Steps to getting your AGP solar roof.
You like the look and can imagine it on your home now how to best inform yourself.
Do I have enough sun? In northern latitudes the more southerly the solar orientation the better. You can generally discount easterly or westerly roofs by 15% production. Is shading a concern from trees or buildings? You want as clear a path to the best sun possible. Consider the sundial effect of chimneys or utility poles. Other considerations are dormers.
Roof slope. If your latitude is 30 degrees for example a similar roof slope is ideal. A 4:12 roof, which is quite common is 18.4 degrees and would be fine.
Current or anticipated utility usage in kWh. The utility will include the kWh figures on your billing and will usually send an annual statement if requested of kWh. If yours is a new home ask your builder or architect for reasonable utility averages for a family your size.
How much solar product do I need? Even 20%-50% of total kWh demand is useful. This is especially true if you are in a tiered utility billing system. The closer to 100% the pricier your system will be in a grid connected system.
How do I determine how much my proposed system will generate? We recommend that once you determine your preferred AGP product you do the following simple math.
Sunslates6 are 50.4 slates pre 100’ @ 23 Watts each or 1159.2 per 100 feet square. What is known as a roofing square in the language of roofers.
TallSlates are 25 per 100’ @ 54 Watts each or 1350 Watts per roofing square.
To determine the total potential for you project estimate the total square feet that you would like in solar, as example 430 square feet of solar/100sf+ 4.3 x 1159.2 Watts = 4.985 KW total for Sunslates6.
Similarly, 4.3 x 1350 Watts for TallSlates = 5.805 kW.
What would my kWh production be with my new AGP solar roofing system? We recommend for a first look using a system called Watts Calculator from National Renewable Energy Labs. It allows you to enter your street address, solar orientation, roof slope and total Watts to be installed. It will breakout your production by either month and annually.We will be pleased to help on any of these calculations if you would like.
Solar thermal option? Both of our roofing products have a solar thermal option. This is especially viable if you have a swimming pool, wish to preheat your domestic hot water and or have a geothermal system. Solar thermal is extremely effective. We use it as an underlayment before putting the Sunslates or TallSlates in place. It cools them and increases their production. It intercepts the thermal before it gets into the attic lowering air conditioning demand. In the case of geothermal it allows banking the thermal underground during the summer months and with drawing it for winter heating.
By thinking through these options and investing some time in this worksheet you are well on your way to determining if this is for you.