Juice from Your Roof

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Comment by D Gander on August 1, 2011 at 21:32

All done now. Installation was painless and have sent my MCS certificate off to npower along with a copy invoice as proof of being a microgenerator.  Had one week of producing and its been a good one. 101KWh on a 3.98KWp system.  REC panels working well and SMA Inverter 4000TL twin tracking for East and West facing solar strings.  I'm using solar jargon now - it happens when you start reading about this stuff.  Very happy with the project though.

Comment by Richard Molyneux on July 21, 2011 at 10:10

Good luck D, who did you choose to do the install?

Comment by D Gander on June 27, 2011 at 12:17

Hi Nick, I've a a quick update for you now.  I've been to a solar talk in Ham and met one or two other suppliers to get a rounded view.  My quotes from the other two were both significantly cheaper than my quote from B Gas.  I've had a chat with planning, and no need for planning permission according to Kingston as long as you're not in a conservation area.  I've had a tree trimmed out the front too to cut down on shading.  I've also been told to let the building society know, and this turned out to be only if you are leasing the roof space to someone else. 

I've also checked buildings insurance and my company says the panels will be included.   I've checked as much as I can that the income 43p will keep pace with inflation and last 25 years.  That seems to be a given.

 

I checked out roof tile option as this looks better, but was told that apart from being v expensive there is little space for heat to dissipate behind the tile and too much heat reduces energy generation efficiency. So no to solar tiles.

My house is East West roof so I've gone for 2 inverters and produce the max 3.8KWp of electricity.  I've got plenty of roof space so no need for super efficient panels, so gone for Norwegian ones from REC.

I've gone for maxing out the production because that gives the best return, and it also means I will be electricity neutral over a year, since my use almost exactly matches the amount I can generate.

So now its go ahead time and the installation is apparently one day only and will be in July. Energy generation here we come.

Comment by Nick on May 13, 2011 at 19:56

Hi D. Please keep us updated on details of your estimate, outcome of planning permission, etc. It will be really helpful for the rest of the community!

Comment by D Gander on May 13, 2011 at 19:47

The project is underway for me now. I have estimate and need to do two things before booking a date - check planning permission, and tell the mortgage people.

Comment by Richard Molyneux on February 12, 2011 at 17:44

No problem Gareth... just wanted to let people know that things are still happening :-)

Comment by Gareth Simkins on February 12, 2011 at 17:40

Thanks for the update, Richard.

Comment by Richard Molyneux on February 11, 2011 at 11:37

It was great to finally meet Alban at Transition Ashtead's excellent solar energy presentation (unfortunately, being a young initiative, Transition Bookham's energy group is still embryonic!), with over 70 attendees. You can see a report on it, including a link to photos, here.

 

Comment by Gareth Simkins on July 22, 2010 at 13:58

I don't see why not - I would suggest you get in touch with Alban - his e-mail address is above.

Comment by Richard Molyneux on July 22, 2010 at 0:17

Cheers Gareth, I'll have to look into that. I had a Transition meeting tonight and it was suggested that I invite someone from JFYR to give us a talk on what you're doing... is that a possibility?

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