Spreading Solar Love from Sussex

Spreading Solar Love from Sussex - Blog

At HemingwayDesign we have “Design is about improving things that matter in life” writ large across our website and this mantra runs throughout our work. Solar energy most definitely contributes to something that is essential to our lives, our climate and to creating an environment that humans can thrive in.

The beauty of great environmental design is when something that you hope will work, does in fact work, is hassle free and just gets on and does its job without being shouty and without compromising the aesthetic of what it is designed to improve.

There was a time when the potential of solar panels to lower our energy bills while doing our bit for the planet was held back by their clunky, cumbersome nature and their often brutal impact on homes. My gut feeling is that most of us care about living sustainably; we “get” that old school fuels should be left as fossils in the ground. But when it comes to solar, some of us have been put off by “ugly solar”.


Our family home in West Sussex was designed with much love and attention to detail by my wife and design partner Gerardine and we both did a little jig when Solarcentury asked us if we wanted to be the first home in the UK to put the almost invisible Sunstation on our roof. I went to their testing lab in Bermondsey to see it for myself and instantly liked it because of the level of thinking that has gone into making this a simple, functional product. The sleek, matt black panels sit in the roof, integrating with the overall tiling, rather than protruding.

They were installed in a day, and will sit there quietly for at least the next 25-40 years, generating nice clean electricity that we can use to power the house. They’ve been working away for the last six months, and long may it continue!


I realise that our decision to go solar comes at a time when many households are questioning the viability of solar power because the government drastically cut the tariffs earlier this year by a whopping 65 percent.  It is hugely disappointing that the Government has turned its back on solar in this way given the vast potential for solar to make our lives cleaner and cheaper.

However solar still makes financial sense – the combination of income from the tariff and savings in electricity currently allows homeowners to earn a 6% tax free return every year for 20 years[1] (the guaranteed tariff period for a solar system) and the system can pay for itself within 12-13 years.

Solar is a successful British home-grown industry, with the largest national solar market in the EU, and the 10GWp of solar installed in the UK powered more energy from the sun than coal on a day in April this year, which is exciting. We applaud the industry’s robustness in the face of ever-changing government policy and are proud to be among 810,000 other UK homeowners who have adopted solar.

Across the world, there are a plethora of new solar systems illustrating the incredible advances in solar design, enabled by improvements in materials and solar expertise. The filmmaker James Cameron has designed the Solar Sun Flower which tracks the sun’s path across the sky; solar panels adorn the roof of Blackfriars Bridge spanning the River Thames in the centre of London, the largest solar bridge in the world; and the Solar Impulse 2 solar plane has over 17,000 cleverly integrated solar panels propelling it on its carbon-free flight around the world.

Projects like these stimulate designers like me to re-consider what’s possible with solar, that is nowadays very different to the rigid, bulky panels of past decades. Much like the brick-like mobile phones of the 80s, to the slick, light-weight mobiles of today, solar has undergone a transformation, and today’s creations are far more pleasing on the eye.

 The time will come when solar will be found on most UK roofs – factories, schools, public buildings, not just on homes. In a generation or two, we will surely be at a point when any roof, regardless of style or location, will also double as a mini solar power station. That is the challenge facing designers and engineers, and it is one that will be overcome, making the world a far better place for it.



[1] A south-facing pitch in central UK with 10% shading. Electricity savings calculations are based on 45% of the solar energy produced being used in the property, typical for the UK (source: DECC). Property has an Energy Performance Certification rating A-D. Installation at a cost of £5,000. Feed-in Tariff rates as at April 2016, tariffs paid for 20 years from the point the solar system is accredited. Savings of 16.0p per unit of electricity, at 5% annual inflation (source: DECC Quarterly Energy Prices, 10 year average). Export tariff payments are based on a deemed export of 50%. Profit after cost of installation and includes £20 per annum maintenance costs (index linked). Return being tax-free, with average annual return (IRR) taken over 20 years. Payback being the time taken to recover the initial outlay to the nearest year.