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PV solar panels, MarPlus OPTION+, how do they work, what production can I expect?

How do solar panels work?

Photovoltaic panels are made up of photovoltaic solar cells that enable solar energy to be converted into electrical energy. Thus, when subjected to the photons emitted by solar radiation, the solar cells release energy by emitting electrons,  generating an electric field between the cells and consequently a flow of electrons in the form of direct current, DC.
A solar module consists of an array of these cells. These arrays of cells, in turn, are combined and connected in series to form a photovoltaic solar panel.


This panel, on receiving the solar radiation and once it passes from a minimum emitted energy, when the photoelectric effect is produced, the electric field will start to be established. The direct current generated at any given moment will depend on the solar radiation itself, the performance of the panel, its orientation, its inclination and the ambient temperature, among other parameters.

Example of monocrystalline photovoltaic solar panels

What is an inverter?

This energy cannot be consumed directly; it is necessary to convert the direct current into the alternating current that is actually consumed by the electrical appliances in our homes. In other words, the electricity grid to which our homes are connected operates with an alternating voltage and current with a frequency throughout Europe equivalent to 50Hz. Therefore, in order to be able to inject the energy produced into the panels of our domestic grid and to be able to consume it, it is necessary to change the generated direct current to one that alternates its polarity 50 times per second, using a DC to AC inverter, called a solar inverter.

Example of Huawei SUN2000 5kWp solar inverter

What are self-consumption and surplus compensation?

Self-consumption, as its name suggests, consists of consuming the energy produced by our solar panels in our home.
The inverter can be configured in several ways:

  • To convert only the energy demanded by the house (as long as it can be produced), a wattmeter is connected to the inverter to our installation, which allows it to measure and know the power demanded by the house.
  • By setting a maximum limit on the power produced at any instant by the inverter.
  • To supply the maximum power that can be produced from the panels at any given moment, which is very useful if we legalise our installation for self-consumption with surplus compensation.

In the latter case, if we do not have a storage system for this energy and, at a given moment, our self-consumption is lower than the power produced, we will have to feed the surplus of this production into the grid.
Electrical legislation in Spain allows the installation to be legalised with what is known as a self-consumption with surplus compensationso that the utility company deducts/compensates us from our bill for the cost of the energy we have fed into the grid during the current month's period.. For this purpose, the electricity meter of the distribution company is prepared to make bidirectional readings, i.e. to read the 'consumption' in both directions: it registers the energy consumed in our home from the grid and also the energy fed into the grid.

Self-consumption with surplus compensation (bypassing the inverter in the graph)


Thanks to the compensation of surpluses, it is possible to dispense with the installation of an electricity battery (still very expensive) as the electricity grid itself will act as a battery: when we produce too much, we will feed it into the grid (and it will be deducted from our bill every month) and at night or when we do not produce (e.g. because it is very cloudy), we will consume from the grid (as if we were using the energy we had fed in).
It is important to know that this compensation will never allow us to earn money, as at most it is allowed to compensate the total cost of the energy actually consumed, i.e. compensate leaving that cost at zero euros. On the other hand, we will always have to pay the fixed cost of the contracted power, as this is a service provided by the electricity company, regardless of how self-sufficient our photovoltaic installation is.

Residential area MARPLUS square logo OPTION+ in MarPlus. What does our solar kit include?

At GANDITEC we know that the clients who choose our homes are environmentally conscious and are really concerned about sustainability and the future of the planet, which is why they have chosen an energy efficient home with an A energy certificate.

For the same reason, it is easy to go one step further to reduce the use of non-renewable primary energy to zero and thus minimise their consumption and theCO2 footprint left in their daily lives. Ganditec offers you, through an offer at the best price, an installation of photovoltaic solar panels, together with the solar inverter, and all the necessary components already installed for full operation. Thus, you can receive your home with the entire solar installation for self-consumption with surplus compensation already legalised and ready for use.

The solar energy OPTION+ (not included in the base price) includes:

  • 5, 10 or 15 monocrystalline PV solar panels (the best performers) with 540W PERC technology The dimensions of each panel are 2,28mx1,14m.
  • Premium solar inverter high efficiency, HUAWEI SUN2000 up to 9kWp of peak DC input power. This latest generation inverter has a conversion efficiency of more than 98% and also allows the installation of premium lithium battery models such as the market-leading model, the LG Chem. All managed and controlled from its state-of-the-art software and app.
  • All other required elements for the commissioning of your solar installation:
    • Fuses and protections on the DC side.
    • Protections on the Alternating Current side.
    • Wattmeter/meter for intelligent management of power demand and electricity production by the inverter.
    • Required wiring, pipes and fittings.
    • Execution and legalisation included of the entire installation for self-consumption with surplus compensation.
Diagram and elements required in the installation

In spite of all these required components, your house is sold ready with the solar pre-installation, i.e. with everything necessary so that, once you have decided, all the cables, pipes and electrical protections have their 'hidden' place and do not take up any additional space, so that the installation is simple, clean and tidy.
Thus, in the cabinet in the attic, there is space for the installation of the inverter and the DC fuses and protections. In addition, we have already planned to run a tube of sufficient diameter to connect the AC output of the inverter with the electrical panel of the house. This panel, in turn, will have the necessary space to house the meter and the part of the AC protections required to properly connect the inverter to the electrical installation of the house.

Residential area MARPLUS square logo OPTION+ in MarPlus. What annual and monthly electricity production can be expected?

The MarPlus houses have a gable roof design, one larger and one smaller (the one on the side closest to the upper terrace). On the smaller one, up to FIVE panels of 2.28mx1.14m and 540W each can be installed. On the larger roof, on the other hand, up to TEN panels of the same dimensions and characteristics can be installed. Therefore, if you wish to have maximum production, you can install up to 15 panels for the entire roof of your home.

The orientation of the panels is fundamental in relation to the electrical energy production that can be achieved. Thus, if the panels are oriented more to the South or South-East, they will produce more per day than those oriented to the North or North-West. In any case, making use of the tool that the European Union provides us with, the Photovoltaic Geographic Information System, PVGIS and by entering the coordinates and orientation of our homes, we can obtain for a given installed power (depending on the type and number of panels chosen) a very approximate estimate of the expected production during each month of the year in kW-h. It is then easy to compare this data of kW-h of energy produced each month with our electricity bill, which also shows us our monthly energy consumption in kW-h.

Thus, according to the data obtained from PVGIS, we show in the following table the values obtained with 5 or 10 panels for the houses facing Avinguda del Mar (small roof, 5 panels to the East) and Joan Baptiste Comes street (large roof, 10 panels to the East). In this way, on Avinguda del Mar, the first 5 panels will always be installed to the east and if more production is desired, they will be installed on the west roof.

Estimated production for MarPlus location for 5 or 10 panels. Click to download this Excel sheet.

Thus, for a new house in MarPlus in Joan Baptiste Comes street, it will be possible to obtain an estimated maximum annual production for 15 panels in the order of 7593.9kW-h+2802.93kW-h = 10,396.83kW-h per year, i.e. more than 10MWh per year.
On the other hand, the maximum annual electricity production for the houses facing the Avenida del Mar will be: 5605.85kW-h+3771.97kW-h = 9377.82kW-h, a slightly lower value than the other orientation, but still very considerable and self-sufficient.

Operating in the same way, you can obtain the expected values of the possible combinations for 10 panels. For example, to install 10 panels on the Avenida del Mar dwellings, ideally 5 should face East (the maximum that can fit) and 5 on the West roof, thus: 3771.97kW-h+(5605.85/2)kW-h = 6,574.89kW-h per year, which is already very high. In the other orientation for 10 panels, this would be an estimated 7,593.9kW-h per year.

Download, in addition to the excel sheet by clicking on the graph, the reports generated from PVGIS for the orientations and inclination in MarPlus Residential:

Residential area MARPLUS square logoHow many panels should we install?

This is subjective and depends on the needs and habits of each family. The reality is that in our new building in Gandia, the Residencial MarPlus, as it has an A energy rating, at a passive level the house does not waste energy and at an active level, all the machines installed are already very efficient per se. However, new habits make us consume more electricity: It is likely that if you want to dispense with the use of non-renewable fossil fuels, you are thinking of buying or have already bought an electric vehicle. Your new home at MarPlus will already be pre-installed and there is also an OPTION+ for the complete installation of a premium model of electric vehicle charging point (we will discuss this option in another blog post).
In any case, if you wish to recharge your electric vehicle from your new home, it is highly recommended that you consider a good solar photovoltaic installation.The new electric vehicles are a perfect complement to electric vehicles.
For example, let's assume an electric vehicle with a large battery capacity of about 64kWh with a range of about 500km on a mostly urban route, and assuming a driving range of about 12,000km per year. Under these assumptions, you will need to recharge it about 2 times a month. This will mean about 1,536kWh per year of aggregate electricity consumption to be considered, which with the production of the latest generation solar photovoltaic installation proposed for your new home in Gandia, in combination with the compensation of surpluses, can be easily covered.

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1 comment on "Solar PV panels, MarPlus OPTION+, how do they work, what production to expect?"

  1. Pingback: Why AEROTHERMIA for Hot Water? - GANDITEC New construction Gandia

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