How to choose the best solar panels and batteries for your home
The best solar installations will generate renewable electricity for 25 years or more. But in a world of evolving options around batteries, solar panels and inverters, how do we choose the products we recommend to our customers?
In this article we outline Good Energy’s approach to selecting and recommending the best solar panels and batteries.
How do we select the best solar products?
With 10 years of experience in solar installations, we focus on four criteria to pick the best solar panels and batteries for our customers.
1: Quality products with long term warranties
We select highly efficient products that generate as much renewable power as possible for our customers, providing a few options to suit different budgets. We only recommend products from trusted manufacturers and ensure that they come with long warranties (10+ years for inverters and batteries, 25+ years for solar panels).
A long warranty shows the manufacturers’ confidence in their products and their commitment to addressing potential issues.
2: Fire safety
Fire safety is a top priority for us at Good Energy. We only install products that follow industry safety standards such as RC62 for solar panels and inverters and PAS 63100 for batteries. We recommend optimised and micro-inverter solar panel systems due to their in-built safety features and higher output for customers.
3: Traceable, ethical supply chains
We recommend manufacturers that are part of the Solar Stewardship Initiative or equivalent assurance schemes. This helps to ensure that the components they use are fully traceable and that they prioritise sustainable sourcing, responsible labour practices and environmental protection through the entire supply chain.
4: A user-friendly portal with technical support
Finally, we want to make having solar panels and battery storage as easy and enjoyable as possible for our customers.
So having a user-friendly app and portal, with long-term technical support, is a must.
What solar and battery brands do we install?
Here are some of the brands that we recommend to our customers. We clearly outline the benefits of each choice so that our customers can choose the best options for their needs.
What’s more, we are always on the look-out for new technologies and will continue to integrate new solutions into our designs if they tick all four of criteria for customers.
Our solar panels
A quality solar system should last for 25 years, so we opt for proven technology that’s built to last. Jinko, AIKO and JA are all well-established manufacturers, all of which we have built long term relationships with.
We trust that they will continue to manufacture great quality solar panels and will support our customers in the rare instance that something goes wrong.
| Brand | Warranty | Efficiency | Datasheet |
| Jinko | 25 year product warranty 30 year output warranty | Over 23% | 📎 |
| AIKO | 25 year product warranty 30 year output warranty | Over 22.8% | 📎 |
| JA Solar | 25 year product warranty 30 year output warranty | 20 – 22.5% | 📎 |
Our inverters and optimisers
We use SolarEdge inverters and optimisers, and Enphase micro-inverters for our solar panel systems. These US-based manufacturers offer industry-leading technical and warranty support, and we have long-standing relationships with them both.
By installing optimised and micro-inverter systems, our customers get maximum power generation. These systems also offer much higher levels of fire safety, as they operate at lower voltages and can be quickly disconnected from the rest of your electrics in the event of a fire.
| Brand | Warranty | Datasheet |
| SolarEdge | 12 year as standard Extendable to 25 years | 📎 |
| Enphase | 25 year product warranty | 📎 |
Our batteries
Batteries can provide the ability to store your solar power and use it at more expensive times, as well as taking advantage of smart tariffs and backup in the case of a power cut.
We install Solar Edge, Sig Energy, Enphase and Tesla batteries at Good Energy. Each can be integrated with our solar panels and inverters, and they are all stackable, meaning we can create the perfect size battery system for your home.
All of our battery installations meet fire safety standard, PAS 63100, giving customers peace of mind that their system is designed and installed safely.
| Brand | Warranty | Size | Back up protection | Datasheet |
| SigEnergy | 10 years | 5kWh / 8kWh / 13kWh | Yes | 📎 |
| SolarEdge | 10 years | 9.7kWh | Yes* with additional interface | 📎 |
| Enphase | 15 years | 5kWh / 10kWh | No | 📎 |
| Tesla Powerwall | 10 years | 13.5kWh | Yes | 📎 |
Using these trusted products gives us confidence that our customers will truly benefit from their solar systems. And our 5* reviews tell us that our customers agree.
