Trowbridge is Wiltshire’s county town and, for most of its history, a cloth town. The Victorian mills along the River Biss are what put it on the map, and the streets of stone-fronted terraces that housed the weavers still make up much of the centre. Around that core the town has grown steadily, first with the post-war estates and more recently with large developments such as Paxcroft Mead, Castle Mead and Ashton Park on the eastern side. That mix of old and new roofs is exactly the kind of housing stock DES Renewable Energy works with every week, and we cover the whole BA14 area from our base in Wimborne, heading north on the A350.
Why solar works in west Wiltshire
People sometimes assume solar is only worthwhile on the coast. It isn’t. Trowbridge sits in the broad, low-lying Avon valley between Salisbury Plain and the Mendips, and the town’s flat setting means very few homes are shaded by rising ground. Modern panels generate from daylight rather than direct sun, so a system here keeps producing on overcast days, and the long summer evenings in the south west give an east- or west-facing roof a useful second peak. What decides how much your roof will generate is orientation, pitch and shading — not the postcode — and those are things we measure at the survey rather than guess.
The roofs of Trowbridge, and what they mean for an installation
Three broad types of property come up again and again in the town, and each has its own considerations.
- Cloth-era terraces and villas around Newtown, the Halve and Wingfield Road. Solid slate or clay tile roofs, often with a good south- or west-facing slope on one side. We check the timbers and the tiles before we fix anything, and mount the array on rails so the original roof covering stays intact.
- Post-war estates such as Studley Green, Longfield and Seymour. Simple pitched roofs on semi-detached houses and bungalows, usually with garage roofs that can take a few extra panels. These are straightforward, quick installs.
- Newer developments at Paxcroft Mead, Castle Mead and Ashton Park. Some already carry a small builder-fitted array to satisfy building regulations; many carry nothing. Either way there is normally scope for a properly sized system, and adding a battery to an existing new-build array is one of the most common jobs we do.
Beyond the town, the villages of Hilperton, Staverton, North Bradley, Southwick, Wingfield and West Ashton bring larger plots, outbuildings and, in a fair number of cases, oil heating — which pushes electricity demand up and makes self-generation more valuable still.
What we install
- Solar PV installation — a system designed from your roof and your consumption, with generation figures you can hold us to.
- Battery storage — shift midday generation into the evening, or charge overnight on an off-peak tariff. Particularly effective for households where everyone is out during the day.
- EV charger installation — Trowbridge is a commuter town for Bath and Bristol, and a home charger fed by your own panels changes the cost of that commute considerably.
- Servicing, maintenance and repairs — inverter faults, panel checks and health-checks on systems fitted by installers who have since closed.
How the savings stack up
Every unit your panels generate and you consume is a unit you don’t buy from your supplier, so the first saving shows up on your very next bill. Without a battery, a typical family home uses perhaps a third to a half of what it generates; with one, that share rises sharply, because the battery holds the surplus until you get home. Anything left over is exported and paid for under the Smart Export Guarantee. Because DES is MCS-certified, your system is eligible to register for SEG payments from the outset. We put realistic, property-specific numbers in every quote — no national averages, no best-case assumptions.
Accredited, local and directly employed
DES Renewable Energy is MCS-certified, NAPIT-registered and a member of RECC, the consumer code that sets the standard for how renewable installers quote, contract and honour warranties. Our surveyors, electricians and roofing teams are employed by us, not subcontracted, so the people who design your system are the same people accountable for it afterwards. We also handle the DNO application for your connection and register the installation on your behalf. Trowbridge is part of our wider coverage of the county — see the solar panels in Wiltshire hub for the other towns we serve.
Get a free solar quote in Trowbridge
Start with a free, no-obligation quote. Tell us a little about your home and what you currently spend on electricity, and we’ll come back with a design, a generation estimate and straight answers on payback. Request your free quote here, or give us a call and talk it through with someone who has installed in the town before.