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Solar Panel Orientation

Orientation of your property is very important in being able to figure out what your solar panel system will produce. The government have something called a SAP calculation(Standard Assessment Procedure) and there is one for solar PV and solar thermal systems.

Both of these take into account the orientation of the panels that you propose to fit, the figures of what the panels produce will change depending on this. First thing to take into account is which way the panels will face.

If you look at the diagram above (4kW system – 16 x 250w panels) you will see that the optimum direction is south. There is not a massive drop production if they where facing East or West, but the further off south you go the figures will come down slightly. If you go round to North then you can see there is a significant drop in production. The figures installers give you will be based on its nearest directional point, either:

Next is the pitch, a factor in production too, whether it be the pitch of the roof or the bracket you are fixing the panels too (flat roof). The optimum pitch is around  30 degrees and you will see that in the diagram above it mentions the panels being at that pitch with the direction they are facing.

You can see the roof  to the right is 30 degrees, the optimum but the left roof is at 45 degrees. If we changed the roof pitch to 45 degrees in our first image above it would now look like this (see below – figures come down). If we change the pitch higher or lower, so the figures change.

As you can see the pitch of the panels and there direction make changes to what they will produce. Below is the table for calculating the solar panel annual kWh/m2 (kilowatt hours per square meter) set out by the governments SAP calculation. Don’t worry to much about this as not many people are spot on south at 30 degrees, we are just showing you how it is worked out.

GUIDE TO BUSINESS PLANNING

GUIDE TO BUSINESS PLANNING

This book is designed for those with an inspired idea who wish to translate it into a successful new business or incorporate it in an existing business. Usually, the first challenge for those who want to get a business idea off the ground is securing funding. Any investor or those in an existing business with responsibility for approving new initiatives will invariably insist upon seeing a business plan before they approve any investment. The business plan, besides being a prerequisite for gaining access to finance, also provides the blueprint for successfully creating and running the new venture. This book describes a business planning process that will support the preparation of a compelling business plan and the creation of a successful business.

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Policy, Financing and Implementation

Renewable energy can provide a host of benefi ts to society. In addition to the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, governments have enacted renewable energy (RE) policies to meet a number of objectives including the creation of local environmental and health benefi ts; facilitation of energy access, particularly for rural areas; advancement of energy security goals by diversifying the portfolio of energy technologies and resources; and improving social and economic development through potential employment opportunities. Energy access and social and economic development have been the primary drivers in developing countries whereas ensuring a secure energy supply and environmental concerns have been most important in developed countries.

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Mitigation Potential and Costs

Renewable energy (RE) has the potential to play an important and increasing role in achieving ambitious climate mitigation targets. Many RE technologies are increasingly becoming market competitive, although some innovative RE technologies are not yet mature, economic alternatives to non-RE technologies. However, assessing the future role of RE requires not only consideration of the cost and performance of RE technologies, but also an integrative perspective that takes into account the interactions between various forces and the overall systems behaviors.

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Renewable Energy in the Context of Sustainable Development

Historically, economic development has been strongly correlated with increasing energy use and growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Renewable energy (RE) can help decouple that correlation, contributing to sustainable development (SD). In addition, RE offers the opportunity to improve access to modern energy services for the poorest members of society, which is crucial for the achievement of any single of the eight Millennium Development Goals.

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Integration of Renewable Energy into Present and Future Energy Systems

In many countries, suffi cient RE resources are available for system integration to meet a major share of energy demands, either by direct input to end-use sectors or indirectly through present and future energy supply systems and energy carriers, whether for large or small communities in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or non-OECD countries. At the same time, the characteristics of many RE resources that distinguish them from fossil fuels and nuclear systems include their natural unpredictability and variability over time scales ranging from seconds to years. These can constrain the ease of integration and result in additional system costs, particularly when reaching higher RE shares of electricity, heat or gaseous and liquid fuels.

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