First post here, so apologies if I'm a bit long winded.
With energy costs spiralling upwards here in the UK (we're up to 0.31 pence / kwh looking like that will go up another 20-30% later in the year) and a full fledged climate emergency underway, I'm keen to get us generating our own solar power asap. Our house is on a hill and South facing with zero obstructions for shading, so pretty ideal for solar. After more than a few hours on easy-pv.co.uk and calculating insolation I reckon with three roof surfaces covered we'll get around 75kwh/day average across the year. I've got a relatively good sense of panels, inverters etc. but am really not sure what to do with the roof
In particular, I'd love to hear from some folks who have done inline / in-roof mounting systems, as I'm trying to decide what's best for our house. We have three roof surfaces where we'll be installing all-black 375W mono panels (~10x4m, ~10x4m, and 6x5m). The house was built in 1830, and then extended in various ways on through the century until early 1900s. It was well-built, so the roof is more or less intact original welsh slate with hand-hewn beams forming the structure. The one downside of this old engineering is that there's no felt underlying the slates, so if one comes off or forms a leak along the edges, that's dripping straight through onto the second floor ceilings. I've had a chat with a few roofers and they generally agree that the roof is in good shape, but probably due for a re-roofing, especially to get a felt underlay in place - we should be able to re-use about 60% of the slates. But if I'm going to be putting panels on top of the slates, the visual appeal is lost. And if I need to go through the work of removing PV panels etc. to get at the slates for roof repairs, that seems like a pretty major hassle.
I *have* reached out to a distributor for a quote on roof integrated solar tiles (which are a visual match for slates), but this will add quite a lot to the system cost, reduce solar panel efficiency from 21 to 18%, and I'm not quite sure how this will work for wiring - I'm planning to use solar optimisers so I can track and maximise panel performance. Anyone on the forum able to comment on a build using roof integrated tiles?
I've also costed out the difference between renusol and GSE for this install, and there's hardly any difference, GSE ends up being just £2900 compared to £2300, and I suspect I may make that up in labout and complexity in avoiding renusol integration with a slate roof, especially if I will be taking up all the slates for maintenance anyhow. But I'd be curious to hear from people who have been living with an integrated solution? The performance warranty feels a little silly next to a 200 year old roof that will probably last another two centuries with a bit of TLC. But visual appeal of slates is moot if panels are on top. Are there performance differences around noise and maintenance? Or watertightness problems to be aware of? The house is already full of zigbee sensors, so I'll have leak detectors and humidity sensors to monitor the loft area proactively for leaks... Also, what will various options do to resale value?
Any opinions out there? I'm genuinely unsure of how to tip the balance of all these factors towards a decision...
With energy costs spiralling upwards here in the UK (we're up to 0.31 pence / kwh looking like that will go up another 20-30% later in the year) and a full fledged climate emergency underway, I'm keen to get us generating our own solar power asap. Our house is on a hill and South facing with zero obstructions for shading, so pretty ideal for solar. After more than a few hours on easy-pv.co.uk and calculating insolation I reckon with three roof surfaces covered we'll get around 75kwh/day average across the year. I've got a relatively good sense of panels, inverters etc. but am really not sure what to do with the roof
In particular, I'd love to hear from some folks who have done inline / in-roof mounting systems, as I'm trying to decide what's best for our house. We have three roof surfaces where we'll be installing all-black 375W mono panels (~10x4m, ~10x4m, and 6x5m). The house was built in 1830, and then extended in various ways on through the century until early 1900s. It was well-built, so the roof is more or less intact original welsh slate with hand-hewn beams forming the structure. The one downside of this old engineering is that there's no felt underlying the slates, so if one comes off or forms a leak along the edges, that's dripping straight through onto the second floor ceilings. I've had a chat with a few roofers and they generally agree that the roof is in good shape, but probably due for a re-roofing, especially to get a felt underlay in place - we should be able to re-use about 60% of the slates. But if I'm going to be putting panels on top of the slates, the visual appeal is lost. And if I need to go through the work of removing PV panels etc. to get at the slates for roof repairs, that seems like a pretty major hassle.
I *have* reached out to a distributor for a quote on roof integrated solar tiles (which are a visual match for slates), but this will add quite a lot to the system cost, reduce solar panel efficiency from 21 to 18%, and I'm not quite sure how this will work for wiring - I'm planning to use solar optimisers so I can track and maximise panel performance. Anyone on the forum able to comment on a build using roof integrated tiles?
I've also costed out the difference between renusol and GSE for this install, and there's hardly any difference, GSE ends up being just £2900 compared to £2300, and I suspect I may make that up in labout and complexity in avoiding renusol integration with a slate roof, especially if I will be taking up all the slates for maintenance anyhow. But I'd be curious to hear from people who have been living with an integrated solution? The performance warranty feels a little silly next to a 200 year old roof that will probably last another two centuries with a bit of TLC. But visual appeal of slates is moot if panels are on top. Are there performance differences around noise and maintenance? Or watertightness problems to be aware of? The house is already full of zigbee sensors, so I'll have leak detectors and humidity sensors to monitor the loft area proactively for leaks... Also, what will various options do to resale value?
Any opinions out there? I'm genuinely unsure of how to tip the balance of all these factors towards a decision...
