Someone once said to me he was thinking of "giving solar a go" by "installing one panel to heat a bedroom." He was going to be disappointed. One panel is barely enough to keep a few lightbulbs going, let alone provide the two kilowatts required by the average fan heater or convector heater.
The rule with solar is you can't tinker with it - you can't do things by halves. The more panels you have, the more you are going to be pleased by the potentially large money savings. And, like everything, there's economy of scale. Our solar installation company said they could give us extra panels for only half of the cost of the first panels, so we were able to double the number from nine to eighteen and only pay 50% extra.
Please be aware there may be a limit to the number you are allowed to install on your roof. Here, in the Republic of Ireland, the limit is eighteen for a domestic dwelling. I don't know the reason. I suspect it's a combination of aesthetic reasons, preventing buildings from becoming unsightly, and technical reasons, preventing the grid being overloaded in high summer, when your panels will be exporting large amounts of surplus power.
If, as per average, money is an issue, then consider a bank loan. Our solar power company provided a month by month breakdown of the power our eighteen panels were likely to generate, ranging from lowish in the winter months, suddenly spiking higher about March, then going very high for the summer, and then spiking back down again in September. You might even find such charts on the internet. Since solar electricity is only produced in the daytime, you just multiply the kilowattt-hours from the chart by your electricity daytime-rate and that will give you the money saved month by month. The savings should be easily enough to make a bank loan both worthwhile and fully supportable. OK, I admit, I have simplifed the calculation above, which in reality is more complex and dependent on a number of factors but, as a rough guide, it should suffice.
The final thing to consider is the aspect and size of your roof. If you have a south-facing roof, that's the ideal. If, on the other hand your house faces east-west, you might need to split the panels, half on each roof. Similarly, if your roof space is limited, you might need to get creative with the panel placement. Ask the solar power company for advice.
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