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Draft roof

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Simple shows what fits and what it costs. Detailed adds the engineering: wiring, steel, wind loads, the sun's assumptions.

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Simple shows what fits and what it costs. Detailed adds the engineering: wiring, steel, wind loads, the sun's assumptions.

Units
Theme
8 storeys+20.3 over you68.9 ft+7.9 over you010203040ft010203045.9 × 32.8 ftStair head…10.5 × 8.5Overhea…7.2 × 6.6panels face this way
NESW
Snapshots
The panels stand higher than your edge wall
They reach 1.71 m above the roof, against a wall of 1.00 m — so the wind hits them square instead of passing over. This is normal, but it means the frame has to be built for wind. An engineer has to work out the steel and the fixings. A shallower angle brings the panels down.
Nowhere to walk between the panels
The panels run 6.8 m deep in one unbroken block, so there is no way to reach the middle of it. Leave a path every 3 or 4 rows, so the glass can be cleaned and a fault can be reached.
Things on your roof are costing you 10 panels
10 panels' worth of space is taken by things standing on the roof. 5 of those are lost to the shadows they throw during the year, not to the objects themselves. Front posts at 2.10 m or more and the array spans straight over them. A continuous plane climbs as it goes back, so anything under its high end needs less than that.
The panels run straight over your ac outdoor unit
They pass above it with room to spare, so it costs you no roof at all. What it does cost is easy access — there are now panels over the top of it. Make sure you can still open the tank lid or reach the vent underneath. If not, leave that bay empty.
The inverter is bigger than these panels need
6.96 kW of panels on a 10 kW inverter. You are paying for capacity that will never be used. A smaller inverter, or more panels if the roof has room.
The site around the roof takes some of the year
Neighbour, south shades the array enough to cost about 7% of its direct sun, and one other thing adds to that. Together they come to roughly 4% of the year's output. Estimated from geometry alone — a site survey settles it. 2 panel positions are hit hardest. Moving the array away from them, or wiring them on their own MPPT, keeps the rest of the roof out of it.
What stands around you can raise the wind load, not lower it
Neighbour, south rises 6.2 m above your deck and stands 2.5 m away, and 1 other thing sits close enough to matter. A taller building upwind drives air down onto the roof behind it. Both raise peak gusts on the panels rather than shelter them. No credit is taken for shelter anywhere in this tool — the codes do not allow it, and the wake of a near neighbour is as likely to make things worse. Putting a number on it needs a wind tunnel or CFD; short of that, tell the engineer what is next door and let them carry a margin for it.

Wiring, the steel and wind loads are one switch away: , in Settings.

Layers

2 more in the 3D view.

Estimated. This shows what fits — it is not a building design. What size the steel needs to be, how hard the wind will push on it, and how it bolts down to your roof are all outside this tool. A qualified structural engineer has to work those out before anything is built. Final system sizing requires a site survey.

A browser can only go so far.

The state of your roof, where the cables can run, the building going up next door next year — and the structural check this tool deliberately leaves to an engineer. Ask us what to do with what you have drawn.

Estimate Your System

Both take your 1071 sq ft of usable roof and 12 panels with them.

  1. Estimate Size and price in two minutes
  2. 2 Plan your roof See exactly what fits
  3. 3 Ask an expert Independent, plain answer