Kremmen wrote:
The thing that concerns me about solar panels is their fixings.
They seem to stand proud of the roof tiles so would they promote roof issues under hurricanes, of which we have seen a few.
Also, I've seen chicken wire around a few so presumably birds are nesting under them.
I agree with all that.
I watched with great interest an installation on a neighbour's roof. The panels are well proud of the roof by about 4 to 5 inches. The installers removed certain tiles from the roof, cut slots in the top edges of the tiles to accommodate the fixing brackets. The brackets were hooked over the internal roof timbers, and aligned with the cut slots in the tiles, the tiles were replaced with the brackets protruding through the cut slots in the tiles. The panels were bolted to the protruding brackets, one in each corner of the large panel. There are a total of 16 large panels (two parallel rows of eight), all mounted very close to one another, making an effective single large wing surface.
And yes, the birds do nest under them. Heavy rain then washes the nesting material down into the gutters.
It can, and does, get very windy down here in the West Country. I have watched those panels flexing in high winds. It wouldn't surprise me to see them take off in high winds one day, taking sections of the roof with them. I also wonder what the implications are for insurance cover in the event of a 'take-off'.
No, I'm not interested in solar panels. I would prefer an outbreak honesty and technical integrity to infect the political class, resulting in efficient carbon-based power stations to be built again. This political dishonesty and insanity is going to cause a lot of pain, misery, and large scale deaths in the not too distant future if nothing is done to reverse it all. I don't believe that all the political class can be so utterly ignorant of what the implications are for the future, when there is insufficient electrical energy to meet the needs of a modern society; I assume they are planning on disasters occurring; all very nasty.