Bramble Barn

The Project

A new customer approached us after recently purchasing a barn in Claverham. The barn has been renovated and has been fitted with an air source heat pump and underfloor heating. 

With rising energy prices, the barn had become more expensive to run. With the only source of heat using electricity to run it made sense for them to try and reduce their reliance on the grid. The barn has a large south-facing roof elevation making it great for a solar installation. 

The Solution

Our solution was to install an array of 16 panels on the barns roof, the 420w panels offer a peak production of 6.72kW and an annual output of 6,518kWh which equates to roughly 80% of the customers annual electricity usage. 

By including a 6kW hybrid inverter, we were able to offer the customer DC connection to a battery and maximise the solar systems output by storing excess energy in a 9.6kWh battery. This energy would then be discharged when needed once the solar system stops producing or when there is a higher demand in the barn. 

As the barn roof had been renovated, in the last few years we used Schletter’s on roof mounting system, notching tiles where necessary and ensuring water tightness was maintained throughout. 

The Installation

The team completed the installation over a 2 day period in the summer of 2023, with the DC cabling running back to a cupboard where the battery and inverter were installed. A new consumer unit and AC cabling was installed to supply the system as there was little space in the existing consumer unit. 

The Results

Our calculations show that the system should result in a reduction in the customers bills of 80%, producing 6,500kWh of electricity a year. The cost of the system to the customer was roughly £13,000 but with an estimated annual saving of £1,900 it is expected that the system will have  a payback period of roughly 6 years.