Is solar power a bright investment?

[Aurora]

The Guardian - 06/02/10

It costs £12,500 to install solar cells on your roof, but new tariffs should give you a return of at least £25,000. So what's the catch? There isn't one, says Miles Brignall.

Article continues ...

[2 As and a B]

Thanks for posting.

Just been out to measure the SW-facing conservatory roof. 9.2 m2, so counts as "largish" as per the article. Pitch, at about 20 degrees, could be steeper but there is room to build a supporting frame around the conservatory to get a steeper pitch.

Much prefer the conservatory roof to the house roof as it would be easily maintainable.

Might even be worthwhile extending the 'conservatory' roof with a mix of PV and solar thermal panels to form a porch or, if across the whole width of the back of the house, a 'verandah'.

[ecoworrier]

An interesting article which puts forward a good case for investment in PV.

9 m Sq gets you about 1.2 kWp, I wouldn't worry to much about maintenance, as it's minimal on the panels.
You need good access to the inverters which might need attention.

[kenneal - lagger]

Thanks for posting.

Just been out to measure the SW-facing conservatory roof. 9.2 m2, so counts as "largish" as per the article. Pitch, at about 20 degrees, could be steeper but there is room to build a supporting frame around the conservatory to get a steeper pitch.

Much prefer the conservatory roof to the house roof as it would be easily maintainable.

Might even be worthwhile extending the 'conservatory' roof with a mix of PV and solar thermal panels to form a porch or, if across the whole width of the back of the house, a 'verandah'.

By definition in the Building Regs, a conservatory must have a translucent roof. If you change the roof to something solid you should also upgrade the walls to comply with the structural and insulation requirement of the Building Regs. You would probably also have to open up the windows and wall of the room opening into the former conservatory to make both rooms into one to get sufficient light penetration into the inner room. This would depend on the situation of the windows in the inner room and if there were sufficient that did not open into the conservatory.

One of the advantages of using the house roof is that it is usually less shaded for more of the day because of the additional height. If a number of the panels are shaded there is a huge reduction in the output of the setup.

[RenewableCandy]

Good point, PVs aren't a light weight.