Banton Place, Glasgow
Overview
Easthall Park Housing Co-operative (EHPH) wanted to examine the possibility of installing solar photovoltaic panels (PVs) to approximately 100 homes in the Greater Easterhouse area of Glasgow, including this property in a row of terraces in Banton Place. The benefits of this technology would be reduced electricity costs for their tenants, thus tackling fuel poverty, and reduced CO2 emissions.
The Scottish Energy Centre, part of the Institute of Sustainable Construction at Edinburgh Napier University were asked to undertake a feasibility study. The study considered the location and types of PV panels to maximise solar gain; how PV might link with energy saving measures; and the benefits of feed in tariff (FIT) that might be realised.
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The Easterhouse area of Glasgow is a post-war suburb located to the east of the city. Construction began in the area in the mid 1950’s. Easthall Park Housing Co-operative (EHPH) is a fully mutual housing co-op and a not for profit Registered Social Landlord (RSL).
Scottish Energy Centre conducted an initial survey of the whole housing stock in the study area. A design tool, PVSyst, was used to establish the economic and technical feasibility of PV installations. For further information on PV systems, please see section 3 in the full case study (download on the right).
The tool needs the following information to obtain accurate results:
Tilt of pitched roof
Orientation of roof
The amount of output power required
The type of PV panels to be used
Other considerations include potential shading of the PV panels, FIT restraints and possible issues with grid connections.
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The property being considered on Banton Place is in a terraced row of similar sized houses, in a cul-de-sac in the south of Easterhouse. All properties in the terrace could easily adopt the results of this analysis, except the two centre properties which as the roof geometry would make placing PV panels difficult.
The Banton Place property is home to a small family, who's annual electricity consumption is around 3,300kWh/year.
The roof is orientated to the southeast, at -5.5° from south. The roof pitch is a standard 33° and the total roof area is 38.5m2.
Three PV system options were explored.
Option 1
Solar panel technology: Polycrystalline
Number of modules: 16
Power per module: 230 Wp
Total power: 3.7 kW
Number of inverters: 1
Inverter size: 3.3 kW
Strings: 2 × 8
Produced energy: 2,830 kWh/year
Specific production: 769 kWh/kWp/year
Option 2
Solar panel technology: Polycrystalline
Number of modules: 20
Power per module: 190 Wp
Total power: 3.8 kW
Number of inverters: 1
Inverter size: 3.3 kW
Strings: 2 × 10
Produced energy: 2,866 kWh/year
Specific production: 754 kWh/kWp/year
Option 3
Solar panel technology: Monocrystalline
Number of modules: 16
Power per module: 250 Wp
Total power: 4.0 kW
Number of inverters: 1
Inverter size: 3.8 kW
Strings: 2 × 8
Produced energy: 3,031 kWh/year
Specific production: 758 kWh/kWp/year
The preferred solution is Option 2, which produces almost as much as the family use in a year. There is room for more panels on the roof, but this would increase the total module capacity to above 4kW, which would take the installation into a less favourable FIT rate.
As with all PV installations, there is a high capital cost. Howver, through energy saving and FIT, the payback on initial investment is within 12 years. This includes maintenance and equipment replacement costs. A total potential profit of £55,000 is estimated for the end of the 25 years FIT period. Additionally, 35.17 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions could be saved.
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The study highlights the essential constraints that must be considered in solar PV design:
physical constraints: roof size, orientation and tilt;
financial constraints: FIT provision; and
environmental constraints: shading.
A full life costing is also important for PV installations, as this can show the estimated payback period, as well as total revenue generated and carbon dioxide emissions saved.
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