Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing

Oxford Grange, Gomersal

Photon Energy recently completed the installation of a 15.8 kWp photovoltaic (PV) system at Oxford Grange, a sheltered housing block in Gomersal near Leeds, for Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing (KNH). Rather than using a standard bolt-on mounting system, solar tiles were used to replace conventional roof tiles.

Technical details of the PV system

The Oxford Grange sheltered housing block underwent a major refurbishment programme which included re-roofing the building. KNH decided to use roof-integrated PV tiles which replace conventional tiles. The predicted energy output from the PV system is 13,000 kWh per year and will save a total of 7.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. The output from the installation is fed into the landlord’s supply to provide power for communal lighting. The scheme was awarded a grant under Phase 2 of the Government’s Low-Carbon Buildings Programme. KNH financed the remainder of the cost from their own budget.

Adrian Owen, Energy Officer at Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing, said, “This project worked out very well. I’m pleased with the installation; the integrated PV tiles look great.”

Further information

For this project, Coleshill Solar’s SolarTiles were used and this was at the time the largest single installation of the tiles in the UK. The SolarTiles were developed in conjunction with Marley Roofing and the University of Southampton. The SolarTiles consist of an injection-moulded plastic base unit, and a glass-tedlar PV module which slides into the base unit. The modules are wired before the PV modules are inserted, and the electrical contact is made using MC connectors fixed to the base units. Each SolarTile replaces two and a half standard Marley roof tiles. The SolarTiles interlock with each other as well as with conventional concrete tiles.