Really cool stuff. Nitpick: it failed to grab an OSM ID for my house and fell back to postcode centroid, but then still reported LIDAR-derived shading at quite high precision.

I'm wondering if it should fall back to a more general shading approach when no OSM building footprint is available, to avoid false precision? My street has a gap in the houses on the other side from mine, so picking the right location matters for the calculation.

You could also try Inspire Index polygons instead of OSM? These correspond to actual lease/freehold boundaries.

> Worth it. The kit pays for itself in 7.1 years; over 20 years it's good for about £1,095 net.

This is my issue with this sort of thing. Am I going to have this kit in 7 years? Or would I upgrade to better stuff at the technology improves?

Notice that the pricing will come down. In Germany (where the market is mature), I can buy a 2kWp system for 500-600 EUR. Then your payback time basically halves...

The technology is unlikely to improve meaningfully in 7 years. And you'd only upgrade if it was a financial improvement so it makes complete sense to give an estimate based on keeping it for 20 years.

I don't see what your issue is.

Same argument applied to flat-panel TVs in 2004. People kept them 15 years. Solar panels from 2010 still running fine. The upgrade cycle anxiety is mostly theoretical.

To me, 7.5 years is not worth it. and the 1K in 20 years is nothing. This should be the standard and it should be free. Until then we'll keep paying through the nose for energy...

I got the exact same values.

I'd like it if it would actually show me how much sun it thinks I'd get at the postcode I put in. I've got about a third of an acre of garden in a 6 acre field to play with, before I start having to dig up roads. I can afford to be quite free and easy with placement ;-)

Huh, TIL about the National LIDAR Programme: https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/f0db0249-f17b-4036-9e65-3091...

Very interesting stuff and quite a large undertaking! I'm often impressed by the quality of the UK's open data.

> I'm often impressed by the quality of the UK's open data.

The ordnance survey not being open data is a bad look though.

I noticed this as well! Very interesting.

This is really nice! Would be great if it could handle regular rooftop solar calculations too.

We tried adding rooftop to a similar tool — the tricky bit was tilt/azimuth estimation from aerial imagery. OSM building data helped but required a lot of manual correction per region.

Thanks! Should be doable, I just got excited by the new shiny thing first.

This is a nice example of making sustainability practical rather than abstract. Showing potential generation at an address level makes the decision much easier for non-experts.

A lot of climate tech needs this kind of interface: not just “this is good,” but “this is what it could mean for your specific situation.”

This is a really interesting project! The use of LIDAR data to account for actual building shadows is a clever approach. I'd be curious to see how this compares to commercial solar assessment tools in terms of accuracy. The UK's move to legalize plug-in solar is great for residential adoption.

Nice.

It would be nice to be able to pick the precise location on the map (house number appears not to work).

Also "ground floor" seems to say 1.5m off of the floor? I would like to tweak those values for e.g. panels on the floor in a garden.

Nice. I'm working on a project called homestocompare to help people house-hunting in the UK.

Would be nice to add this as an extra data point when comparing. Are you open to collaborating at all?

Absolutely! I have some other datasets that might be useful too (e.g. air quality). Drop me a line: ruaraidh[at]southlondonscientific.com :)

Let me know if you’d like access to alt net availability data

What if I already have solar, can I add this?

Also do you actually need a balcony or can you hang these out of a window somehow? Very few houses in the UK have balconies.

Window mounts exist but the clamp failures are fun. Also "adding to existing solar" usually means a second inverter running parallel — your sparky will love explaining why that's a bad idea.

You can put it on the ground if you like

This is a great use of open data!

Please consider making the source code available. I’d love to make something similar for your friends across the pond (in Canada).

Would be good to be able to select multiple points on the compass and have it tell me the best place for it (front and back garden)

Good idea. I want to add specific options for different mounting locations (sheds etc) as well.

Great work. Is it possible to use this dataset to calculate total plug in solar potential within the geographic constraint?

Oh, that's such a good idea! I suppose the challenge is knowing where there are installable surfaces are (or at least making defensible guesses). I'm going to have a go at this...

What are the costs of the installation based on? I haven't been able to find any for sale?

I am just surprised about the cost?

Kits in Germany are 300€ without a battery.

Surprised which way? Too cheap? Too expensive? Surprised things differ in price by country?

Are these comparable specs though? 300 euro German kit vs what exactly in UK - same wattage, same inverter quality? Because if one's 400W Hoymiles and other's 600W Deye, that price gap starts to look pretty different.

To expensive, 2x of a factor between countrys side by side is massive.

Esp. As the 300€ are more of an go to your nearest diy store and buy one, there are better deals out there.

Here is one for 239 effectively, including hanging hardware & everything you need.

https://www.mydealz.de/share-deal-from-app/2787366

"Any address in Britain"

"Caveats: - Outside LIDAR coverage (most of Scotland and Wales) it falls back to a synthetic horizon (less accurate)"

So, "any address in the most of the southern half of Britain"?

Cool, a tool that tells you it's worth installing solar two years after your lease forbids it.