Specialist solar panels for schools in Morriston

Solar PV for academy trusts across Swansea

A one kilowatt-peak array on a shallow pitched roof in Morriston models at 899 kWh a year, from modelled irradiation of 1,147 kWh per square metre in the plane of the array (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That puts Morriston in the middle of the national range, close enough to our mean of 886 kWh per kWp that the interesting question moves straight to consumption.

Scaled up, a 410 kWp array, sized to what the nearest school scheme on record applied for, 41 miles away at Barnstaple, models at about 368,600 kWh a year before shading, and needs roughly 1,218 square metres of clear roof. We take the size from the nearest real application rather than a round number, so the example is anchored to something a planning officer has already seen.

Spread across the year that is about 93,300 kWh landing in July and August and roughly 17,000 kWh across December and January. National Grid Electricity Distribution sets what may go back onto the network here, so the July figure is the one worth putting in front of a governing body first.

The planning position for Morriston schools

No school or college solar scheme appears in Morriston and the area around it in the Renewable Energy Planning Database. That is a reporting threshold rather than a verdict. The database records generating stations from one megawatt upward reliably and smaller ones patchily, and almost every school array is a fraction of that, so a roof full of panels on a Morriston secondary could be generating today without ever reaching it.

The closest recorded one is about 41 miles away at Barnstaple: West Buckland School, West Buckland, a 410 kWp ground mounted array applied for by West Buckland School, which holds consent and is awaiting construction. We were not involved in it. We cite it because it is a public record of what has cleared planning in this part of Devon. Source: Renewable Energy Planning Database, Q1 2026.

Why demand in Morriston falls as the roof peaks

The generating year and the school year are out of step in Morriston. July and August carry 25.3 percent of the modelled output (EU PVGIS v5.2), and the site is closed for most of those nine weeks. June is the strongest single month here at 14.3 percent of the annual total, which is still term time, and that works slightly in your favour against towns whose curve peaks in July.

At the other end of the year the mismatch flips. Only 4.6 percent of output falls in December and January, the two months when a Morriston school is fully occupied and its heating and lighting are at their heaviest. The roof makes 6.7 times as much in June as it does in December, and August alone outproduces December by about 5.5 to one. 75 percent of the year arrives between April and September, and the point of that figure is not that the summer half goes unused, because April, May and June are full teaching months that draw hard. It is that the concentration peaks in the few weeks at the end of it when the building is shut.

Across the country the arithmetic settles at roughly 49 percent of output on a session day, against about 71 percent for a weekday business. That figure hardly varies by location, which is why the local numbers that matter here are the yield, the roofs and what has already cleared planning nearby.

Daily shape compounds it. A school's load climbs from breakfast club, holds through the teaching day and falls away from about three in the afternoon, while generation is still strong until six in high summer. That is why we size against half hourly meter data rather than against annual consumption: the annual figure hides both problems.

That argues for a particular shape of scheme rather than against one. Size to the load that does not stop at the end of term, count in lettings, holiday clubs and summer works honestly rather than optimistically, and then decide whether storage or an export arrangement with National Grid Electricity Distribution pays for the surplus that is left.

We set out the complete version of the term time arithmetic on the home page, and what it does to a payback figure under costs.

Grid connection through National Grid Electricity Distribution

National Grid Electricity Distribution operates the distribution network across Swansea, so the export application goes to them. Anything larger than 3.68 kW per phase falls under G99, which means an application before commissioning rather than a notification afterwards. A constrained network is not the end of a scheme. Capping export costs little when the building already absorbs most of what the roof produces.

What Morriston trusts ask before a survey

Is there enough sun around Morriston for this to be worth doing?

The model gives 899 kWh a year for every kWp installed at this latitude, so a 410 kWp array comes out at roughly 368,600 kWh a year before shading. It needs about 1,218 square metres of clear roof once walkways and rooflight setbacks are allowed for. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Does a Morriston school waste its generation in August?

25.3 percent of the modelled annual output for Morriston falls in July and August, when the buildings are closed for most of six weeks (EU PVGIS v5.2). It does not go to waste, but it only has three places to go: the base load that runs regardless, such as servers, catering refrigeration and ventilation; storage; or export under an agreement with National Grid Electricity Distribution. We model all three against your half hourly data before an array is sized.

Will the network around Morriston accept the export?

National Grid Electricity Distribution is the distribution network operator for Swansea. Anything above 3.68 kW per phase connects under G99, and the application fixes the export limit. On a school site the incoming supply is often the binding constraint rather than the roof, so we ask that question before anyone sizes an array.