Care homes run around the clock. Heating, hot water, laundry, kitchens and life-safety systems do not switch off overnight or at weekends, so there is no low-demand period during daylight hours the way there might be in an office. That constant baseline demand is what makes solar generation valuable on a site like this: almost everything the panels produce during the day has somewhere useful to go straight away, rather than being exported at a lower rate.
Ashlyn's Care Home's layout added a specific complication. The building is arranged in wings around a central courtyard, which meant the available roof space faced three different directions rather than one. A single-string system would have forced the design to compromise around the worst-performing face.
Spirit Energy split the installation into three separate arrays, oriented 15°, 75° and 105° from south, each tilted at 35 degrees. The largest array, closest to due south, is expected to generate 52,900 kWh a year on its own, more than half the site's total output. The other two arrays, at 18.2 kWp and 43.68 kWp, cover the east-southeast and west-southwest roof sections.
The system uses 255 x 455W solar panels, mounted on the existing pitched tile roof using K2 tile mounting brackets, giving a total capacity of 116.03 kWp. Two Solis 50kW inverters, each with five MPPT inputs, allow the three differently-oriented arrays to be tracked and optimised independently rather than being averaged out on a single string. Scaffolding and edge protection were included as part of the works. No battery storage was specified for this installation.
Because the system sits well above the 50kW threshold that triggers network operator approval, the project included a feasibility stage covering a technical survey, a structural survey, and the application for permission to connect from the Distribution Network Operator, all managed in-house by Spirit Energy rather than left to the client to coordinate.
The system cost includes a feasibility study covering the technical, structural and DNO application work. First-year benefits are estimated at £18,898, based on 65.3% of the generated electricity being used on site (displacing grid electricity valued at 25p/kWh) and the remaining 34.7% exported at an assumed rate of 7.5p/kWh.
On that basis, the projected payback period is 6 years and the internal rate of return is 19%. Modelled over the system's life, the net present value of savings and income is £339,723.
The system is projected to generate 99,845 kWh of clean electricity a year and to save 22,465 kg, just over 22.5 tonnes, of CO2 annually against grid electricity.
At 19% IRR and a six-year payback, Ashlyn's Care Home sits within the range Spirit Energy has delivered across its wider B&M Care Homes portfolio (19 to 30% IRR, 3 to 6 year payback, across over 20 sites in the UK). For an operator with round-the-clock electricity demand, a rooftop solar system converts what is otherwise a fixed, rising operating cost into an asset the business owns outright once the finance term or payback period ends.
If you would like to learn what solar could do for your care home, get in touch commercial@spiritenergy.co.uk