FAQs
Short answers to the practical questions households across the district ask, from which way to face to Saltaire. Each points to the fuller evidence elsewhere on the site.
Figures checked 4 November 2026. Written and published independently by SEO-DONS LTD.
Fuller answers are on the topic pages: the estimator, stone terraces, older homes and costs. The answers below are the short versions.
They are general. Bradford Council decides planning and consent, the schemes decide eligibility, and only a survey by an MCS-certified installer can confirm what your roof can take.
South is best: about 934 kWh per kW a year at 35° in the city centre, with the hills included. East and west give 742 and 735, roughly four-fifths of south, and are well worth considering.
About 41° facing south, which gives 937 kWh per kW in the city centre, barely more than at 35°. Panels laid flat make about 774.
A little. A south roof makes 917 kWh per kW at Keighley, 922 at Ilkley and 934 in the city centre (PVGIS, with the hills). The way your roof faces matters far more.
Not by itself. Queensbury, at 339 m, makes 934 kWh per kW facing south, level with the city. What costs output is a hillside blocking the low sun, as in the Worth valley at Haworth (about 0.8% lost).
No. The Met Office's 1991–2020 average at Bingley is 1,057 mm a year, but panels run on daylight through cloud, and rain helps keep pitched panels clean.
The Energy Saving Trust says panels can last 25 years or more, while an inverter usually needs replacing at around 12 years.
They work as well on an old roof as a new one. But only 9.3% of Bradford homes built before 1930 reach band C (ONS), so insulation and heating may do more for comfort first.
DESNZ's 2025/26 mean was £1,972 per kW for systems up to 4 kW and £1,745 for 4 to 10 kW in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Not until 31 March 2027: installed panels in homes are zero-rated, then 5% from 1 April 2027.
Only with listed building consent: every property in Saltaire's Article 4 area was listed in 1984.
Bradford Council lists 60, from Little Germany to Haworth and Ilkley. Roof panels within the limits stay permitted there, but walls and balconies facing a road need permission.
Kits up to 800 W are legal to sell under the 2026 regulations and plug into a socket, but fixing one to a wall or balcony needs the landlord's agreement. 23% of Bradford households rent privately.
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