Solar panels on East-West roof.

SD-253

Just got a letter offering solar panels.
1st they claim your house does not have to face South? As my house is a bungalow with no shading. I have noticed that the rear garden has (west facing) full sun by 11am maximum in the summer. Is it possible I could generate enough electricity to make it profitable?
Has anyone dealt with this firm Absolute renewable energy. I live in Lincolnshire so maybe someone on the Lincolnshire Wolds may have dealt with them?
The product is Solar PV panels.

Martyn1981

Hiya SD. By offered, do you mean free panels, where you just get the leccy savings, or to buy?

Doesn't have to face south, but total annual generation of E, W or E/W will be about 15 to 20% less.

Checking Lincoln on PVGIS (see this thread, section 5):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3872445

I got a guesstimate figure of 740kWh per kWp of installed panels. If you can fit 4kWp, then that's 2,960kWh pa.

Potential income works out at:
1. FiT 2,960*14.9p = £441
2. Export, 50% deemed, 1,480*4.64p =£69
3. Leccy savings (£80 to £160) guess = £120
Total £630.

If you can get an install for £6k, then not bad, FiT and export are index linked for 20 years. Expect quotes of up to £9k, so you'll need to chat/discuss/learn/haggle etc.

Not being pedantic, but is the sun on your garden, or on your roof? For instance, our ESE roof starts to lose performance around 2pm, and loses the sun around 4pm, but the bottom of the ESE garden can be lit till 8pm+. Similarly, the small WNW garden gets the sun a few hours before it actually hits our WNW roof/panels.

Just ask anything, somebody will help.

Mart.

Ectophile

Provided that the roof isn't shaded, a mixture of east-facing and west-facing panels can be viable. You will get less generation than normal for the size of the panels, but they will generate for more of the day.