Working on renewable energy projects in the construction sector

Rachel Dibben – Commercial Design Engineer, Solarsense

A lot has happened over the last few months and although we’ve seen a slow down on some of our live construction projects, our commercial design engineers have been hard at work from home and we are almost back to normal.

What is your key role at Solarsense?

I work with engineering consultants at the early stages of their construction projects to advise how energy model requirements can be achieved by solar PV, producing PV Sol models and CAD designs. I also work with contractors at the construction stage, ensuring practical solutions and value engineering options are considered to ensure the solar PV system we install is not only compliant with the specification but delivers the best value for money.

What projects have you been working on?

I’ve been busier than ever in recent months, producing designs for construction projects across the UK. The projects I’m involved in are really diverse, in the last few weeks alone I’ve designed solar PV systems for schools, prisons, police stations, apartment blocks, industrial buildings, universities, care homes and plenty more! I also provide design support on our retrofit projects and have recently been working on a project for a high-profile supermarket as well as large-scale manufactures, airports and hospitals.

What advancements have you seen in clean energy technology recently?

Technology in the renewables industry moves quickly, we therefore work closely with our suppliers and manufacturers to keep up to date and ensure we are offering the best and most suitable technology for each project we work on. In regards to solar, PV panel efficiencies are continuing to increase, whilst the cost of production and installation reduces. For example, there are panels on the market now with an output of 360W-370W which are a similar pence per watt price to a standard 280W panel. However, solar PV isn’t the only technology we install, we’re finding that more projects have a requirement for electric vehicle charging and solar thermal, which we also design and install in-house.

What sets Solarsense apart from the competition?

We pride ourselves on providing a level of service to our customers that means when they send us an enquiry, they can trust us to design a fully compliant system and offer any alternative solutions or value engineering options if available. It’s in our interest to help the client’s we work with offer a competitively priced but technically compliant solution to ensure we both are successful with the tender. My focus in on the design side, but our excellent project management team continue to provide the same level of service to deliver our installations to a high level to ensure the client comes back to us for future projects.

What should I do if I have a construction project that requires solar PV?

Please visit contact us and fill out the form. One of our design engineers will then get in touch asap to discuss your project and requirements. Alternatively if you have design plans, you can email those to us in advance at info@solarsense-uk.com.