Extra tips & tutorials

Here’s the research carried out by Andy Reynolds that provided the figures for our publication Wind & Solar Electricity.  Over to Andy.

Do you have some south-facing roof space? Most people have a pitched roof, so there’s a good chance that you do – but if you don’t, an east-west roof is fine.

There are various packages that you can use to estimate the amount of electricity that you will get out of your system, based on the area of panels you install, the orientation of your roof and the angle of inclination of your panels.

First, you want to find an actual installer, rather than a sales company. You need to find someone relatively local, who is knowledgeable and believes in what they do. You don’t want someone who’s doing it just for the money, although of course they need to make a living.

The size of your system will depend on how much roof space and how much money you have (or are able to borrow). A domestic system is unlikely to be larger than 4kW.

Your system will tick away nicely without you ever having to worry about it. It doesn’t really require any maintenance, and there are no moving parts to go wrong.

Information provided by Andy Reynolds of the Ecolodge