PV workaround Thermal in WB

26 Oct 2011: John Turner of West Bridgford has written with a report about his installation, in April just in time to catch a good summer harvest. He could have fitted more, but he has had to work around the existing solar thermal panels. Excellent work! As he says (below) that he has managed to achieve the maximum power on the best days, his roof angle must be perfect for summer sun angles. I wonder what he does with all the hot water he must get at these times! I would have considered having 16 in the south roof, and move the solar thermal to the west roof, but that might have been inconvenient for him, plumbing-wise.

John writes: "At the end of April I installed 14 PV panels around 2 Hot water panels which have been on the roof for about 5 years. The max output is 2.5KW and on the best days I'm registering 2.51KW so they meet the Spec. The installation was done by Ploughcroft Solar and they made a good job of it. I have a radio link with a Sunny Beam to the inverter which saves me going into the loft to look at the output power and also gives me records I can download to my computer in spreadsheet form. The data is actually in hourly form but I only collect the daily totals and sum these into Months and an ongoing overall total. Since installation the panels have produced 1575KWh." 

Rushcliffe Solar making a good start

14 July: We are only a week and a half into the 'real work', and are already dealing with a good number of enquiries - something like 40 positive enquiries resulting from people becoming aware of what we are offering, and asking our advice. Meanwhile, the work of databasing typical streets in West Bridgford continues. We will be sending mailshots to high-potential households soon. We intend to have a table set up in Central Avenue on Saturday 17th July, with instant advice (based on aerial photographs of houses which we have access to), and will continue on later Saturdays. Belle and Jerome will support the project with Wifi and electric supply.
     The project is funded by Rushcliffe Borough Council for the first 2 months, and after that we will have to keep going on an independent basis with referral fees from installers, so that we can maintain salary for our staff. We now have to add more Solar PV installers to our approved list, to help with funding. If the project produces good results, we will hope for another burst of databasing and leafletting etc in Summer 2011 - either deepening our coverage of West Bridgford, or expanding to other towns in Rushcliffe Borough.
    If you decide to go ahead with an installation, it is important to tell the installer that your feasibility study/appraisal was done by Rushcliffe Solar, as this is the only way we can continue once the summer funding expires.