Tuesday, 4th June, 2024

Had another solar installer email me with a different panel layout. Using our ENE roof and the WSW one. The east side has a lovely big clear area and it is a great side for installation purposes, but will it generate any power? The west one only has space for two panels and seems a hassle for just two panels. Likewise the same question on power gen.

I used PVGIS again to calculate the power. They do generate power, not as much but it’s something. The west side is better for us for total generation. If they could share scaffolding then maybe I’d think it was a good idea, but I suspect they’d need dedicated scaffolding and so is it really worth it? I’ll wait and see what his quote looks like.

Shame we don’t have a huge garden to do ground mounted.

From an economic standpoint moving to the variable tariff has had the best return. It cost nothing and we’ve saved 23% off our bill. If this is my new starting point then that makes solar harder to justify. If I start from doing nothing then it’s pretty decent payback. I suppose the challenge for myself is to maximise the returns once installed via tariff games and savings schemes that should happen this winter.