BYD approve only a small, select group of installers across the UK. DES Renewable Energy is one of them, and this month we completed our first BYD installation.
It went in at a home in West Moors, Ferndown. The property already had a working solar array on the roof, but the customer wanted to move on from the original inverter and battery. Rather than patch up the old setup, we took it out and replaced it with a complete BYD system.
What we installed
- BYD Power-Box SH4.6K — a 4.6kW single-phase hybrid inverter
- BYD Battery-Box HVE — one 6.4 module and one 4.2 module, stacked into a single tower
- The existing solar array, recommissioned onto the new inverter and now charging the battery
Why BYD
BYD is one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world, and the Battery-Box range has a strong reputation in the UK for build quality. Two things stood out to our install team on this job.
The first is the footprint. The Battery-Box HVE is noticeably slim, which matters a great deal when storage has to go down the side of a property rather than into a garage or a plant room. On this install it sits neatly against the wall without eating into the path.
The second is that the tower is modular. The customer has a 6.4 module and a 4.2 module today, and if their usage changes they can add capacity later without replacing what is already there. That is a far better position to be in than with a sealed, fixed-size battery.
Upgrading an older solar system
This was a retrofit rather than a new installation, and that side of our work is growing quickly. A lot of the systems fitted across Dorset and Hampshire in the early 2020s are now reaching the point where the inverter or the battery needs a decision, and the equipment available today is considerably better than what was originally installed.
If you already have solar panels and you are weighing up whether to repair, replace or upgrade, it is worth getting the whole system looked at rather than swapping one component in isolation. A newer hybrid inverter paired with modern storage will often get far more out of the same panels. We have since fitted two more BYD systems, a battery-only retrofit and a brand new solar and storage install in Verwood, and you can read about all three in Three BYD Systems in a Week.
Thinking about battery storage?
Whether you are adding storage to an existing solar array, replacing ageing equipment, or starting from scratch, we would be glad to talk it through and look at what would suit your property.
Get in touch with the DES Renewable Energy team on 01202 985888, or send us an enquiry.