Hermes

10° panels E-W

20° panels drop down the calculations for generation by about 80 kWh pa (self-consumption) but this might more than be made up for in less dirt on the panels.

@SteamyTea S440 requirement - was assuming that if going E-W alignment (and some tree shading) that if not micro-inverters / optimisers then either side will be limited by the panels in other orientation in morning / evening? does add about £600 to the install equipment costs Voltage drop from my reading up seems to be 5% but if consumer unit in garden room then the cable run to the consumer until would be ~2m so really a question about voltage drop on the run to the garden room from house (which I'm assuming would be the same problem if no PV installation there?) Well I get your point, to a point. But there are some things you can learn to do that are still legal without having to become a qualified electrician. There seems to be a whole YouTube DIY electrical nudge-nudge-wink-wink thing going on where the only people who would want to watch the videos of anything electrical are people that would already know how to do them "confident and competent". If confident means "doesn't ask" then I guess there are a lot more things you can do, but how do you know you are competent therefore? So far I've got to the point of replacing a couple of back boxes with deeper ones and a switch with a dimmer in the house so I'm more in the space of photographing a cable in a trench I've dug myself and asking an electrician to sign it off than attempting Consumer Unit install myself

@JohnMo Wife is convinced I only want the digger to play with one so I will certainly need to factor in time to get the hang of it. Need to find a price to work out whether it is an unneccessary luxury - assuming I've not missed any other options - it seems based on searches a reasonable rental of walk behind trench diggers is a USA only sport.

@NickfromwalesI started assuming that I was aiming for S facing and 30° tilt / pitch but the spacing required to not have 30 - 50 % of the panel in shade for half the year clearly indicated that E-W might be worth considering. Also the potential extra array on the house extension (if built) would be S facing. I have been playing with the SolarEdge designer on the website so given your thoughts I will look at trying some different tilt angles and see how that changes the numbers. There are some trees in both our garden and the neighbours so all of it is measured a certain amount against how many of those are accurately modelled or trimmed back (a couple will need to be removed for the garden room anyway).

Hello everyone, Recent house purchased and plan for a garden office with PV solar installation. After much frustrating searching for information on solar installation found this forum where people seem to be happy to get into the technical details (unlike websites of companies offering solar installation that I’ve seen). Been a long term renter so my DIY skills low level but IT background so (like to think) have technical aptitude. Looking for advice / voice of experience on a: * 3m x 5m (internal dimensions) garden room. 194 degrees longitudinal axis * 4.2m x 6m flat room dimensions (TBC) * approx 20m from main house at end of back garden * mainly 2 person office Considering installing: 10x 375W AE Power PV panels in E-W facing configuration with ~10 deg pitch 10x S440 optimisers SolarEdge SH3000 inverter Garden Room would also have AC unit Daikin split unit (model TBC) Questions: 1. Can the solar PV inverter be connected to a secondary consumer unit in the garden room or does there need to be a run for generated AC going to the main Consumer unit in the house and a feed from there to the garden room sockets and lights? 2. Maybe depends on answer above but 10mm or 16mm SWA buried spade and a half depth? 3. Looking at CAT6 and / or multimode fibre (intended home switch will have SFP so wondering whether this is a future proofing method into the same trench). 4. Options for digging trench other than by hand - digger hire from Jewson? (Have 1000mm access down side of house) 5. Views on electrical installation for garden room. Which bits need an electrician and or MCS certificate it it worth it, and which bits to do self. There is potential for further PV system on potential house extension (if built) but currently main house roof aspect not ideal for solar (gable end facing south with other main surface north facing) Thoughts welcome.