Solar Thermal and Solar PV

Many people still get confused between Solar Thermal and Solar Photovoltaics (PV). In short, Solar Thermal systems are designed to supply you with hot water that is generated from either flat plate collectors or evacuated tubes. Both the flat plate collectors or evacuated tubes are normally sited on your roof. However, they can also be mounted on vertical walls, on flat roofs using an A-Frame or in some cases can be installed at a lower level.

A typical Solar Thermal system will only require between two to three panels/tube arrays in order to supply most households with a plentiful supply of hot water for approximately 60 - 70% of the year. Please click on the images below to find out more information on the Solar Thermal Flat Plate Collectors or Evacuated Tube systems.

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems are designed to produce and supply electricity to home or business. The electricity generated can then either be consumed, exported back to the grid or stored in battery packs.

An average PV system on a domestic household is likely to house between 8 to 20 collectors which can produce anything from 1.5 kW to 4 kW. However commercial systems can be designed on a much larger scale.

Please click on the Solar PV image for more information on how the systems work and then take a look at the exciting new Feed In Tariff due to be implemented on 1 April 2010.

Remember that both Solar Thermal and Solar PV tap in to a completely free and renewable energy source, our sun, which will certainly outlast the Earth's rapidly depleting supply of fossil fuels.