Roof Not Suitable For Solar? Here's The Solution!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ส.ค. 2024
- The demand for solar panels has soared in the UK in recent years with 2022 recording the biggest uptake of domestic solar panels mainly due to the increase in energy prices.
But what options are available to you if you can’t have solar panels on your roof?
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Ripple Energy: rippleenergy.com/
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Check out our episodes:
Robert’s Zero Carbon Home - • A Tour Of Robert Llewe...
Fresh Green Electrons - • Can Clean Technologies...
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
00:27 The demand for solar
00:57 Why is solar on the roof not always an option?
01:46 Ground mounted solar
02:55 Solar sheds and outhouses
03:14 Solar tracking system
04:20 Balcony solar system
04:48 Solar parks and farms
05:26 Solutions for everyone
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The Rishi reaction video is going to be a nuclear level rant
Solar level rant
@@hairzilla if you have several acres of solar, sure.
Literally only clicked on this to see the rishi comments! What a c💣
Definitely looking forward to it!
Bobby may go supernova...
A solar carport is also worth considering - protecting your car from the weather as well as generating electricity.
That's a great idea and could work for us, so thanks for posting.
@@andycotton162 given we want to move away from people needing to own any vehicle its not really. because making 1.5 billion evs is just insane. and we should not be considering it.
@@H4N5O1O Typical metropolitan response, try living in an area with low population and zero or almost zero public transport. personal vehicles are an essential not a luxury and being told by people living in cities with heavily subsidised public transport that we just have to "do without" is plainly ignorant.
or a solar gazebo in the garden - again, dual use for the structure.
Yes I built a carport with solar panels that leave some light through between the cells. Really nice effect. 3kW output. Quite flat though
Thanks for the mention. So exciting to see loads of Everything Electric subscribers becoming Ripple members this year 🙂
Don’t forget walls! I’ve installed 4kW of panels on my south facing house wall in addition to 4kW of panels on my roof, and on average they give me about 2/3 of the energy that the roof panels generate! That’s from a wall which, until the panels were installed, was doing nothing but getting hot in the sun! They did require a planning application, but this was granted without issue. The wall panels will massively favour the low angle of the winter sun, when the angle of the roof mounted panels becomes less optimum.
Don't forget west facing roofs. About 15% less generation, but much more likely to make it into the evening peak when you are using power and fossils may be ramping up in the grid. East facing to a lesser extent for morning use.
I've often wondered would east facing solar panels top hinged on the ridge line on the roof with a lifting device work - so theyre horizontal by mid day - and possibly tilted towards the west a little by evening -
Think the auto opening rear hatchback on a car ,
Shame the housing estates being built where I live seem to have no regard for the sun. Perhaps it should be mandatory, where possible, to have south facing roofs.
Or an east-west orientation so that one side gets sun in the morning, the other side in the evening and booth sides mid day.
At LEAST 1 S facing roof
Perhaps design the roof at the optimum angle to accommodate the Sun's "apparent" movements over a year.
And perhaps a pre programmed "az -el" mount so that if the Sun appears from behind the clouds during the day the panel array is exactly where it should be for maximum charging.
Might be a wheeze to follow the Moon too.
I sometimes get 0.1V ... I jest, of course.
and a single pitch of the right angle.
@@H4N5O1O
Quite.
A mansard roof might "split" the charging effect.
I have an 8 pannel self installed grid-tie system on my workshop (i'm a sparkie) it's definatley worth a lot of home owners looking into as the building reg's are often A LOT more lax for systems mounted on buildings that are not slept in (unless you count me falling asleep with my soldering iron in hand) and are not comercial premises.
my whole system with 8x 300W silfab panels and growatt 3kw inverter and ancillaries was £1278 as obviusly I did all the work my self...thanks to octopus my payback looks to be well under a year.
Also solar gazebo's and car ports are a fantastic idea.
I'm currently designing a hot water system to make use of the exported power as it's a better use of the power rather than selling it back for half the normal unit purchase price.
There are comercial systems out there for this but I suspect I can do it for a fraction of the cost.
Any thoughts about how to work around an electricity network operator who wants 30K to run three phase to your house so you can increase your PV production?
One option not mentioned for those with steep roofs and not wanting to have in lawn would be walk way cover.
Love this style of video, informative yet short, perfect for sharing with those pesky friends and relatives asking for advice.
A good way to get double duty is to make the solar array part of a porch or carport roof/covering. Avoid the cost of roofing materials while some weather protection.
Just read this.
You are hehind the times ... why not Google up your excellent suggestion.
@@t1n4444
???
One option for those who can’t install solar is to install a battery that stores the excess energy from other people’s solar energy. This battery can then be charged at low cost when solar energy is abundant and cheap. Here in Australia there is so much solar being produced that most restrict the amount that can be fed into the grid, that not used or sent to the grid is therefore wasted.
True, but which of our energy retailers actually offer true value time of use tariffs? To my research, none! Most have peaks of ~ 42c/Kwh and lows of high 20's. And they don't consider the middle of the day off-peak but shoulder which means the rates being charged are higher again, mid 30s, and don't reflect the true cost of electricity at that point.
Not an issue in the U.K. or most northern nations.
It’s amazing how much power they can generate
Thank you for providing information about co-ops! Solar and wind are great if we leverage them well. Co-ops seems like a great approach. Solar farming seems interesting as well, as the ground underneath is being used to grow food. I agree that carports are also under utilized. Thank you for sharing as always!
I'm more than a bit disappointed that you didn't mention the benefits of PVT (photovoltaic thermal) solar. PVT provides electricity, and heating, and hot water, and can provide process heat for commercial, and low-temperature heat for industrial consumers.
I am happy you mentioned solar co-ops. Solar, and wind, co-ops never get the attention they deserve.
I love the co-op model. Please do an episode on this to spread awareness to people in apartments and grow support. Are there issues around utilities in cities allowing this, or any legislation that needs changing?
Here in Sydney, the best static panels are facing North at 30 degrees.
A very helpful and informative episode. Thank you
Excellent episode for those setting out on their renewable energy journey. Love the positivity!
Great video, its worth mentioning if solar is going on your shed your likely be better with micro inverters as most sheds can't fit enough panels on to get the voltage needed for a string inverter. I've just covered micro inverters on my channel as I was able to install them on my roof I also used a neat solar tech which is bifacial panels which capture the energy from the sun twice!
Hi Nick! Do you think your panels have generated more power than regular panels?
lol, I laugh, then realise most British sheds are about 12ft by 8ft or less- yes not very big, my shed easily carries 7+kw PV on tilts (2 strings, morning partial shade - with optimisers) .. (different climate zone, larger sheds- altogether different setting) .
Very helpful ideas. Thank you as always for everything you do.
A series of Solar focused ideas/installs on each and every possible scenario for domestic users would be good for eg Garages, Car ports, etc 😁
I could only fit 4 panels on house roof so built a purpose built shed with 8 panels. She'd cost about the same amount as scaffold would have done. Steve
It’s the power output of the panels that matters, not their number 😉
Good shoutout for Ripple. A great option where other solutions aren’t feasible, and with the option to start small.
Very interesting advice. Love to see positive and informative solar information being spread! Very much agree with what was said.
I live in New Westminster BC Canada. Several years ago the city created a "solar garden", a community solar project that residents could buy into. The panels are installed on city infrastructure. This allows condo owners to reap the benefit of solar power. Installation, maintenance, repair and retirement are covered by the city. This system required money up frront but some projects allow distributed payments. Here I receive twice annual credits based on the cost of electricity. When electricity rates are increased I get more credit. Unfortunately other taxes other added to the bill.
Good video. I live in the Queensland Tropics so have my panels tiltable as the sun moves to the south of me in summer. I'm remote, and batteries last about six years, replacement cost currently A$1650. Panels do get old and don't output as efficiently so I'm thinking about a couple more. Controllers are expensive but the latest ones are good. So even though the panels are now much cheaper than my old ones, other factors may be limiting. I do all the installing myself, and supports cost something too.
We made a duel axis tracker been running 7 plus years now, has 6 X lg 335 watt panels, I logged onto the VRM the other day it was producing 2573 watts, not bad for a rated 2010 watts system.
Love this channel. Very good content and well produced.
I have been enjoyed, so thank you for delivering.
1:50 "Ground mounted is cheaper to install" NOT in the USA! At least not in SoCal. We wanted to go ground mount as we have a large section of unused lawn. But cost of permits, safety fence, inspection and required trenching with longer wiring in piping all added up to a much larger cost than solar on roof.
You have to be careful in the UK you don't breach permitted development regulations when installing a ground mount system in your garden i.e., proximity to neighbours boundary, height of array, size of array etc. There may also be problems if you live near an airport or railway (glint and glare). In most modern UK housing developments gardens just aren't big enough (nesting design tools) and suffer from shading issues.
Planning regs for solar pv are under review at the moment. They don’t cover solar tracking which has a small footprint and panels that move over the course of the day. The 5 metre from the boundary rule was arbitrary (why not 3?) and the 4 metre height in a large garden is not relevant either. Size of array was fixed when panels were a lot smaller than now. You’re absolutely correct re modern houses/small gardens. Developers should be building houses for solar gain and covering their roofs with solar rather than adding fake plastic chimneys. Glint and glare is not a huge problem with our turn and tilt systems.
Super lesson!
Love your work 👍
To make better use of the available space you should raise the ground mounted array up so you can do agrivoltaics.
By using the shade cast by the array for growing a vegetable garden or such.
The same applies for these huge fields of community owned solar farms, these should make way better use of the land by combining these with agricultural activities.
I installed 4.9kW of solar array on the top of a pergola in the garden. Didn't lose any garden space as it sits high over the garden. Self installed, I can adjust the angles for winter/summer and spring-autumn. Just one thing - I did need to get planning permission as the array wasn't on the main roof of the house, and exceeded 2m2.
5:36 minutes of excellent information! Well worth watching 👀
THANKS ROBERT AND EMILIE 🤗💚💚💚
Thank you.
Thank you
A nice shot of Guildford Cathedral during the bit about the solar park in North Devon. 😄
You guys are absolutely amazing!
Your solar proposition is a great Breaking News!
That's a wonderful development I'm hearing for the first time.
As soon as I can, you guys will definitely install this amazing solar energy of yours for me here in Nigeria.
I give God all the GLORY for helping me find you guys here.
Thanks a million!
And I'm sharing this good news!
God bless you guys more abundantly!
I can fit 10 x Solar Panels on a Ground Mounted South facing array in our back garden...
... but we need to apply for Planning Permission.
Super video, as usual. Just want to seed a small conspiracy here. In Germany, where I live, I can have up to 600w of solar plugged via an inverter directly into my wall socket. No electrician required. Buy it, plug it in, done. Hundreds of thousands of these are being installed, helping to drive down the price of solar panels here. In Devon, UK, where my mum lives - not allowed! Have to get an electrician (if you can trap one) to come and do it. Can someone (ahem, Robert!) please make some loud noises?
Just a correction. In the Northern hemisphere your roof should be South facing. In the southern hemisphere it's the other way around
The twin immersion is genius. Currently, my solar pv diverter only goes to a single immersion and often thermostats off. My next cylinder will have 2 immersion.
The ones in the bottom of your garden when you’ve got to churn up your whole garden. When I was googling them, they were very expensive. We’ve had to get them on the east and west because we could only have One on the south facing.
I have a 4kw ground array and it doesn’t need to take up too much room if you think carefully about the spacing between the rows. (Mine are on the very cheap ballasted buckets, 4 rows of 4). Looking at the very low daily generation possible for December and January/February means that it doesn’t matter too much if tighter spacing means more shading at this time of year. As long as those lucrative months are maximised when the sun is higher then this it can be a sensible optimisation of space and solar gain.
EVNick just had some clever panels put on his roof called Bifacial can you have Emilie do a video about the different type of solar cell panels please
East & west exposure configuration are just as good as south facing roof!
You want a north facing roof in several parts of Australia
Some years ago (probably over 15) I asked a solar panel installation firm to visit my house to discuss options for solar panels. He quickly dismissed our double pitched roof as it faced the wrong direction. I then asked about mounting them on the ground, as there was one section of garden that received sunlight a good part of the day, but he stated at the time it was 'not possible'. Of course fast forward a few year later and they are mounting thousands of the things on ground frames! Just shows never accept a so called experts views on things, also question those views.
Great Video - but would be the best option if you live in a coastal windy location in Skye. Rocky garden so earth screws not option. Would the single pole tracking option work in windy conditions? Wind turbine not an option due to location and impact on neighbours.
I love home made DIY Off-GRID Solar Panel systems with LifePo Batteries made with parts bought cheap off ebay but able to charge up my NISSAN LEAF EV
Could you do a show about the new, light, and flexible solar sheets that are coming? I bump into these occasionally on the web, but not seen anyone using them to cover a roof that was previously unable to take rigid solar panels. Our house has a steel roof, very much like most business warehouses and out of town shops, and so the thought that all these metal roofs might be able to take solar after all is quite exciting, even if it appears that they are currently less efficient that rigid solar panels, but perhaps compensated by the fact that the entire roof could be covered rather than just part?
If you're about to go with a solar farm share as an interim solution until you eventually get solar panels installed, please read the fie print carefully--as some farm contracts stipulate a significant delay after termination request until actual termination of the contract--meaning you may be on the hook paying for your share that you no longer need once your own panels are installed and are producing power.
FEEDBACK
Good video, but would have been a lot more informative if there was at least a relative comparison of costs.
Thank YOU, lovelies :)
Cheaper on the ground is not usually true in my state in the US. Even with the added need for micro electronics a good ground mount frame and trenching ect. add up.
As noted, no trenching and minimal frame
Great info, thanks.
What about something similar for home wind generators? Not seen much about this topic. Perhaps also the pros and cons of vertical v horizontal axis generators? Just a thought.
An excellent notion.
The main criticism with bladed types on a horizontal axis is noise.
The upright types, vertical axis, are alleged to be quieter.
The vertical axis types catch the wind from any angle and don't require a weather cock type action as it were.
Cost per output are about the same.
Some folks I know use both solar and wind turbines to optimise the power generation during the day and the wind turbines work around the clock.
Another benefit to buying shares in a solar farm is that you keep the benefit when you move home
the balcony solar has options to plug into your house via a normal socket. reducing the amount of grid electricity you need to buy...a battery can store the solar power.
The company selling the mains plug in system did not get a license for it to be installed in UK homes so have had to stop selling it. I wanted one but will now just have to hope they get it tested and licensed.
...bit more on flats please 👌👏🙏 Sometimes outside "real estate it limited" so it is hard to angle a solar panel much to get most benefit ! What do you think about vertical axis wind turbines if you live near the coast for example ? Crucially, their footprint is small and are some units affordablish !??
You seem to have forgotten wall mounted systems. These can actually deliver substantial amounts of electricity in Winter due to the fact that they are mounted at 90° angles. They also have the additional benefit of adding a little insulation to your house, so you save a little on heating in winter and cooling in summer.
A video on stand-alone systems for renters would be incredible - could i at least run my fridges and heatpump off it?
$ & sun space probably
Yeah, I'd love to know more about options for renters.
Your going to need an expensive stand alone system to run a heat pump. Renters are the hardest hit. It’s seems to more land / roof space you own the more you can save. I would say for renters. Do it because you enjoy it or want to help the planet rather than expect to be saving much
That's what's great about ripple energy, if I move house I take my investment with me.
Fridge yes, definitely, heat pump no. You need a 2-4kW solar PV system to run the heat pump. That’s 5-8 panels (400W-500W each)
I really like the idea of buying shares in a solar farm. If anyone out there knows of a company doing this in the Netherlands then I'd love to hear from you. I have solar panels already but they are a little dated so I'm looking at all options.
Great video. My roof of my current house is unsuitable with dormer windows and I was thinking about a tracker array in the garden, but the planning rules here in the UK specify anything not roof mounted has to be 3 meters away from the property boundary which, with a smallish garden, means this is a no go.
got a link to the planning ? i wanted to fence mount some with a tilt bracket.
The planning regs are being altered to sort this out - it was an arbitrary measurement invented in 2011 for no apparent reason.
@@beesolartech that would be brilliant, they need to get a move on!
Which is about the same for 90% of homes I would say. None of this will work and just create more issues regarding shading of others properties.
As mentioned in the comments, if you live In the Northern hemisphere for maximum benefit you should install solar on a South facing roof. In the Southern hemisphere it's the other way around, so for maximum benefit you should install solar on a North facing roof.
Solar Tubes by Naked Energy perhaps - to get Solar Water Heating + Solar Electricity, which can also be installed vertically on Walls.
Have you guys done anything on Octopus removing MCS requirements? Therefore allowing diyers to install their own solar
The solar options continue to work around challenges; well done industry. Frustratingly I have been limited, by the DNO, to half the capacity of my south facing, modern 40 degree roof. Any suggestions gratefully received on challenging the DNO.
You could consider upgrading your supply from single phase to three phase which would allow you 3 x more solar capacity.
@@beesolartech yeah I looked into that. Unfortunately, the DNO led me down a merry dance telling me that I had three phase on the edge of my property. However, it was two single phases! To connect three phase would be cost prohibitive (£1000's).
Another thing you can do to save energy is to replace that patio door with something better insulated. Maybe a future project?
Great video, thanks! But I am not sure that a solar tracking system needs a GPS to locate the sun, 3:27 it rather uses a photocell
Hi - our Heliomotion system in the video uses GPS and a position sensor to track the sun. This enables it to return to the correct position overnight, in the dark, ready for the next day as it always knows where the sun is. Photocells only work when it is light.
@@beesolartech Thanks for the clarification! On my solar bikes I am currently using a manual way to perform solar tracking, hope to move in the future to an automatic solution: th-cam.com/video/AsPFdtLRll4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vqoqERan_qzYHU3I
I have cedar shingles on my outbuilding, which is otherwise perfect for panels but was told by installer that there is a fire risk and it was not possible to install over them!
pish make them stand further off with a bigger airgap then.
You've added a link to Ripple Energy, could you please also add links for the other solutions in this video?
I just want to know what company I can trust to quote and supply and fit solar/batteries onto my property. Too many adverts for "free" solar" that I just don't trust.
Great explanation... just a little niggle from us antipodeans, better to descirbe idea orientation as "equator facing"... as down here in Australia, panels facing north will have the highest yield.
I live in USA,Texas. My roof is shaded so I buy 100% renewable energy from the energy market.
I installed a "Smartflower". Works and looks great! #smartflowersolar
You could have had several Heliomotion trackers for the same price!
Cool
Just add, even if you do have solar installed, you can still invest in a Ripple Energy solar farm or wind turbine and receive credits back into your utility bill
Lots of flat roof extensions out there, put them on those.
I have solar but I have been trying to get a wind turbine to complement it, but nobody seems to do it, have you looked into this?
I wish there was a similar set up to Ripple in Northern Ireland, all of ours talk about "Sustainable Energy" while using Natural Gas... this is burning stuff... not exactly what we want. We live in a large Apartment building, and so we cannot have solar or Wind.
I have thought about putting 100watt solar panels up in our windows (we have a few that we always have the curtains closed due to nosy neighbours), but the angle would be less than ideal and we would likely get less than 10w per panel consequently (average), that with the cost of the battery storage makes it unviable for us at the moment.
The only hope we have is that our Landlord (a housing association) decides to put solar on the roofs of all of its buildings. We also drive an electric car, and cannot even charge up in our car park, and have to use the less than ideal public charging network here (and not exactly cheap). But, things are moving in the right direction... slowly... at least 65% of our energy comes from wind here (well, technically 100% where we are). To the future
How do the solar panels perform if its cold outside, and there's no kind of atmosphere?
Solar prices don't seem to have gone down at all in the last 5 years. Where is the best place to buy solar panels from?
It might be helpful to add that your roof does NOT need to be south facing!
In fact, if your country has already moved beyond net metering, the slim and pointy production curve of a south facing roof might even be less economical than an east-west roof solar array with its much more flat and wide curve, giving you usable amounts of energy for a greater amount of hours throughout the day.
Especially, if you’re investing in a home battery, the flatter and wider production curve of the east-west orientation means having to spend less on battery capacity to keep your house powered and off-grid throughout the night with production starting earlier and ending later.
Addendum: Our 16kwp array is mostly east/west facing with a few extra panels on the south-facing garage and it’s keeping two EVs that see lots of use powered for 2/3 of the year and our domestic electricity use is pretty much covered for the entire year, save for small deficits in december, thanks to our moderately-sized 9.5kWh battery system.
SYKE!
Aint no mention about the price... Good for people owning over an acre of land in AONB with a detached 5 bedroom bungalow along with a few farm fields...
So in the UK you can build an outbuilding less than 15m2 without planning no boundary considerations. Solar ground array has to be 5m away from the boundary max of 9m2. To add solar to an existing outbuilding with no sleeping contained within you don't need planning? So you could build a long tool storage shed/box and put solar on it up against the boundary more than 9m2 without planning? ... strange and as to why a ground array has to be 5m in from a boundary i don't understand we have a big garden but that is in the middle of the lawn, in a London house it means you cant have a ground array as the boundary either side will not normally allow this type of install ....
Something Ripple are a bit vague about is the Tax implications of their approach (Solar or Wind). You receive your return on investment as you would from stocks and shares, therefore you are subject to Tax if your total income is greater than your tax free allowance. This obviously extends your payback time. At the moment, you can't get your return simply debited against your energy bill.
Hello from OZ i live in a rig i made full time and the following is for the dreamers thinking off grid Living ,,,, So WAKEUP UR DREAMING,, now thats out of my system now what is needed
1st live in a place like OZ for real sun power
2nd this is the cheapest way you can do it AND still have both longevity & not bust your bank account. SO BELOW HERE IS THE SHORT LIST
I am running 4 solar panels @ 360watts each wired as one panel this runs to a regulator MPPT 100/50 (CHEAPER ONES MELT) then down to 8 batteries each is 135amp and are wired as one massive 24v battery at over 500amph YOU GOT ALL THAT NOW IT IS IN A CARAVAN AND IS DOING THE JOB now it is not cheap and over 10yr cycle mains power is cheaper and a honda geset is still needed
In Tenerife I have two panels 370 + 200. W. The main panel is on the solar deck on a roof so I can adjust the angel every month. The 200W panel is fix and is timer controlled. The system cost 470 Euro and we save 20% on the electrical bill. CO2 is not a problem, in fact it give life to the plants. We need more CO2. The IPCC is totally wrong and soon we will experience colder weather, colder climate.
WHEN YOU HAVE very little yard space. It's not an option. I live in Los Angeles and every square foot is very expensive. But I was able to put Solar on my backyard roof. It faces perfectly to the South.
So glad someone, esp Bobby, is addressing this, I've been thinking about it for a long time. Solar installation is expensive, borderline scam, this would be a great application for a kit, my choice would be off grid with batteries.
They are pretty useless on a cloudy day. In South Africa I generate 10kwh per day with 6× 455w panels. 5 kwh on a winters day clear sky and 2kwh on a cloudy day, so good luck charging your Tesla's. They also take up 14m square of roof space. I hope you guys have football field sized backyards?
Don't worry the people making these videos are all stinking rich and make their money back by making YT videos about how virtuous they are.
What about flat concrete roof?
Can someone help me understand the desire for solar from a financial perspective rather than environmental. When the cost of a solar installation seems to be about $50,000 but it saves me around $200 a month if the solar replaces my entire electrical bill that would take me 250 months or 20 years to recoup my investment.. I don’t expect to be in this same house in 20 years and and that’s assuming I don’t invest that $50,000 and get 5% cod or invest it in stock market.. that $200 would probably never catch an invested $50,000. So I’m not trying to troll here. I genuinely want to know what the financial incentive is for this push to solar
In the UK five years or so ago it did seem to be 20 years to recoup investment. But this is lowering by the year and in current higher energy prices have heard of it being about 5 years.
Where you live, how much power you need, whether you have an electric car and many other factors can affect whether, for your individual situation, solar&battery are beneficial for you. Sometimes, with reducing prices, it may be a case of when it is financially beneficial.
For example, if you have the space then lean-to panels can really reduce the installation costs.
You are right. Always do your math whether an installation works for you.
My sister had just broke even with her system when the inverter died, just out of warranty. Had to shell out for that and now waiting to break even again and that's with 36 panels. As an electrician I'd say do it if you want to feel good but don't do it for the money.
Install a $5k system, not $50K. Unless you live somewhere that jacks up the price for no reason. If you paying over $1 a watt fully installed you're overpaying. Sorry if you have no affordable choices.
Somewhat bizarre that you are talking about the Ripple solar farm in Devon, but show an aerial view of Guildford, Surrey! 🙄😖
- lol, why does a tracker need an onboard GPS - the solar mount hardly relocates very often - all it may need to know is a one-off fix of Lat. and Long. (for the rough solar tracking needed by flat plate panels) Or, just track the bright shiny thing in the sky directly (only need to shift every half, or hour or so)....
Our tracker moves every 6 - 7 mins, and swings back to south when the sun is 6° below the horizon, and to the morning position just before dawn. If it only moved every 30 mins, it would not be so accurate. Please let us know where we can see your design in action?
Community solar is a good alternative
Can we have veranda systems in the UK? The front of my house faces SSW and overheats in the summer - a panel veranda over the front windows would provide electricity and shade. Seen some great pictures of them on designer properties in Spain, etc. Are we allowed them here?
I think the heat geeks office building has them above the front windows. They gave a name to them, but I have forgotten what they called them.
The ones that plug straight into a socket are not allowed by building regs, and you have to register it under G98, and given most arent type tested, they wont pass that without inspection. So, no, you can't use them in the UK.