Award-winning Scottish installer, Solar Kingdom has completed its largest ever roof integrated system, fitting a single roof with 60 panels, or 15kWp – in the process creating significant savings in installation costs.
Installed for businessman Craig Muir at Strathore Business Park, near Kirkcaldy, the Strathore Plant Hire main office building (above) was to be re-roofed as part of a major refurbishment. During the process, he decided this was an opportunity to consider a solar installation and invited Solar Kingdom to complete the work.
By fitting the solar panels as part of the building renovation, all installation work on the roof became cost-neutral. Scaffolding was already in place and fitting the panels was substitutional for the work of fitting tiles.
There were further savings of over £1,000 in cost of roof tiles. Solar Kingdom opted to use the new Viridian Solar Fusion system which is fast and easy for experienced roofers to install. This combination reduced the total cost of the project compared to a conventional installation process.
The high level of electricity use across the site means self-consumption of generated power will also be very high. Export to the grid is expected to be less than 10% of total generation.
Even with the much reduced Feed In Tariff, the combination of cost effective installation, savings on energy bills, and Feed In Tariff revenue means likely payback will be around seven years, with a return on investment well in to double digits.
The Strathore Plant site’s annual electricity use is 80000 kWh/year while the anticipated annual energy yield of the new system is 13500 kWh/year.
Peter Randall, Managing Director, Solar Kingdom, commented, “This type of work provides confirmation that by adjusting to new market conditions opportunities still exist to undertake exciting projects for well-informed clients.
“Being small we already have the advantage of tightly contained operating costs. We are able to reflect these in flexibility of approach and value for money solutions.”
Pixie Energy is an incubator and a facilitator of strategic research and project work, focusing on energy regulation, policy and markets at the local and national level. Find out more about Pixie Energy