This newly constructed bungalow is located on a smallholding in an AONB. It has been insulated to a high standard and the only space heating is provided by a wood stove.
Hot water is provided by a 30-tube solar collector connected indirectly to a vented cylinder via an external plate heat exchanger. Heat thermosyphons through the heat exchanger into the top of the cylinder, heating it from the top down.
The collector is ‘oversized’ relative to hot water consumption to achieve a high annual solar fraction, with any shortfall topped up by an electric immersion heater. During the summer any excess heat is dissipated into a bypass radiator.
Subsequently, we were asked to add a 2.96 kWp photovoltaic array consisting of 16 Sharp NU185E1 modules linked to an SMA SB3000 inverter.