D · Design and sizing
Design and sizing
Yield, load, sizing, orientation, shading, capacity matching.
Battery and backup sizing
Battery power rating
Charge, discharge and surge power, and how to match them to grid-connected and backup loads.
Export limitation with batteries
How a battery, solar generation and site loads are coordinated behind a DNO-agreed export limit, including coupling, metering, fail-safe behaviour and commissioning.
Usable battery capacity
kWh available after reserve, depth of discharge and manufacturer limits.
Vehicle-to-home storage overlap
How EV batteries compare with fixed home storage.
EV charging capacity
22kW three-phase AC charging
When three-phase 22kW AC charging is technically usable and worth providing.
7kW single-phase AC charging
What a nominal 7kW home chargepoint can deliver, and the supply, vehicle and control checks behind that figure.
Static load limiting vs dynamic load balancing
Choosing a fixed EV charging limit or a live site-capacity control without confusing the two.
Air-conditioning design
Heat pump design
Design flow temperature
How the design flow temperature links heat-pump output, emitter sizing and seasonal efficiency at the winter design condition.
Heat loss survey
How a room-by-room survey establishes the building fabric, ventilation and design heat load needed to size a heat-pump system.
Heat pump sizing margin
How to select a heat pump against the design load without relying on arbitrary oversizing or hidden safety factors.
MVHR interaction with heat pump heating
How mechanical ventilation with heat recovery affects ventilation heat loss, room loads and heat-pump design without removing infiltration.
Primary pipework sizing
How heat duty, design temperature drop and hydraulic resistance determine heat-pump primary pipework and pump selection.
Room-by-room heat loss
How individual room loads are calculated and used to size emitters while the building load sizes the heat pump.
SCOP performance estimate
How seasonal heat-pump efficiency is estimated, what calculation boundary it uses and why it must not be used to size the unit.
Underfloor heating compatibility
How to verify that new or existing wet underfloor heating can meet room loads at heat-pump water temperatures.
Solar yield and PV sizing
DC oversizing ratios
Comparing PV array nameplate power with inverter AC power without exceeding voltage, current or connection limits.
Inverter clipping
Recognising deliberate inverter saturation, separating it from other limits and judging the annual energy cost.
MCS PV performance estimates
How the MCS annual-generation estimate is built, what assumptions it standardises and what it cannot guarantee.
Roof orientation and pitch
How azimuth and inclination shape annual PV yield and its timing across the day.
Shading analysis
Turning chimney, tree, dormer and horizon shade into an auditable PV yield and electrical design.
Solar export limitation
How to design and model a solar installation around a DNO-agreed export limit without confusing export, inverter capacity and panel capacity.
Solar self-consumption estimates
Estimating how much PV is used on site from time-matched generation, demand, storage and flexible loads.
String design voltage windows
Matching panel strings to inverter voltage, current and temperature limits.