Solar answers

Straight answers to the questions people actually ask before buying solar in Nigeria.

Cost & Pricing

Why do solar quotes vary so much for the same house?Solar quotes for the same house differ because most are answering different unstated questions. Installers estimate from the building rather than from your actual energy use and outage needs, so quotes end up reflecting different assumptions about daily units (kWh), peak loads, hours of battery backup, which parts are included, and whether the system has panels at all or only batteries.

Problems & Solutions

Can solar panels catch fire?Solar panels themselves very rarely catch fire. A UK government-commissioned study by the Building Research Establishment reviewed more than fifty solar fire incidents and found the causes were overwhelmingly the connections — the DC isolator, the connectors and the inverter — with 36% of fires traced directly to installation problems and only 12% to faulty products. Properly installed solar is very safe; the risk sits with workmanship, not with the technology.

How-To & Maintenance

Why is my solar suddenly producing less power?If your solar output has dropped and nothing shows a fault, the most likely cause is dirt on the glass. Studies in this region have measured harmattan soiling losses of 26–53% — past half your output in the worst places — and rain does not fix it: rain removes the loose dust but leaves a film that in Nigerian cities can cost a further 15–30%. Nothing is faulty. The panels just can't see. At harmattan peak they may need cleaning every two weeks.