Check your home's solar energy potential with new sun map

A new online sunshine map of the Brussels region shows homeowners whether their property has potential for installing solar panels.

The roofs of Brussels have real potential for generating electricity, according to the region's environment minister Céline Fremault, who launched www.cartesolaire.brussels this week.

After entering your home's address, you will see a satellite image of your property with colour coding based on its exposure to sunlight.

Parts shaded in green have excellent potential for generating solar energy, parts in yellow are good and the blue areas are too weak.

The site also offers an estimate of the cost of installing solar panels, links to further information about the support available, and contact details for installation companies that can help.

"This map aims to counteract some common misconceptions that we all have in Belgium - that if you don't have a south-facing property, it's not worth it," said Benjamin Wilquin, secretary of APERe, the association for the promotion of renewable energies.

"The site also makes you realise that the investment needed today is very small."

According to APERe, if every rooftop in Brussels were equipped with solar panels, they would produce 4% of all of the country's energy needs. The Brussels region wants to quadruple its production of renewable energy by 2020.