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Domestic PV Systems - Greenfields Development, Maidenhead
PDF (64KB)
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Existing/Proposed
Project:
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Commissioned June 2002.
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| Location: |
Alpine Close, Greenfields, Maidenhead. |
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Project Leader:
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Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
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| Description: |
A 20 kWp PV installation on 15 social housing properties as part of the DTI 100 roofs domestic field trial and in conjunction with Maidenhead & District Housing Association's INTEGER housing scheme. |
Maidenhead & District Housing Association's (MDHA) Greenfields development has been designed to include a full range of environmental technologies, such as sedum roofing, passive stack ventilation and solar water heating. Each home is extremely energy efficient. PV was included in the brief when the first round of DTI field trial funding was announced, with the local council leading the bid.
272 x AstroPower 75W mono-crystalline modules with a total surface area of 172m² have been
installed. These feed electricity to Scottish and Southern Energy's DNO network with the DC
current being converted to AC via 8 Sunny Boy SWR 1100E and 7 Sunny Boy SWR 2500 inverters.
Each home has a power rating of between 1kWp and 1.8kWp totaling 20kWp. This is predicted to
generate 16MWh per annum.
The PV modules have been integrated into a specifically constructed, south westerly facing upstand
that forms part of the roof and is optimal for solar gain.
Installation was undertaken by normal electrical and roofing contractors, with training and
supervision from Solar Century. Complete installation took an average of 1 day per home.
The PV installation was carefully integrated into the building program by Solar Century in close
collaboration with the client, architect and main contractor.
Maintenance and monitoring can be carried out remotely via a dial-up connection to each inverter.
The cost of the PV systems for all 15 homes was £110,000.
| Importance to the Thames Valley |
The Greenfields development as a whole demonstrates cutting
edge sustainable building techniques and should serve as a stimulus to other social housing providers when it comes to
specifying for new build homes. Excluding the PV, costs were only 10% higher than for conventional build and it is felt that these
would reduce the costs, thanks to the experience gained with this development. All the techniques are readily replicable within the
Thames Valley.
The PV was installed after the initial INTEGER project was
conceived, and it is to the credit of MDHA and the architect, Bree Day Partnership, that the design of the homes was prepared in
such a way that PV could be incorporated at a later date, when it became affordable. The scheme is a good example of linking
energy efficiency with renewable energy.
PDF (64KB)
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