Carbon Zero Houses

Projects: Haven

Solar Panels Installation

The optimum roof direction for solar panels is south facing. Fortunately for the Haven project the roof faces south east, so gets the sun for the majority of the day from sunrise until about an hour or two before sunset depending on the time of year. It was decided to use evacuated tubes for the solar panels as these are believed to provide optimum performance for the UK’s climate.

Evacuated tubes are the absorber of the solar water heater. They absorb solar energy converting it into heat for use in water heating. There are several types of evacuated tubes in use in the solar industry. The ones used for the Haven Project are the most common "twin-glass tube" collectors. This type of tube was also chosen for its reliability, performance and price, since it has a relatively low manufacturing cost.

The photographs show the roof before during and after the installation. For the Haven project it was decided to use 30 evacuated tube collectors. These use up an area of xx.