The Roof’s Coming Off and Solar Is Going In!

The Roof’s Coming Off and Solar Is Going In!

£3,385. That’s the amount that we ‘expect’ to save in the first year of using our solar panel system.

Solar Savings

On top of this, we will generate 7,404 kWh of clean electricity every year and save 1,572 kg of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Or, if we look at it another way, our yearly CO₂ reduction is equivalent to a car journey of 5,615 miles or the amount of CO₂ absorbed by 72 trees.

In total, we will reduce our dependency on the grid by 22% and 23% of our electricity supply will be supplied by solar each year.

Now we are pretty pleased with this, considering that solar energy is only part of our green journey.

Why solar panels

So, why solar energy?

For Martin Walsh Architectural (MWA), it wasn’t just driven by daily cost savings, although every little helps! Our goal was to make a long-term investment that would increase our sustainability by having a positive impact on our carbon footprint. It was also to create a reliable source of electricity and protection should tariffs rise.

Our solar decision was a significant part of our green strategy and something that we have been working towards for some time – you can find out more about our green journey here.

Our Solar System

But where do you start when choosing a system? For MWA, several factors influenced our choice.

Roof-Integrated PV System

Firstly, we were investing in a new roof, so it made sense to look at in-roof options.

Eventually, we chose a roof-integrated PV (photovoltaic) solution, which means the solar panels are “in-roof” panels and act just like slates would.

Our system comprises 24 Solfit 375W dual-glass all-black mono-landscape solar panels to collect sunlight and turn it into direct current (DC) electricity.

The panels are connected to 1 SolaX X1 G4 7.5D hybrid inverter, which converts the DC electricity into mains (AC) electricity.

Solar Battery Storage System

We also chose to include a SolaX Triple 5.8kWh LFP Battery storage system.

As well as reducing our grid dependence by a further 4%, this allows us to store excess energy from sunny days so that we can use our generated electricity at night.