Vest Construction

Vest Construction had a roof most solar installers would have politely declined: it faces north. The easy answer is to say the aspect is wrong and walk away — but a north-facing roof still generates, and with the right design it still pays.

G Smith fitted a 30 kWp array on that north-facing roof. A north aspect produces less over the year than a south-facing one, so the sums are more modest and the payback sits a little longer — six to seven years, rather than the three-to-four you see on an ideal roof.

But "longer" is not the same as "not worth it". The system still earns its keep for decades after that payback, and for a business that wanted solar on the roof it actually has, that is the honest answer: design for the roof in front of you, price it straight, and let the numbers make the case.

It is the project we point to when someone assumes their roof is the wrong shape for solar. Often it is not — it just needs designing properly instead of being turned away at the door.

The physics is simple enough: in the UK a south-facing pitch catches the most sun, east and west a little less, and north the least. But "least" still means real generation across a year, and modern panels are efficient enough that a well-designed north-facing array on a roof you already own can still beat leaving that roof bare. Being honest about those numbers up front is the whole point.