Free solar panel discussion

energysavingexp

Is it realy worth renting your roof space out for 25 years for as little as 20-30p per day?

energysavingexp

what about dirt on the panels?
ie: bird muck and rain dirt this must have an effect on the output.
how often do they need cleaning.
is it worth setting up a sprayer system?
any thoughts!!

energysavingexp

what if your roof is in full south sun for 9months of the year and in a shaddow for 2hrs per day for 3 months? do any of the free system suppliers take this in to acount?
has anyone been refused a system because of this?

gjpountain

Just had a 2.88 Kwh system installed.
On a 70% sunny day the system gives 5 Kwh (Nov day)
On a 100% cloudy day the system produced 100watts (yes 0.1 Kwh) (Nov day).
From the tables provided the system should give 2380 Kwh over the full year
However the differences between summe and winter are amazing.
E.G in May, June and July I should expect an average day to produce about 10-11 Kwh
In Nov, Dec and January I should expect on average of about 2 Kwh per day

Cardew

energysavingexp wrote: »

what about dirt on the panels?
ie: bird muck and rain dirt this must have an effect on the output.
how often do they need cleaning.
is it worth setting up a sprayer system?
any thoughts!!

The are differing views on cleaning.

Comparing two contributors on MSE who have had their systems for 2+ years, one(Mcfi5) doesnt clean, Yakky58 cleans twice a year.

I believe ASG posted they will not routinely clean but will monitor the situation.

On the Web I have seen several people post it is essential to clean.

I suppose it all boils down to location, location, location!!

A good test might be to see what a car, left outside unused for a couple of weeks, looks like.

Cardew

ilovegreen wrote: »

We also looked at your roof for SolarShare™ - although there is a cost to this of £500 and £5 per month for an £11k solar system and 25 years maintenance. SolarShare™ is for slightly smaller roofs (20m2, unshaded) facing southeast to southwest.. As with Free Solar, SolarShare includes the system, installation and maintenance for 25 years. The only difference is cost: for SolarShare there is a one-off fee of £500 and £5 per month for SolarCare.

That is simply unbelievable!

Elainemary

Can anyone tell me how to measure the pitch of my roof? Mine is very low and it's not possible to stand upright in the loft. Please keep the techie stuff to a minimum as I'm pretty thick!!

Elainemary

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Copper nails?

How many pounds of nails would it take??:rotfl:

Doc_N

Elainemary wrote: »

How many pounds of nails would it take??:rotfl:

Several kilos, sadly, and I have a sort of feeling they might notice the ring of nails at some point.

The other risk, particularly with a poplar, is that it could fall on the house!

energysavingexp

Elainemary wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how to measure the pitch of my roof? Mine is very low and it's not possible to stand upright in the loft. Please keep the techie stuff to a minimum as I'm pretty thick!!

use a protractor