Need new roof tiles. In-frame East, South and West arrays instead of bulk of tiles?

[WGL]

Hi there. We're going to entirely re-roof the house and do a loft conversion, just doing a rear extension at the minute. Not happy reusing the existing plain tiles as they're 60yr old concrete and looking a bit thin.

 

Instead of buying new clay plain tiles (minimum £60 per m2 material cost and 150m2 needed), should I just put as many solar panels in a GSE type setup as possible?

 

Front elevation of house faces due South, 45 degree roof pitch. Have always planned on getting as much PV on this as possible. I do also have a lot of East and west roof elevations where the vast bulk of the roof tiles will be needed.

 

Should I spend the money on PV instead on the East and West? Am I likely to get much generation? There is very minimal shading from the odd conifer in winter. I do plan on getting battery storage and an ASHP in due course.

 

All thoughts greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

53 minutes ago, WGL said:

There is very minimal shading from the odd conifer in winter.

You need a full solar survey done BEFORE going even one step further. Any reputable solar company will usually do this for free to try and get your business. Start there, and post the findings here for us to offer any further (accurate) advice  

[G and J]

OK, potentially a dumb question.  What does a solar survey determine?

 

[WGL]

10 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

You need a full solar survey done BEFORE going even one step further. Any reputable solar company will usually do this for free to try and get your business. Start there, and post the findings here for us to offer any further (accurate) advice  

Thanks for your response. They are two small fully grown leylandii type things (10m high), about 15m away. Happy to cut them down tbh. 

 

Getting a survey does make sense. 

 

What advice would you give if there was no shading? 

[sharpener]

PVGIS is your friend.

[WGL]

12 hours ago, sharpener said:

PVGIS is your friend.

Thank you, I'll take a good look at this

[WGL]

Had a telephone consultation with a local reputable installation firm today. The sales guy I spoke to was very helpful.

 

He was very disparaging about the GSE frames which I'd been eyeing up. They had used them a bit in the past and had no end of problems apparently. Plastic warping (in warehouse as well as on roof), fixing holes in the plastic opening up over time and leaks because the drainage channels become blocked over time and water backs up. He spoke very highly of the Viridian in frame panels and system, which I'm going to have a look in to. 

 

As for having E, S & W arrays, he made a convincing case for the pro, in that you're most likely to want the power in the mornings and evenings when the East and West are producing. Makes sense I suppose.

 

He was pushing the Tesla Powerwall 3, which does sound great, much to my inherent suspicion.  It's all sounding very expensive mind😬

 

 

[Dillsue]

On 02/07/2024 at 21:38, WGL said:

As for having E, S & W arrays, he made a convincing case for the pro, in that you're most likely to want the power in the mornings and evenings when the East and West are producing. Makes sense I suppose.

Early and late generation may not be so important if you've got batteries. Certainly in the winter you want as much generation while the sun is up to charge your batteries and there won't be much generation coming from an east/west array