North east facing solar array. Yay or nay?
Discussion
We've been meaning to get solar installed for years but never quite got round to it, had a few quotes but never quite gone for it. Looking again and had a local firm round to have a look. Our roofs face south west (perfect) and north east (not so perfect).
The southwest roof has a fairly big dorma so doesn't lend itself very well to lots of panels. The north east roof doesn't so can fit a pretty chunky array. Installers suggested l though less effective and not likely to do much in the winter the north east facing array was still a good addition and laid it out like below.
It does get full sun in the morning and this time of year gets a lot of sun into at least the early afternoon. It's an extra 3k on the quote (which seems to be ball park about right), but wondering whether to add the north east array.
Anyone with a similar setup able to share any real world experience?
(Note this is with a 9kwh battery too)
Thanks everyone!
The southwest roof has a fairly big dorma so doesn't lend itself very well to lots of panels. The north east roof doesn't so can fit a pretty chunky array. Installers suggested l though less effective and not likely to do much in the winter the north east facing array was still a good addition and laid it out like below.
It does get full sun in the morning and this time of year gets a lot of sun into at least the early afternoon. It's an extra 3k on the quote (which seems to be ball park about right), but wondering whether to add the north east array.
Anyone with a similar setup able to share any real world experience?
(Note this is with a 9kwh battery too)
Thanks everyone!
I have 1 x north facing 3 x south.
The north facing generates its peak about 9am. The south around 1pm.
So it fills the gap.
By 2pm the north facing produces very little.
I think it all depends on how your calcs say it will work back over time vs cost.
For me 1 x £80 panel wasnt a big outlay. Obviously 3k is a lot more.
The other thing is you have to work with what you have. I only had space for the 3 on the south side. So it was 1 in the north or nothing.
The north facing generates its peak about 9am. The south around 1pm.
So it fills the gap.
By 2pm the north facing produces very little.
I think it all depends on how your calcs say it will work back over time vs cost.
For me 1 x £80 panel wasnt a big outlay. Obviously 3k is a lot more.
The other thing is you have to work with what you have. I only had space for the 3 on the south side. So it was 1 in the north or nothing.
gotoPzero said:
I have 1 x north facing 3 x south.
The north facing generates its peak about 9am. The south around 1pm.
So it fills the gap.
By 2pm the north facing produces very little.
I think it all depends on how your calcs say it will work back over time vs cost.
For me 1 x £80 panel wasnt a big outlay. Obviously 3k is a lot more.
The other thing is you have to work with what you have. I only had space for the 3 on the south side. So it was 1 in the north or nothing.
Thanks. Very helpful. 11 on the south and 10 on the north is the current layout.The north facing generates its peak about 9am. The south around 1pm.
So it fills the gap.
By 2pm the north facing produces very little.
I think it all depends on how your calcs say it will work back over time vs cost.
For me 1 x £80 panel wasnt a big outlay. Obviously 3k is a lot more.
The other thing is you have to work with what you have. I only had space for the 3 on the south side. So it was 1 in the north or nothing.
It will depend on the elevation angle as well as the azimuth.
Also on local climate.
Looking at PVGIS may tell you it generates more than you might guess.
What people tend to forget is that the '1000 hours' equivalent full sun that a south-facing panel is roughly good for, is made up of some hundreds of hours equivalent of strong illumination plus thousands of hours of weak illumination.
Your true North facing panel may never get any strong illumination, but it still hoovers up a certain amount of ambient light every hour of the day.
I think if you want to be off-grid as many days as possible, then extra panels facing anywhere will help on dull days, but mostly it's hard to justify N-facing panels unless they are pretty cheap to add.
Also on local climate.
Looking at PVGIS may tell you it generates more than you might guess.
What people tend to forget is that the '1000 hours' equivalent full sun that a south-facing panel is roughly good for, is made up of some hundreds of hours equivalent of strong illumination plus thousands of hours of weak illumination.
Your true North facing panel may never get any strong illumination, but it still hoovers up a certain amount of ambient light every hour of the day.
I think if you want to be off-grid as many days as possible, then extra panels facing anywhere will help on dull days, but mostly it's hard to justify N-facing panels unless they are pretty cheap to add.
Simpo Two said:
How long will it take to generate £3Ks-worth of electricity?
To answer that, put the angles into PVGIS and guess the tariffs for the future.The first part of that is likely to be more accurate than the second.
Personally, I think payback times may extend somewhat for all panels as the electricity market continues to evolve....
Simpo Two said:
How long will it take to generate £3Ks-worth of electricity?
According to the company installing the smaller SW only setup pays back in 6 years and the bigger system pays back in 7. This is a very long term investment and will be good to get monthly bills down albeit at the cost of some up front capital. But this isn't all about money for me.For reference the SW setup is about £10k, the full install £13k
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