Monarch Developments:- Conservatories, House Extentions, Solar Panels, Windows, Doors, Play Centers, Climbing Frames, Scotland, Aberdeen, Grampian
Watch our video on using solar
PV to generate energy for your home
This film focuses on two
electricity generating technologies for the home:
wind turbine and solar electricity.
How do photovoltaic (PV)
cells work?
PV cells are panels you can
attach to your roof or walls. Each cell is made from
one or two layers of semiconducting material,
usually silicon. When light shines on the cell it
creates an electric field across the layers. The
stronger the sunshine, the more electricity is
produced.
PV cells come in a variety of
shapes and colours, from grey "solar tiles" that
look like roof tiles to panels and transparent cells
that you can use on conservatories and glass.
The strength of a PV cell is
measured in kilowatt peak (kWp). That's the amount
of energy the cell generates in full sunlight.
The benefits of solar
electricity
Cut your
carbon footprint:
solar electricity is green, renewables energy
and doesn't release any harmful carbon dioxide
(CO2)
or other pollutants. A typical home PV system
could save around 1tonne of CO2
per year - that's around 25 tonnes over its
lifetime.
Cut your
electricity bills:
sunlight is free, so once you've paid for the
initial installation your electricity costs will
be greatly reduced. A typical home PV system can
produce around 40% of the electricity a
household uses in a year.
Sell
electricity back to the Grid:
if your system is producing more electricity
than you need, or when you can't use it, someone
else can use it - and you could make a bit of
money.
Read more about feed-in tariffs and selling
electricity.
Store
electricity for a cloudy day:
if your home isn't connected to the national
grid you can store excess electricity in
batteries to use when you need it.
Is solar electricity
suitable for my home?
To tell if solar electricity is
right for you, there are a few key questions to
consider:
Do you have a
sunny place to put it?
You'll need a roof or wall that faces within 90
degrees of south, and isn't overshadowed by
trees or buildings.If the
surface is in shadow for parts of the day, your
system will generate less energy.
Is your roof
strong enough?
Solar panels are not light and the roof must be
strong enough to take their weight, especially
if the panel is placed on top of existing tiles.
If in doubt, ask a construction expert or an
installer.
Do you need
planning permission? In England, Wales Scotland
and Northern Ireland, you don't need planning
permission for most home solar electricity
systems, as long as they're below a certain size
- but you should check with your local planning
officer, especially if your home is a listed
building, or is in a conservation area or World
Heritage Site.
Making the most of solar
electricity
To make electricity you produce
go further:
invest in energy
efficient appliances. Find energy saving
products
use energy when the sun is
out - do your laundry during the day to take
advantage of the free electricity
Costs, savings and
maintenance
Costs
for installing a solar electricity system have come
done quite a bit in recent years with an average
system (2.7kWp)
costing around
£12,000 (including VAT at 5%).
Solar electricity systems can cost in the region of
£4,000 to £5,000 per
kWp installed, but
costs per kWp should reduce as system size
increases.
In general:
the more electricity the
system can generate, the more it costs but the
more it could save
solar tiles cost more than
conventional panels
panels built into a roof are
more expensive than those that sit on top but,
if you need major roof
repairs, PV tiles can offset the cost of roof
tiles
Savings
can be considerable - around 1.2 tonnes of CO2
a year. A 2.7 kWp
system can generate around 50% of a household's
yearly electricity needs. If the system is eligible
to receive the Feed In Tariff it could generate
savings and income of around £1,170 per year.
Maintenance
is generally small - you'll need to keep the panels
relatively clean and make sure trees don't begin to
overshadow them.
Selling your own
electricity
You can make money on
excess electricity by selling it back to the Grid
through a scheme called Feed in Tariffs (FITs).
Find out more about FITs