PV panels again ...

Aug 10, 2011 21 Replies

So. I popped round to a mate's house this morning to pick something up, and a house across the street from him, has had PV panels fitted to the roof, since last I was there. But we're not talking the usual size of installation here. It is a big house, with a correspondingly big roof, and they have covered just about the whole of one side of it. Didn't count, but I would guess that we were looking at two rows, one above the other, of perhaps six large panels each. For a start, it looks nothing short of bloody ridiculous. How come something like this does not require planning permission ? In amongst all of the nice red tile roofs, this one is now glossy black and bright aluminium. It then occured to me that this is a modern house, which would have pre-fabbed roof trusses, just about man enough to hold up the concrete tiles, with a bit to spare. So how on earth much must those panels weigh on top of the tiles ? Plus the load on the trusses will now be severely asymmetric. And what about when you add the weight of some snow ? Does anyone else think that if for no other reason than safety, these installations should be subject to some kind of building regs, and possibly planning approval as well ?



Arfa



The first result of a Google search returned a BP panel 1593x790 weighing 15.4 kg, so 12.4kg/m2. Tiles, felt and batten, around 60kg/m2, so not a huge additional load. If it snows, I would expect the snow to slide off the panels whilst still on the tiles.

The trusses are probably stronger than a traditional roof as long as you don't cut anything.

That's about the size of mine. It's round the back so less prominent in my case. It will be a 4Kw array. All the sensible people have them rhese days if they have a suitable roof. I have 21 panels, 195W @ 30Volts each. The weight is not huge, it's just a sheet of glass when all's said and done. The aluminiun frame weighs practically nothing. You can get them with blck frames. My roof is slate so they are less prominent.

BTW, had my first cheque yesterday from my buyer (Centrica)- £688, (plus I have saved about £50 in electricity). I should have another in three months about the same size. The Winter ones will be less of course.

Any riots your way harry?

Nah. I live in avillage. I think we have one ageing crim who was into burglary. Nearest is Brm, or Bristol both an hours drive away.

Every village has a harry.

Mine is similar, also on the rear aspect.

Before I would allow installation to proceed, I insisted that the installer run it past Building Control. BC looked at the information they were given, and stated in writing that, for this installation, the increased loading did not require approval.

Chris

I did put some extra struts in my roof (traditional construction) I don't think it was strictly neccessary but I am always belt and braces. Also it was easy and I had suitable timber to hand. The panels are not that heavy compared with the rest of the roof and are well distributed. They just look big.

Welcome to the sensible people club BTW :-) Contributing to the future energy security of the country.

Unlike some of the (jealous) dopes/stick-in-the-muds we have here.

Oh yes, powering those newly acquired plasma TVs of all the louts as they drag themselves out of bed at about your peak generating hours, then providing nothing when the workers get back home and want to put the lights on and cook a meal.

How about when you get to work and turn on the AC, then they are providing power to meet that demand (maybe). It isn't just homes that use power these days.

Powering commerce and industry through the day during peak electricity demand.

I'd rather our suppliers purchased french nuclear electrons (?50/1000kWh at peak times of week) than pay 11x the price for yours (£46/100kWh if the sun shines)

Yeah, like in Japan. How much do you suppose their clearup will cost?

We also have tons of spent nuclear fuel and waste no-one knows what to do with.

You're not very smart are you?

There are plenty of us that know what to do with it, if only we could.

Which is of course primarily from Weapons manufacture...

Andy

I think you mean robbing the poor to give to the rich...

It's the way you tell 'em Harry!

Two keyboards you owe me now!

No indeed. Its all those 24x7 data centres...

Still who needs to contact their bank in the dark when the wind don't blow...

You are a card harry.

have you worked out how much it would cost and how much of England you would need to cover with panels to even ensure 1% of electricity was PV on a cloudy day?

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