A solar system health check includes a full generation audit, string performance analysis, and a written report identifying the cause and quantifying the generation loss.
Book a Health CheckFree remote diagnosticBrilliant support to get my solar battery working again. I didn’t expect help on a Saturday but Ron answered the phone, listened and sent me the information I needed to get it going, answered questions etc. A brilliant service I’d happily recommend.
Ron was brilliant. He really tried to help. He spent hours trying to fix our GivEnergy AIO and ultimately it became apparent that it needed parts to fix the BMS management system. As there appears to be no replacement parts available on the market, he gave excellent advice on what options are now available to move forward. He is incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.
Called back within a day and gave good advice.
Ron was extremely helpful and tried his best to repair/reset our GivEnergy inverter remotely. In the event he was unsuccessful but he couldn’t have been more helpful. If you have problems with a GivEnergy system please contact him. Highly recommended
Big thanks to Ron. He was incredibly patient and helpful over the phone, taking the time to walk myself and the installer through every troubleshooting step. Through lots of testing he figured out the issue was definitely a hardware issue, which allows us to consider our next steps. Support fees are clear and they operate a “no fix no fee” policy. It is rare to find that kind of honesty combined with dedicated phone support nowadays. I highly recommend Ron, if you need help with your solar system don’t hesitate to give him a call.
A superb service from Ron who went beyond the normal service received from other Tech support companies. I live abroad and was badly let down when my givenergy system failed (and the company went bankrupt) and the local supplier ran away from the problem. Ron sorted the problem and even accessed specialist coding for the inverter that would not be available for suppliers. Ron also ran a full diagnostic to insure that all was in good working order afterwards. Without Rons support and patient assistance I doubt I would ever have got the system back up and running. Well done and thankyou and you have a customer for the future.
Brilliant support to get my solar battery working again. I didn’t expect help on a Saturday but Ron answered the phone, listened and sent me the information I needed to get it going, answered questions etc. A brilliant service I’d happily recommend.
Ron was brilliant. He really tried to help. He spent hours trying to fix our GivEnergy AIO and ultimately it became apparent that it needed parts to fix the BMS management system. As there appears to be no replacement parts available on the market, he gave excellent advice on what options are now available to move forward. He is incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.
Called back within a day and gave good advice.
Ron was extremely helpful and tried his best to repair/reset our GivEnergy inverter remotely. In the event he was unsuccessful but he couldn’t have been more helpful. If you have problems with a GivEnergy system please contact him. Highly recommended
Big thanks to Ron. He was incredibly patient and helpful over the phone, taking the time to walk myself and the installer through every troubleshooting step. Through lots of testing he figured out the issue was definitely a hardware issue, which allows us to consider our next steps. Support fees are clear and they operate a “no fix no fee” policy. It is rare to find that kind of honesty combined with dedicated phone support nowadays. I highly recommend Ron, if you need help with your solar system don’t hesitate to give him a call.
A superb service from Ron who went beyond the normal service received from other Tech support companies. I live abroad and was badly let down when my givenergy system failed (and the company went bankrupt) and the local supplier ran away from the problem. Ron sorted the problem and even accessed specialist coding for the inverter that would not be available for suppliers. Ron also ran a full diagnostic to insure that all was in good working order afterwards. Without Rons support and patient assistance I doubt I would ever have got the system back up and running. Well done and thankyou and you have a customer for the future.
Installer projections are often optimistic. The honest benchmark is PVGIS — a tool from the EU Joint Research Centre that calculates expected solar yield for any location in Europe using decades of irradiance data.
Go to pvgis.ec.europa.eu, enter your postcode, set your panel rated power (in kWp), orientation (azimuth — 0° is south), and tilt angle. The tool gives you an annual kWh estimate that accounts for your specific location and mounting.
As a rough guide, UK systems produce approximately:
A system generating 80–100% of its PVGIS estimate is performing well. Below 75% warrants investigation.
If the system is confirmed below 75–80% of PVGIS, check these.
Trees that have grown, a new extension, a neighbouring building, or a satellite dish. Even a small shadow on a single panel in a string system can halve that string's output through the "Christmas lights effect".
One inverter MPPT channel or string has failed — from a blown fuse, open-circuit cable, or inverter fault. On a two-string system this typically reduces generation by around 50%.
Individual panel failure (from hotspot damage, delamination, or PID degradation) reducing output below the expected rate. More common on systems over 8 years old.
A DNO export limit is actively curtailing generation on sunny low-load days. The system isn't underperforming — it is deliberately limited. Check whether the generation figure hits a ceiling on sunny days.
An ageing inverter operating below its rated efficiency. More common on string inverters over 10 years old where capacitors and switching components have degraded.
Heavy panel contamination from bird droppings, dust from construction, or a nearby industrial source. Rarely the primary cause in the UK — but worth checking visually if significant soiling is visible from the ground.
Using monitoring data to narrow it down.
Run your system through PVGIS and compare the estimate against your last 12 months of generation data from the portal. If the shortfall is above 20%, the investigation is worthwhile. If it is within 15–20%, check whether the PVGIS inputs accurately reflect your actual orientation and shading.
In the monitoring portal, check whether your inverter shows separate data for each string or MPPT channel. On a sunny day both strings should show similar current levels. If one string shows near-zero current while the other is normal, you have a string fault — blown fuse, open circuit cable, or disconnected panel.
On the sunniest days in summer, does the generation figure plateau at a specific number — say 3.0kW on a 5kWp system — rather than climbing towards peak rated output? If yes, check whether an export limit is set at that figure in your inverter configuration.
Go outside at solar noon (midday in winter, 1–2pm BST in summer) and look at the panels from the ground. Check whether any trees, structures, or objects are now casting shadows onto the array. Even a shadow on one panel can drag down an entire string.
If the monitoring portal shows multiple years of history, compare annual totals year-on-year. A gradual decline of 0.5–1% per year is normal degradation. A drop of 5% or more in a single year indicates a fault event — check the event log for that year for fault codes or equipment changes.
Each monitoring platform exposes generation data differently. Use the note for your brand to find the right figures for your PVGIS comparison.
GivEnergy portals show daily PV generation on the Generation page. Compare the daily kWh figure against your PVGIS estimate for the same calendar month. Note that some older firmware versions report generation from the CT clamp rather than the PV input — if your daily figures fluctuate wildly with load, check which measurement source is configured. See the GivEnergy hub for portal navigation help.
Growatt's ShineServer portal provides per-MPPT yield data for multi-string hybrid systems. Navigate to Device > Details to compare MPPT1 and MPPT2 daily yield — a significant divergence between strings isolates the underperformance to one set of panels or one MPPT channel, making diagnosis much faster.
Use the Sunsynk Connect app History view to compare daily yield across recent weeks. If a single week shows a step-change drop with no weather explanation, correlate with the inverter event log for that date — a firmware update or grid event on that day often explains the change. Sunsynk inverters can also experience MPPT derating in partial shade conditions; a soft reset of MPPT tracking can help.
A solar system health check includes a full generation audit against PVGIS, string-level performance analysis, and a written report identifying causes and quantifying the generation loss in kWh and £ per year.
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