Furrows in Cattal, North Yorkshire, is a new breed of energy efficient house.
Featuring roof mounted solar panels and solar thermal panels (PV-T) linked to an underground energy storage system, the house will generate 13,000+ kWh of electricity and heat a year: 5,000 kWh will be used by Furrow's homeowners with the remaining 8,000 kWh exported to the grid - that's enough electricity to run two further houses.
The four bedroom house was designed by Richard Hawkes Architecture and approved under National Planning Policy Framework 55.
The energy system has been designed in conjunction with leading UK solar energy innovator, Minimise Generation. Anthony Morgan, Head of Minimise Generation, has been developing a commercially viable PV-T panel for the last decade. The initial panels were trialled at Crossway in Kent, also designed by Richard Hawkes Architecture, and featured on Grand Designs. The panels at Furrows are the fourth generation of PV-T and are now considered ready and fully scalable for commercial applications.
Unlike standard solar PV panels which simply convert the sun's rays into electricity, PV-T panels also capture heat, increasing their efficiency by around 12% (dependent on conditions).
Furrows features a combination of 64 solar PV and PV-T panels. These will generate 13,177 kWh of electricity which will be metered and generate an income through Feed-in-Tariffs. Electricity is used for domestic daytime consumption, with spare energy diverted to on-site storage for evening use outside of sunlight hours. Excess energy is used to heat domestic hot water.
In addition, the heat generated by the panels in summer is stored in the earth beneath the house, using the soil as a battery. This is drawn off during the winter to provide heating and hot water.
This system will allow the house to be ‘off-grid' 85% of the time.
