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Solar PV

What a roof will generate, how that figure is arrived at, and what happens to the electricity.

Calculators

MIS 3002 Start here

What size solar system do I need?

Works out the array a home needs — capacity, panels, battery and what it saves — from a postcode, a roof direction and a year of electricity use.

MIS 3002

Solar PV annual output

Estimates a year of generation from a solar array using the MCS standard estimation method.

MGD 005

Solar PV shade factor

Turns a sunpath assessment into the shade factor an output estimate is multiplied by.

Reading

Article Solar PV

Getting the most from solar panels

Once the panels are on the roof the generation is fixed, and what the system is worth depends on what the house does with it. This covers the habits, settings and annual checks that keep a solar system paying, and the signs that something has gone wrong.

11 min read
Guide Solar PV

What to sort out before solar

Less needs doing than for a heat pump, and one thing people expect to have to do turns out not to matter at all. What is worth checking before you get anyone out.

7 min read
Article Solar PV

Should you wait for better panels?

Panels get a little better every year, which makes waiting sound sensible. What a year's delay costs, worked through with real numbers.

4 min read
Guide Solar PV

Should I get solar panels?

What a roof will realistically generate, why the direction matters less than you think, and why the same panels are worth more to some households than others.

7 min read
Questions Solar PV

Solar panels: common questions

Short answers on what a roof will generate, whether direction and shading matter, what happens to the electricity you do not use, and what the panels need.

13 questions
Guide Solar PV

How the output of a solar PV system is estimated

Every MCS solar quotation contains a figure for annual generation, and every one of them is arrived at the same way. This is the method, the data behind it, and what the number does and does not promise.

7 min read
Article Solar PV

Shading, and why it costs more than it looks

A shadow across one corner of an array can cost far more than its share of the roof. MGD 005 gives a standard way of measuring the loss, and it is the term in a solar estimate most often left at zero.

6 min read