Making The Switch to Solar Power at Home

It’s not difficult to see the benefits of solar panels. As well as offering savings on your electricity bills, they can provide an income, and reduce environmental damage by providing a green source of energy. But what are the steps to installing solar electricity panels on your home? Consider the following points to find a solar panel solution to suit you. Is Your Roof Suitable? Solar electricity panels can benefit homes in Shropshire and across the UK, but unfortunately they are not a possibility for everybody. You may face problems before the installation stage if your house is listed or in a conservation area, so seek planning permission to find out. If your home is not situated in a world heritage site or conservation area you are not likely to need planning permission. If you have a north facing roof or totally in the shade (for example, if it is an area enclosed by tall buildings), you may also not be able to install the panels. South facing roofs are ideal for solar panels, but they can be efficiently installed on east and west facing roofs too. Similarly, you will need to ensure that your roof is not in a poor state of repair or physically unable to support the panels. All homes are different so seek advice from a solar panel installation business to find out about your personal needs. Understand Your Needs: Estimate, perhaps using the total from your electricity bill, your daily usage of energy in watts. Online calculators can estimate this for you, but it is best to use your a bill or find out from your electricity company for accuracy. Once you know your average daily usage in Watts, work out how many hours of sunlight your solar panels will see each day. Remember that this changes with the seasons so try to estimate an average over the whole year. Local solar electricity panels providers in Shropshire and across the UK should be able to give you a rough idea of the hours of sunlight in your area. Divide the daily usage of electricity in watts into the number of hours of sunlight per day. This will give you the number of watts you need to generate each hour. Solar electricity panels are categorised by the number of watts they generate each hour, sometimes 50, 100 or 500 watts. You will need the wattage for the number of panels to match the number of watts you use per hour. Therefore, if your hourly usage is 3,000 watts you will require six 500 watt panels on your home. Contact Your Panel Provider: Whether you can complete the calculation stage on your own or require assistance from the professionals, the next stage is to contact your provider of solar electricity panels in Shropshire or across the UK.