Chatham maritime trust

The Chatham Maritime Trust offices were constructed during 2020 when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was developing in the UK. The works were completed in September 2020, but occupation was delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The Chatham Maritime Trust Board approved a budget for the design and installation of solar panels to the roof of the office.

The Chief Executive of Chatham Maritime Trust, Julian Perry, noted

The trust is continually looking for ways to improve its overall carbon footprint due to concerns over climate change.

Providing solar panels on the roof of the estate office was considered to be a good investment, both to reduce the carbon footprint via green energy and to eventually provide an overall net saving in fuel bills.

Jascom, based in the Historic Dockyard and who were already used as the trust’s electrical contractor, were chosen to provide a proposal for solar panels for the office. Due to the roof of the office being almost flat, solar panel ‘tubs’ were recommended. These are panels that are designed for flat roofs, as they are designed to be weighed down rather than fixed to roofs. This proposal was approved, and Jascom was appointed to install the panels. The installation included a monitoring system, which allows you to see what power the solar panels are generating from a smart phone or laptop.

The solar panel system installation took place in August 2021, and only took 2 weeks to complete. The solar panels themselves only took 2 days to install. But the battery and inverter needed more time.

The solar panels were predicted to generate an excess of power, which allows the excess energy to be sold to the grid. Therefore, the solar panels both saved money by generating renewable energy to power the office, and by selling the excess power to the grid. The total income and savings were worked out to be £1,046.50 a year.

Systems specification

The systems specification is:

  • 18 x 365w Canadian solar panels, 25-year warranty to 82% efficiency
  • 1 x Huawei LUNA2000-10-S0 power module and battery storage
  • 1 x Huawei SUN2000 -10KTL-M1 inverter
  • 18 x solar panel mounting tubs with ballast
  • 1 x micro generation meter
  • 1 x system monitoring
  • 1 x MCS Certificate
  • 1 x system registration.

This system will produce 7,000 kWh of power a year.

Power generation income and savings up to January 2022

If 7,000 kWh a year is produced, this system is anticipated to generate an income as follows:

If 10% (700 kWh) of the power is exported, the export tariff is £0.55 and the payment is £38.50. Total income for the year is therefore anticipated to be £38.50 a year.

If 90% (6,300 kWh) of the power is used with a cost of £0.16 per kWh, this generates a saving of £1,008 a year.

Total income and savings are therefore £1,046.50 a year.