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So where will I put'em?


dpmiller

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I'm aiming for a 4kW in-roof system, and wonder if the collective have an opinion on where is best on our roof profile to target.

In the diagram, brown is the ridgeline, thick black are valleys. Roofslope is 40deg.

I'm thinking landscape near the verges in areas 1 and 2, and portrait in area 3 should get the job done , but would 4 be better than 2, favouring the evenings?

 

Ideas?

 

solar.thumb.jpg.6d1a8ba98d6fbe5216fe4a2c87963e64.jpg?

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My experience is that East does slightly better than West, as the sun rises North of East for a fair part of the year, plus the air seems to be clearer in the early mornings.  By late afternoon it's not uncommon for cloud or haze to have formed, reducing the output from a West-facing array.  Having said that, I still think there's a lot of merit in opting for an East-West arrangement, as although the overall output may be slightly lower than a South facing array, power is delivered at times when it's more useful - maximum power in the middle of the day isn't usually that useful.

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27 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

My experience is that East does slightly better than West

I think that is down to local topology and cooler air in the mornings.

 

There are two ways to look at this problem.

Matching Usage

Maximising Revenue.

 

Maximising revenue is the easy and cheaper option.

 

As the FiT is set on the installed capacity and nothing else, what is to stop people having a larger system i.e. more modules, that disconnect at set times during the day.

So assuming you have room, cash and will, you could have 12 kWp of modules fitted. 4 kWp on the East, 4 kWp on the South and 4 kWp on the West and a time stitch that changes over the modules as the sun moves across the house i.e Dawn to 10AM for the East, 10AM to 2PM for the South and 2PM to sunset for the West.

Not exactly in the spirit of the FiT, but may be within the law.

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1 hour ago, mike2016 said:

Which way is South?!! 

North up in the drawing, but actual orientation will be about 5deg clockwise from here.

 

No FIT on this @SteamyTea as we're in NI. Three bodies in the house, unoccupied in the middle of the day. Thermal store and immersion diverter in the mix.

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  • 3 months later...

Hmm. I've been sitting looking at the plans, ruler in hand, and am unsure whether I can reasonably get more than 12 panels where we're looking at.

 

I did however get what looks like a pretty good quote from Plug-in Solar-

12x 270w Talesun panels, GSE kit, 6x microinverters, and all the gubbins for c. £3.3k inc the VAT.  Opinions?

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That’s £1.02p per installed Watt so is pretty good in terms of price assuming you are doing it yourself. 

 

The Gov Stats office publishes the cost of  MCS installed systems and they are around £1.80/w so it would be on par if you got it installed for £2500 so you should have plenty of headroom ! 

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1 hour ago, dpmiller said:

Hmm. I've been sitting looking at the plans, ruler in hand, and am unsure whether I can reasonably get more than 12 panels where we're looking at.

 

I did however get what looks like a pretty good quote from Plug-in Solar-

12x 270w Talesun panels, GSE kit, 6x microinverters, and all the gubbins for c. £3.3k inc the VAT.  Opinions?

Have you not got a shed that is for agricultural use to keep your tractor warm and put sheep in it one night a year. Know a guy who put his on one of these.

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9 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

I think it's fascinating. Every day the more that gets revealed the more I reckon a bunch of pre school kids could do a more honest and better job.

The frightening thing is the lady responsible for that now has TM by the whatsits (if she had any) and holds the slim balance of power at Westminster.

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2 minutes ago, ProDave said:

The frightening thing is the lady responsible for that now has TM by the whatsits (if she had any) and holds the slim balance of power at Westminster.

How the papers in the rest of the UK haven't picked up on this story is unreal considering they hold the balance of power. 

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  • 3 months later...

Just to complete this, the kit arrived from Plugin Solar at the start of the week. We ended up with 12 black Sapphire 270W panels, full GSE kit to suit our particular groupin 2/8/2 all landscape- including top flashings. Inverters are Hoymiles micros, two duals and two quads, all with individual panel MPPT.

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