22 Oct 2011: DNC writes: My sister in law and her partner live in Yorkshire, and have been inspired to go as Eco as possible. They have both PV and solar-thermal panels, and they are off both the water and the drainage grids.
Having a house which is historic, they couldn't consider panels on the roof, but they have a superb south facing hillside immediately behind the house. Paul is a scientist, so the technicalities of planting concrete feet on the hill, getting them perfectly planar, and working out the wiring back to the house are not a challenge.
The final 3.15 kW array is very clean, totally unshaded. It is safe against wind uplift, and is nearly invisible from the road. It maximises PV capture in summer months.
Paul writes:
"The concrete was reinforced with steel and had threaded studs set at the top. Our PV installers (Ecoheat) provided the dimensioned drawing.
"We had our local builders dig the holes and pour the concrete (they needed bits of shuttering at the top where the concrete sticks up above the ground. They had to ensure that they lined up horizontally and vertically, so as to take the support frame. We left the ground underneath as it was, the grass has mainly died away.
"A galvanised steel unistrut frame was fitted to the concrete supports (as shown in the photos). To this was fitted a Schuco PV Light mounting system for the actual PV panels (18 x BP 4175T). Two buried armoured cables take the DC current from the panels (above and behind the house) to the inverter (a Sunny Boy 1100), which is fitted in a weather proof enclosure mounted on the upper rear wall of the house. Another armoured cable takes the AC current from the inverter into the loft and down into our airing cupboard, where there is a sub-board for the mains connection."
Paul writes:
"The concrete was reinforced with steel and had threaded studs set at the top. Our PV installers (Ecoheat) provided the dimensioned drawing.
"We had our local builders dig the holes and pour the concrete (they needed bits of shuttering at the top where the concrete sticks up above the ground. They had to ensure that they lined up horizontally and vertically, so as to take the support frame. We left the ground underneath as it was, the grass has mainly died away.
"A galvanised steel unistrut frame was fitted to the concrete supports (as shown in the photos). To this was fitted a Schuco PV Light mounting system for the actual PV panels (18 x BP 4175T). Two buried armoured cables take the DC current from the panels (above and behind the house) to the inverter (a Sunny Boy 1100), which is fitted in a weather proof enclosure mounted on the upper rear wall of the house. Another armoured cable takes the AC current from the inverter into the loft and down into our airing cupboard, where there is a sub-board for the mains connection."
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