How can independent testing by installers help to create higher quality solar power systems?

At our testing site on top of the warehouse, we have around 30 kilowatts of solar panels, a number of inverters, and batteries that we're putting through their paces. By testing the products, we ensure that they are fit for purpose and do what the manufacturer says they will do. This also helps us in training our staff and designing our installations in the best possible way. We test everything from mid-tier to better quality inverters, giving us a great facility to test and train new staff when new products come in.

<br>We're passionate about testing products before releasing them into the field, ensuring better quality in the long run. Solar is a long-term investment, and while we can't test them for 25 years, we give them a good run for a period of 12 months before release. Our testing lab helps us to ensure that we are installing products in the best possible way, leading to better quality installations and ultimately better customer satisfaction.

So our testing sites on top of our warehouse, we've got about 30 kilowatts of solar panels up on there, a number of inverters that we're testing in the room as well, and some batteries that we're running their paces as well. Manufacturers will tell you all sorts of different things about their product. The great thing about this is it allows us to install it and make sure that it does what the manufacturer says it's going to do. So we put these in here for several months before we go on install a bulk of them out in the field. It's also a really great area to come and bring all the electricians in, from before they do an installation, to come in here and see how these things are set up, see how they're wired. And for us to come up with design considerations about how we run conduit into them, how we run cables, how we mount them, all those really important things.

We're very passionate about testing products before we release them into the field. Solar is an investment for a very long time. Now, while we can't test them for 25 years, we can give them a run for you know, a good period of 12 months, for example. So we like to put them through their paces and we also like to train our own internal staff on those things before we send them out in the field. So part of that testing lab is not only to test products are fit for purpose before we release them, but to do training for our staff before we go out to do installations. In this lab, we're testing everything from what would be considered a sort of mid tier inverter, right the way through to a better quality inverter. And we believe in putting things through their paces before we send them out the field and install them on mass.