The Client
Barnard Castle Girls Guides HQ, Co. Durham
The Brief
To design, source and install solar panels to a community building roof, including bird protection.
The Activity:
Thanks to our County Durham connections and our love for supporting local communities, we were invited to visit the Barnard Castle Girl Guides HQ to discuss how the community building could be improved to achieve the longer term goal of reducing energy costs and support environmental sustainability.
Following discussion with the client, the team understood that not only was this a project to contribute towards a positive impact in environmental sustainability, but could then also allow cost savings for the community groups using the site, by the installation of a high-efficiency solar PV system tailored for the roof substrate, as well as electrical demands now and with scope for scalability, future-proofing the longevity of the building’s infrastructure, a base for a number of local community interest groups and hobbyists.
The building itself is single-storey and roofed with composite slate tiles, requiring careful installation, placing of scaffolding and ensuring the most appropriate solar panel mounting solution deployed to protect the integrity of the roof, and ensure no damage was caused during or post installation.
The team worked on a design that included 14 x AIKO All Black 440W Solar PV Panels, each with a SolarEdge Optimiser, mounted on the specialist Renusol slate hook mounting kit, a 5kW Solar-Edge Three-Phase Inverter, an easy-to-use SolarEdge Modbus monitor, securely protected against birds nesting or damage with EnviroGuard bird mesh secured with speed clips.
To be able to take advantage of the highly efficient system and ensure that the project not only met but exceeded the electrical needs of all the local community groups making use of the building, the team also installed a new three-phase distribution board to supply the SolarEdge inverter and the Modbus monitoring equipment, with all the internal equipment being neatly housed in the kitchen area of the building.
The team worked directly with the site activity coordinators who allowed keyholder access so the team could work independently and flexibly around the community use of the space and ensure health and safety requirements were adhered to.
Our thanks to BS Scaffolding for supplying and removing the scaffolding required for the job.
The Result:
The client now benefits from a clean energy system that will help to significantly reduce electricity bills, delivery long-term savings, also offering energy export income opportunities, potentially creating an additional revenue stream.
The system is low maintenance and built to adapt to future energy needs, with scalability in mind. Should energy usage shift, particularly if more electrical power is consumed during the evening, there is scope to later install a solar storage battery and maximise harnessing the solar power generated by the building, reducing grid reliance even further. Aesthetically the panels are not intrusive demonstrating a significant step forward in sustainable energy provision for community organisations and buildings.
It is expected that 5.34MWh of electrical energy will be generated per year, exceeding the current average electrical power usage (3.3MWh), which will offer the opportunity for the client to be eligible for a Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff) with their electricity or utility provider.
Payback is expected to be around 7 years with further savings for many years to come.
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Tomlinson Longstaff Ltd is an electrical contractor based in Country Durham, north east England. We offer a wide range of electrical services including design, testing, installation and maintenance.