{"id":253298,"date":"2023-03-16T15:43:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T13:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=129948"},"modified":"2023-03-16T15:43:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T13:43:56","slug":"how-to-reduce-the-pain-of-your-solar-panels-being-stolen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/how-to-reduce-the-pain-of-your-solar-panels-being-stolen\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Reduce the Pain of your Solar Panels being Stolen"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Insider tips to buying Solar Panels<\/li>\n<li>What to do if you intend to \u2018expand\u2019 later<\/li>\n<li>Why we cannot \u2018just add another panel\u2019 to an installation<\/li>\n<li>Talk to your insurance company before doing any solar installation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/\"><strong>Solar panels<\/strong><\/a> are a commodity that can be stolen \u2013 often clients fail to see any missing and only discover their loss after interrogating their system as to why the expected yield is so low.<\/p>\n<p><strong>First let\u2019s look at a few reasons why you cannot just replace a stolen solar panel with just any solar panel:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most inverters are MPPT. MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracking is an algorithm included in charge controllers used for extracting maximum available power from PV modules under certain conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Most inverters for domestic use have two MPPT\u2019s and the solar panels will be connected in two strings to the inverter.<\/p>\n<p>Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems generate electricity via the photovoltaic effect \u2013 whenever sunlight knocks electrons loose in the silicon materials that make up solar PV cells. It follows then that any shading will reduce the output of any solar panel. In fact in his book, Renewable Energy and Efficient Electric Power Systems, Stanford University\u2019s Gil Masters demonstrates how shading just one out of 36 cells in a small solar module can reduce total power output by as much as 75%.<\/p>\n<p>The shading on a single solar panel is the \u201cweakest link,\u201d reducing all the remaining cells\u2019 power availability. By the same token if you have 6 Solar Panels in a string and one is stolen then that \u201cweakest link\u201d will pull down the entire strings production \u2013 a chain is only as strong as it\u2019s weakest link.<\/p>\n<p>Electricity production from solar panels degrade by around 1% per year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>That follows then that when purchasing Solar Panels you have to be very cogniscant of:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure that all solar panels are of the same make, type and size<\/li>\n<li>Make sure that all solar panels are manufactured at the same time<\/li>\n<li>Make sure that you have NO shading on any part of the strings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Any deviation from the above will lead to a compromise of production which, over many years, will cost you lots of money in failed production.<\/p>\n<p>If one or more of your Solar Panels is stolen then you need to make sure that your system is covered along with the Solar Panels.<\/p>\n<p>Insurance companies differ in how they will approach a claim for stolen solar panel\/s with some saying that if they cannot replace with the same then they will replace ALL, whilst others say that they will replace with the closest to the original. What these companies have not factored in is the degradation of 1% per year and still need to take into consideration that in the space of 10 years generally available solar panel sizes have increased from 180 watts to 550 watts.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>WHAT TO DO IN CASE YOUR SOLAR PANELS ARE STOLEN?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cWhen purchasing your system buy another 3 or 4 solar panels \u2013 of the same type, wattage and date of manufacture of those installed \u2013 to keep in storage. And, if the dreaded thieves make off with a few of your panels then you can at least come to an arrangement with your insurance company to \u2018sell\u2019 your spares to them,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/\"><strong>Straton Solar<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_129949\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-129949\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/trades.co.za\/a\/straton-solar\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"463\" class=\"wp-image-129949 size-full lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/how-to-reduce-the-pain-of-your-solar-panels-being-stolen.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-129949 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/how-to-reduce-the-pain-of-your-solar-panels-being-stolen.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"463\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-129949\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Be very aware of the weakest link theory when purchasing, adding to or replacing solar panels. Photo: Straton Solar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Video:<\/strong> How to Reduce the Pain of your Solar Panels being Stolen<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CNTSSagaKZE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/How%20to%20Reduce%20the%20Pain%20of%20your%20Solar%20Panels%20being%20Stolen\/2\/\">Boilerplate and Editor\u2019s Notes<\/a><\/strong>.<br \/><strong>More Info on <a href=\"https:\/\/straton.co.za\/solar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">How to Reduce the Pain of your Solar Panels being Stolen<\/a> here:<\/strong><br \/><strong>Twitter<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MyPE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/MyPE<\/a><br \/><strong>Facebook<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StratonElectrical\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StratonElectrical\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/save-with-myprs-monthly-flat-fee\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Press Release Views since 1 July 2022:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">51<\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/how-to-reduce-the-pain-of-your-solar-panels-being-stolen\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Insider tips to buying Solar Panels What to do if you intend to \u2018expand\u2019 later Why we cannot \u2018just add another panel\u2019 to an installation Talk to your insurance company before doing any solar installation Solar panels are a commodity that can be stolen \u2013 often clients fail to see any missing and only discover [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3331,18,3332,9021,3330,3336,1],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-253298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-town","8":"category-durban","9":"category-johannesburg-south-africa","10":"category-mypr","11":"category-port-elizabeth","12":"category-pretoria-south-africa","13":"category-south-africa","14":"tag-mypr","15":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/how-to-reduce-the-pain-of-your-solar-panels-being-stolen.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}