Questions
FAQ
Answers to the questions asked most often about sizing a solar system, roof suitability, battery storage, EV charging, assessments, installation and monitoring.
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FAQ
Design and sizing
How systems are put together.
The questions that come up before a proposal exists. General answers, since the right one always depends on the property.
From two things: the surface the roof genuinely offers once orientation and shading are accounted for, and the shape of the property's consumption across a normal day.
Annual consumption on its own is not enough. A house using most of its power in the evening and a workshop using most of it at midday can have identical yearly totals and need quite different systems.
No. Orientation, pitch, shading, roof condition, structure and available surface all decide it, and any one of them can rule a roof out. Part of an assessment is being willing to say that a roof is not suitable, or that only part of it is worth using.
Only if there is a real gap between when you generate and when you use power. A property that consumes most of its electricity during daylight hours may gain little from storage. A property that is empty all day and busy all evening is a different case.
Usually, and how easily depends on decisions taken at the original installation: the inverter type, the space left in the board, and whether a mounting position and cable route were reserved. Where those were provided, adding storage is straightforward. Where they were not, the work can extend well beyond the battery.
Yes, and the two are best planned together. A charge point is a large, controllable load that can be set to favour generating hours. The limiting factor is usually electrical capacity rather than the solar itself.
Yes, and it is the easiest moment to get a system right. On a new build the roof structure, cable routes and board layout can be arranged around the installation, which removes most of the compromises a retrofit has to make.
Working with us
What a project involves.
Practical questions about the assessment, the installation and what happens afterwards.
We look at the roof surface, orientation, pitch, covering and structure, and at shading across the day and the year. Inside, we look at the consumer unit or distribution board, its spare capacity and the practical cable routes.
Alongside that we review your consumption, ideally as interval data rather than as an annual total. The result is a written record of what the property allows and what limits it.
It depends on the size of the system, the roof type and access. What is more useful to know is that the disruptive part is short and planned: most of the work does not require the power to be off, and the connection itself happens in an agreed window arranged in advance.
It is the best time to plan it, whether or not the panels are fitted then. While walls and roofs are open, cable routes, board space and any structural reinforcement can be provided at a fraction of the cost of adding them later.
Yes. Commercial work starts from the load profile: opening hours, daytime demand, seasonal variation and the roof surface that is genuinely usable once plant and access routes are excluded.
Monitoring is configured at commissioning to show generation, consumption and, where fitted, battery state. Access is set up in the owner's name rather than held by the installer, and you are shown what a normal day looks like so that an abnormal one is recognisable.
Recent electricity invoices, interval consumption data if your supplier provides it, photographs or a plan of the roof, photographs of the distribution board, and a note of anything you expect to change: a vehicle, an extension, new equipment or different hours.
Next step
A question that is not answered here?
Ask it directly. Questions about a specific property are usually easier to answer than general ones.