If buying land would you say south facing is essential for solar and/or are there other decent power options besides solar?

[Steve_S]

Decimal latitude and longitude coordinates for Wales (United Kingdom): 53.34061, -1.28162
Without the closest city/town this is the best info that can be gotten.
@ 53 Degrees your a little higher north than I am at 45 Degrees (Algonquin Park Ontario Canada) but you have the advantage you do not get the snow I do ! We get 30cm snowfalls in a "Normal Winter" so you know you are not missing anything. For you, in a "Generic" sense your solar panels will have to be at 50 Degrees so that negates being on a roof pretty much.

I mention this because I am offgrid, rural & remote and deep within the Arboreal Forest. I built myself a hyper-efficient home which is a respectable little house for us. I will point out that my Home Heating is Radiant Heat coming from the frost protected slab foundation which acts as a Thermal Mass regulator which makes a huge difference in temperature management. Now I am NOT an energy hog and have no massive power requirements because everything from well pump to lights are high efficiency devices and the well pump even has a Soft-Start system so no big surges to the inverter. I use an average of 3.5 to 4.0 kWh per day YEAR ROUND! Now I cannot include my Heating in that energy consumption because it is presently using Propane for the on-demand heater that it uses, LPG was chosen because the intention is to replace it with BioGas.

The simple system that got me started & kept me running was NOT HUGE as it does not have to be...
2000W of solar panel (8x 260W in 4s2p config) South Facing @ 45 degree angle (correct for me)
1x Midnite Solar Classic 200 - provides 80A charging for my 24V Battery Bank
1x Samlex EVO-4024 (4000W LF PureSine Inverter/Charger) (very efficient (95%), low power consumption)
24V Battery Bank with LFP. Mine is larger "now" (45kWh) because I can go many days without solar generation and I really don't like using the genset but "when" I have to it takes 8 Hours runtime to charge from 10% to 100% (or 10 days in frugal mode power).

! Your Battery Bank & SCC(s) will determine how much solar you will need.

Consideration for Agri-regions of Wales, another possible option with your setup may be the ability to use a "Sheppards Hut" as a powerhouse & mounting point for panels... I know they limit how big they can be but I recall seeing some pretty big ones on farms, not likely they ever saw asphalt as they were up on blocks. The thing is, because it is on wheels it gets out of the planning permissions in many cases, especially if the property you find is appropriately classed.

 

[DIYrich]

Still missing the point...

OP lamented not being able to easily find south facing property. OP was stuck on south facing property as the only option because of solar.

My point is that: if Solar is a major concern, then it may be easily solved by adding more panels, if you have enough land. The "value" of various properties for that criteria can be quantified based on the difference in the cost of solar. Likely to be a minor "value" difference (even $0), and not make-or-break that OP posted.

It could be that OP is thinking "south facing with no shading issues", but the land he likes best (without regard for solar) is east facing with some shading. OP may even like a north facing property. The cost of solar can be quantified, and "value" adjusted accordingly.

 

[Nimrod5]

I too am a newbie. I currently have a small solar system set up facing SE because that's where there is a clear view of the sky. I don't think it would be much better if I could face it straight S because as the sun moves across the sky the panels wouldn't get much more sun.

Maybe I'm being captain obvious but you need to place the panels in a place that the sun still gets over the tree tops in winter.

 

[Bop]

Decimal latitude and longitude coordinates for Wales (United Kingdom): 53.34061, -1.28162
Without the closest city/town this is the best info that can be gotten.
@ 53 Degrees your a little higher north than I am at 45 Degrees (Algonquin Park Ontario Canada) but you have the advantage you do not get the snow I do ! We get 30cm snowfalls in a "Normal Winter" so you know you are not missing anything. For you, in a "Generic" sense your solar panels will have to be at 50 Degrees so that negates being on a roof pretty much.

I mention this because I am offgrid, rural & remote and deep within the Arboreal Forest. I built myself a hyper-efficient home which is a respectable little house for us. I will point out that my Home Heating is Radiant Heat coming from the frost protected slab foundation which acts as a Thermal Mass regulator which makes a huge difference in temperature management. Now I am NOT an energy hog and have no massive power requirements because everything from well pump to lights are high efficiency devices and the well pump even has a Soft-Start system so no big surges to the inverter. I use an average of 3.5 to 4.0 kWh per day YEAR ROUND! Now I cannot include my Heating in that energy consumption because it is presently using Propane for the on-demand heater that it uses, LPG was chosen because the intention is to replace it with BioGas.

The simple system that got me started & kept me running was NOT HUGE as it does not have to be...
2000W of solar panel (8x 260W in 4s2p config) South Facing @ 45 degree angle (correct for me)
1x Midnite Solar Classic 200 - provides 80A charging for my 24V Battery Bank
1x Samlex EVO-4024 (4000W LF PureSine Inverter/Charger) (very efficient (95%), low power consumption)
24V Battery Bank with LFP. Mine is larger "now" (45kWh) because I can go many days without solar generation and I really don't like using the genset but "when" I have to it takes 8 Hours runtime to charge from 10% to 100% (or 10 days in frugal mode power).

! Your Battery Bank & SCC(s) will determine how much solar you will need.

Consideration for Agri-regions of Wales, another possible option with your setup may be the ability to use a "Sheppards Hut" as a powerhouse & mounting point for panels... I know they limit how big they can be but I recall seeing some pretty big ones on farms, not likely they ever saw asphalt as they were up on blocks. The thing is, because it is on wheels it gets out of the planning permissions in many cases, especially if the property you find is appropriately classed.

Make a 'trailer' as long as it has 'functional wheels' so in theory can be moved, you can make it as big as you like- after all it's never going to be on the road...
Put a trailer hub on each leg so it can 'technically' be moved (even if it never is lol) and its fine...

(mate of mine got away with that with using an old hicube shipping container in his back yard (in town!!!) as a workshop ($1800 for a 40ft long workshop- you can't build one at that price lol)- council wanted him to remove it as a 'permanent structure'- jacked it up, fitted an axle hub and old car wheel at each corner (they weren't even load bearing, the container continued to sit on on brick piers)- but he showed that by simply inflating each wheel it would lift off the piers and it had a 'drawbar' at one end (mind you, it would have snapped if you actually tried to pull it lol- made of old water pipe tacked to the sheet metal of the container wall lol) but as it met the technical definition of a trailer, it became fine 'legally speaking'- you are allowed to park trailers in the back yard...)
Literally stuck four of these in the corner 'locking mounts' down the bottom screwed in with self tappers lol they could have held together long enough to lift it, but you wouldn't go more than a metre before they fell off...

Do the same with the frame of the panels lol- chain it down like we do with caravans up north here (mines ridden out three cyclones chained down)- but it technically becomes a 'trailer'
;-)