Energy bills

[Mr. Dazzle]

My garage roof is south facing and pitched at 45°, so it strikes me that I should be putting panels there if anywhere. S'also single storey obviously.

I dunno why, but I kinda feel like that it's wrong somehow. Can't tell you why

Probably get fucking stolen!

[mangocrazy]

My BiL has just paid £1500 to have netting to stop birds nesting under the panels. Apparently it's a big issue they didn't think of 10 years ago.
Obviously it'd be a lot less if it were installed when they put the panels up in the first place...think by far the largest part of the cost was scaffolding.

I'm interested to know what Bad Thing happens when birds nest under your solar panels? When we're in France my cat regards the solar panels to be an excellent way to get out of the hot sun while still having a good view of the surrounding roofs. I imagine he'd be quite chuffed if he found any birds lollygagging around up there...

Apart from vermin issues bird poo is acidic and if rain doesn't wash it away it could cause problems over a few years.

Yebbut bird poo falls downwards, not upwards, so it's only the roof surface that would be affected. That's assuming there are roof tiles under the solar array of course.

[Mr. Dazzle]

They're noisey fuckers too.

[Mussels]

My garage roof is south facing and pitched at 45°, so it strikes me that I should be putting panels there if anywhere. S'also single storey obviously.

I dunno why, but I kinda feel like that it's wrong somehow. Can't tell you why

Probably get fucking stolen!

I live in a bungalow so makes no difference to thieves, my garage has a flat roof and you can now get special frames for solar panels on flat roofs that are held in place with ballast rather than bolting.
What's holding me back is the immature tech for solar. I've seen one company advertising that their version doesn't drop the power of the whole array if one panel is partially shaded, is that a common issue or misleading marketing? It still seems like a world of vague claims and few facts.
Couple that with not knowing if I can get a second array on the house later on without scrapping the first lot and I'm a bit hesitant.

[Felix]

Yebbut bird poo falls downwards, not upwards, so it's only the roof surface that would be affected. That's assuming there are roof tiles under the solar array of course.

Possibly the clay or concrete tiles are water treated and the shit takes that off faster than a roof with no birds shitting all over them. Slate may not be effected as bad

[Count Steer]

They're noisey fuckers too.

Old nests are pretty unhygienic too. Often crawling with bird fleas and sometimes ticks.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I've seen one company advertising that their version doesn't drop the power of the whole array if one panel is partially shaded, is that a common issue or misleading marketing? It still seems like a world of vague claims and few facts

My parents have got those. No idea now big/prevalent a problem that is.

I imagine there are actually only a few panel manufacturers? You can probably find their dry technical docs?

[mangocrazy]

Yebbut bird poo falls downwards, not upwards, so it's only the roof surface that would be affected. That's assuming there are roof tiles under the solar array of course.

Possibly the clay or concrete tiles are water treated and the shit takes that off faster than a roof with no birds shitting all over them. Slate may not be effected as bad

That's another thing to add to the list of 'things to do' when I get to France. The surface of the panels need regular cleaning to maximise output (or should that be input?) so I need to check underneath as well. Thankfully in our bit of France the roof only has an inclination of about 20 degrees from horizontal, and we have a roof light and steps that enter onto the roof, so not a big problem. The cat should give any nesting birds a nasty fright...

[Mr. Dazzle]

I'm guessing ideally you want the inclination to be your latitude? Or your latitude minus 90 degrees....summink like that.

Gotta be your latitude surely. If you were on the equator at 0° the sun would be mostly overhead so you want 'flat' panels.

So up ere you want em roughly 50°. Down in the saaf of Fronch 20 is still a bit low but not awful.

[Mussels]

Ideal inclination changes depending on what you want it for.
If you want the maximum yearly output then it's a different angle than if you want the best winter output.

[Mr. Dazzle]

It's them pesky seasons again. Why should my energy bills be beholden to the geometry of the solar system?

Outrageous!

[mangocrazy]

I'm guessing ideally you want the inclination to be your latitude? Or your latitude minus 90 degrees....summink like that.

Gotta be your latitude surely. If you were on the equator at 0° the sun would be mostly overhead so you want 'flat' panels.

So up ere you want em roughly 50°. Down in the saaf of Fronch 20 is still a bit low but not awful.

Sorry, I was referring to the inclination of the roof. The roof inclines at approx 20 degrees from horizontal, the panels are tilted up a few more degrees, probably giving an inclination of about 30 degrees.

[Kneerly Down]

If you want to see pretty decent estimation of panel output and the best angles to have the system there's a good EU site:
https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/#api_5.2

It accurately shows the impact of the terrain/mountains around us on the system. e.g. in December a 4kWp system is predicted to generate less than 10 units of leccy, compared to over 400 in summer (such as it is in NW Scotland) months.
If you put in your village in the address bar you can then narrow in on your precise location.
There's then the ability to either put in freestanding/building mounted and either put in roof angle or allow it to optimise, then 'visualise results'.

[Kneerly Down]

I'm guessing ideally you want the inclination to be your latitude? Or your latitude minus 90 degrees....summink like that.

Gotta be your latitude surely. If you were on the equator at 0° the sun would be mostly overhead so you want 'flat' panels.

So up ere you want em roughly 50°. Down in the saaf of Fronch 20 is still a bit low but not awful.

I'm at 57 (and a bit) North, but the ideal inclination year-round is 31deg.

[Mussels]

That's really helpful. My garage is behind my house and there's a 15 degree line up to the ridge, I uploaded the horizon to find out that in December I'll lose a big chunk of not much so the much cheaper garage mounting is still the better option.

[Mr. Dazzle]

That's really helpful. My garage is behind my house

I did rather neglect to consider my neighbour's houses in my musings. The garage might be south facing, but it's also a single level building surrounded by 2-3 level ones

[Kneerly Down]

That's really helpful. My garage is behind my house and there's a 15 degree line up to the ridge, I uploaded the horizon to find out that in December I'll lose a big chunk of not much so the much cheaper garage mounting is still the better option.

If the panels are going to have some in shade and some not, it might be worth getting a setup with microinverters or optimisers.
I have a slightly different issue in that my panels are used ones, so I went for a SolarEdge inverter and optimisers. That way a bad panel won't bring down the rest and I'll be able to see how each panel is performing.

[Mussels]

Looks like my garage roof idea is scuppered before it started. Planning restrictions are very picky so I'm stuck with 4Kw flat to my 20 degree roof unless I want to apply for planning permission. Other restrictions are in place to push me to use an approved installer.
If I was to pay an MCS installer I'd want 8KW to make it worthwhile but for over 4KW on a single phase I need the leccy company's permission, wtf can I not just pick an option that doesn't feed back into the grid and they can go swivel?
https://www.spiritenergy.co.uk/kb-solar ... ng-process

[Docca]

So I didn't appreciate that I had to register my solar panels to get the value and off-set my bills. D'oh!

[Mussels]

So I didn't appreciate that I had to register my solar panels to get the value and off-set my bills. D'oh!

Only for the miniscule feed in tariff I think, you would be getting the main benefit of free leccy without registering.

In a timely fashion I had a flyer from the council come through the door for a group buy scheme.
I put down for the whole works, 8KW plus batteries and an EV charging point and they estimated my quote would be just under 20k.
I'll be tempted if the quote is near that but not eager.