Our Design Process

The system is decided before anyone climbs a ladder

Two installations of identical size on identical roofs can differ substantially in what they save you. The difference is almost never the panels. It is the string layout, the inverter ratio, the battery sizing and whether any of it was matched to how the household actually uses electricity.

So we start with your bill rather than your roof. Here is exactly how we work out what your property needs.

Step 1 — Consumption review

Before anyone visits we want your annual consumption in kWh and, ideally, a sense of when you use it. Half-hourly data downloaded from your smart meter account is the most useful thing you can send us; a year of bills is a good second best.

This is the single biggest factor in whether the system you end up with is the right one. A household that is empty until six needs a different system from one with someone home all day, even if the two roofs are identical. If the numbers do not support a system at all, this is the stage at which we would rather tell you.

Step 2 — Roof and shading survey

On site we record orientation, pitch, roof construction, tile or slate condition and rafter spacing, and we measure shading through the day rather than eyeballing it. Chimneys, dormers, aerials, flues, neighbouring roofs and trees all matter, and they matter at different times of day and year.

We also look at the loft, the incoming supply, the consumer unit, and where an inverter and a battery can sensibly and safely live. Roof condition gets an honest assessment: if the covering has only a few years left, we will say so before we fix rails to it.

Step 3 — Array layout and string design

Panel layout is a design decision, not a packing problem. Strings are planned around the measured shading, kept off the roof edges where wind uplift is highest, and worked around obstructions rather than through them. Optimisers go in where shading genuinely warrants them and not as a default line on every quote.

Step 4 — Inverter and battery sizing

Inverter sizing follows the array and the conditions, not the brochure. Slightly under-sizing the inverter relative to the array is often deliberate and correct in UK light levels, and we will explain the ratio we have chosen and why.

Battery capacity is matched to your evening load and your tariff. We model realistic round-trip efficiency and usable capacity rather than nameplate figures, and we model the system both with and without storage so you can see what the battery is actually buying you.

Step 5 — Fixed written proposal

You receive an itemised proposal: panels, inverter, battery, mounting system, scaffolding, electrical work and the network operator application, at a fixed price. It carries a modelled annual yield, a self-consumption estimate specific to your usage, and an honest payback range rather than a best case dressed up as a forecast.

If we think a different approach suits you better — a smaller array with a bigger battery, a different tariff, or waiting until the roof is recovered — we will say so. If the right answer is commercial or industrial scale rather than domestic, that is SOLARFIELD, elsewhere in the group.

Send us your annual kWh figure and a photo of the roof and we will tell you what is realistic before anyone visits.

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