Early in 2010 it became clear that the impending introduction of Government backed payments, or Feed-in-Tariffs (FIT’s) for electricity generated using solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, would lead to a massive increase in demand for installations of the technology. The 25 year scheme is designed to encourage the uptake of solar PV panels by homeowners and businesses by providing a guaranteed payment for each unit of electricity they generate, in turn contributing to meeting the UK’s 2020 CO2 emission reduction targets. It was also apparent that the unprecedented demand would create a number of problems for the handful of companies equipped to supply and install solar PV panels on a large scale.
In order to make installation of solar PV panels make financial sense, the host buildings have to meet a number of key criteria; they must face a South or South Westerly direction, must be over a certain size, must be free of skylights and dormer windows and they must receive a minimum amount of solar irradiance, (be free from shading). A limited amount of the required information can be found by viewing images of the property online using mapping websites such as Bing or Google; however these tools do not provide all the required information and still required a costly visit to the property by a surveyor. What was needed was a cost effective, rapid way of accurately assessing the solar potential of thousands of buildings without leaving the office.
As Europe’s leading aerial survey and geospatial data provider, Blom was well equipped to tackle the problem. Following several months of product development and testing Blom UK has created a complete solution for assessing the solar potential of a given property. The Blom solution utilises accurate height maps, or digital surface models (DSM’s) to calculate key geospatial data for each property within the study area. This is combined with long term weather data for the region to calculate the total roof area suitable for the installation of solar PV panels. Distinct from similar products developed by UK Geospatial data providers, Blom chose to work with an experienced German partner to adapt a tried and tested German product to suit the immature UK market.
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