Solar Power Installation

Home and needs assessment

First up, a ZEN Energy solar consultant will get to understand what you want to achive with solar energy. This is the basis for all design and specification work moving forward.

As a part of this we will assess your home for its suitability for solar. This includes checking the type, angle and orientation of your roof, how much sunlight will hit your panels, how much electricity you will need and how much you can expect to generate.

This assessment will help to inform what kind of solar power system you may need, any changes you may need to make prior to installation and, ultimately, whether your home and your needs are right for solar.

Solar design and proposal development

Your ZEN Energy solar consultant will work with ZEN's design team to develop the best options, suited to your specific needs. This includes solar panel layout, inverter and battery selection (as appropriate), solar generation estimates and any further site specific details.

Once this work is complete, your ZEN Energy solar consultant will be back in touch to organise a full review of your proposals.

Solar design and proposal review

The exciting part! Your ZEN Energy solar consultant will walk you through your custom proposals and designs from ZEN Energy. This is a collaborative effort, so there will be plenty of opportunity for you to ask questions, learn, understand, and ultimately, decide you future with solar energy.

There is plenty to go through, but your ZEN solar consultant is an expert at simplifying the complicated and explaining what your solar energy options will and won't do for you.

A part of this review is running through your propoased new solar energy equipment:

• The photovoltaic panels
• The rack which the panels are mounted on
• The inverter(s) your system includes
• Any solar storage options you have
• The smart energy management software that may be included

If it’s thumbs up all around, sign on the dotted line and you’ve officially begun your solar journey with ZEN Energy!

Pre-installation Electricity Network connection approval

• On your behalf, ZEN will submit a distribution generation application to your electricity network company to connect to their network
• The network company will review the application and, provided it meets all regulations, approve the connection of your solar energy system
• If a connection fee is payable to the network company, this will be paid on your behalf by ZEN and is included in your quotation (unless specified as excluded).

Pre-installation Electricity Retailer approval

Upon receiving approval from your electricity network company, ZEN will work with your chosen energy retailer to finalise your distributed generation agreement. This will include the installation of an import/export meter, which is swapped out with your existing electricity meter (unless you already have on in place).

Installation day

Here’s the big one! On installation day, ZEN Energy qualified installers will perform a final review of your solar system to be installed and any necessary site specific factors. Once the boxes are ticked, your home will be wired for solar, the panels and racking will be installed, the inverter (and batteries, if applicable) will be connected and the system will be commissioned.

Following system commissioning, final approval needs to be received from an independent inspector before your system can go live. Once received, the system is switched on.

Congratulations! You are now enjoying clean, free solar energy.

Typically, the actual installation usually takes about a day for a grid-tied system, and up to two or more days for a more advanced hybrid or off-grid system, depending on the system size.

Monitoring, support and maintenance

Depending on your solar power system package, you will have an energy monitoring application or portal. These allow you to keep track of your solar generation and energy consumption (where this is provided), along with other important system indicators.

Solar power systems have very few (if any) moving parts, so there is little maintenance. And, if there are issues, all ZEN Energy equipment comes with extensive warranties. Solar panels generally last 25 years or longer and should be inspected a couple times per year for cleaning purposes and to ensure they continue to operate at their maximum output.

Cleaning is simple, requiring nothing more than a soft brush and water - but ask ZEN Energy at any stage about any special cleaning requirements for your system.