar panels, (as our house is very large) and we have a SolarEdge inverter, all the power optimisers and a Sonnen battery.

“SolarCentric’s service was very professional, everything was structured and executed appropriately and the support we’ve had so far has been great”

With their green system, they have only bought 7% from the grid, this is an impressive amount and evident that they are achieving their goals and capitalising their renewable energy system.

He said: What’s great about these green products is that so far, we have not taken hardly any power from the grid. It looks like we will be self-sufficient in the summer and we will probably export half of what we generate. It’s always difficult to know and estimate properly in the winter, but nonetheless our battery is running our heat pump and we know it is generating enough water for the both of us.

“What really pushed us to create a green home was our previous house, it was run down, leaking and we ended up spending £3,000 and were never warm! But because of SolarCentric, our smart home won’t have that problem”

Recently our house was air tested and the installation beat two passing houses in our street, so in that respect we are really looking forward to the wintertime to see how well our system performs.

Overall, we were very happy with SolarCentric’s easy and approachable service and faultless installation process. We would definitely give them a 10!

Many will know Grand Designs as the longest and most highly acclaimed property show in the UK, hosted by Kevin McCloud, a former theatre designer with an eye for sustainable and minimalistic architecture. In every episode, you are guaranteed extravagant, unusual and often ambitious architectural projects.

If you’re a die-hard Grand Designs fan and fanatic about green homes, be sure to catch Tony and Aras Searby’s property from Henley-on-Thames. You will find SolarCentric making an appearance also, featuring our partnership with the eco-friendly couple to install an efficient-energy system for their state-of-the-art homebuilding project.

The foundations
Showcasing their grand design, Tony and Aras will take us through the progression of their self-build from start to finish, noting all the groundwork and creative elements within their budget. The site will exhibit all the sustainable materials involved, with our Solar PV system being one of them.

The panels that were installed will be displayed on their very flat and extremely spacious roof, the couple explained how SolarCentric shared the same vision and really took on board all the elements that were required:

Tony and Aras said: “The two things that have been faultless with SolarCentric was the cost and communication. SolarCentric have been helpful in both installing the system for us and negotiating some very good discounts with various suppliers for the solar panels and the Sonnen battery.”

An environmentally safe haven
The house is now completed to their green standard and they express how talking through everything with SolarCentric and getting a coordinated system together was crucial for their resourceful home.

Tony and Aras said: “The main product was the solar panels which are currently hidden on our flat roof. The design element worked really well, despite an angled roof being more sufficient to attract sunlight, we do have a lot of space on our roof, so it was important for us to have more panels than usual.”

Their response to the system was very positive, they mentioned how the system uses electricity effectively and gave us 10 out of 10 for our service and for taking their budget into much consideration.

“SolarCentric have been so easy to connect with throughout this entire process which has been very reassuring, and we absolutely feel that SolarCentric took on all the elements that were required for this project.”

It has been a pleasure working with the energy-efficient couple and we look forward to seeing their innovative and revolutionary design on the big screen soon.

David and Tussie Myerson have always had a leaning towards environmental issues, they are open to the fact that they are by no means at the extreme of the movement, but nonetheless, they wanted to make sure that any comforts would be managed by a renewable and sustainable resource. Honoured to have been part of their energy-efficient journey, this is what the forward-thinking couple had to say about their experience with SolarCentric:

“With the way that energy prices are likely to go, we feel that we have gone a long way to protect our future finances as well as protecting the environment”

SolarCentric were incredibly helpful in advising and liaising with all the partners across the system. The solar roof and battery wall were accompanied by charge points for electric vehicles, ASHP for underfloor heating, an MVHR system to maximise the efficiency of the system and a rainwater harvesting roof, so there is no gas coming into our house. More than this, the partnering team with battery supplier Sonnen, ensured that we had an integrated system installed.

“We have to praise the whole team at SolarCentric for the responsiveness and professionalism involved”

To be part of the SolarCentric scheme was very exciting, as we were aware that we were pushing the boundaries by installing a new 3-phase system, but we love the way in which the system can benefit and maximise the use of technology and the environment, which also gives us real-time access to information via various apps. Not to mention the real benefits of cost savings and maximising the way in which the energy is used in the house or put in/taken out of the grid at the right time. Just a huge thank you to SolarCentric who were instrumental to the whole project, we know we would not have been able to achieve the end result without them driving the various parts and staying on top of it.

“The quality of the workmanship was superb, we can’t fault it – the installation was painless and it all just, happened”

SolarCentric made themselves available at all times and have been key to the whole project. We were fortunate to be building a house from scratch, so we were able to integrate the panels in a way where they are not even seen from the road. That said, the array can be seen from higher buildings around and they look great. We are now somewhat obsessed with the data we are getting off the apps and look forward to sunny and gloomy days alike. It’s satisfying to know that our solar roof and battery wall are quietly taking care of our CO2 footprint and creating the energy we need to live our life.

We really have to give SolarCentric ten out of ten from beginning to end and would happily recommend them to anyone looking to install a system like ours.