Solar installation in Shadman, Lahore

A neighbourhood where the trees came first

Shadman was laid out in the late fifties and sixties, and it shows in the best way. Wide streets, one and two kanal bungalows on Shadman I and Shadman II, and shisham, neem, and peepal trees that have had sixty years to grow. Those trees are the single biggest variable in a Shadman solar quote. A one kanal roof here has plenty of space for 15 kW of panels. Whether that space gets full sun from 9 am to 4 pm is another matter entirely.

An installer who quotes a Shadman address from a satellite image is guessing. Google imagery is often two years old, the canopy has grown since, and a tree crown that reads as 15 feet on screen may be 28 feet tall in reality. The shadow trace has to be done standing on the roof with a compass and an inclinometer.

How tree shading actually damages output

Two things people get wrong. First, shade on one panel does not just cost that panel. In a series string, a shaded module drags the whole string down, which is why a single overhanging branch across a corner of the array can cut 25 percent of generation. Bypass diodes limit the damage but do not remove it. Second, shading is seasonal and the winter case is the bad one. In late December the sun sits low in the south, and the same tree that throws a short shadow in June throws a shadow three times as long in winter.

What we do about it

• Raise the array. An elevated frame at 8 to 10 feet above the slab, priced at PKR 12,000 per kW instead of the standard PKR 7,000, often lifts the panels clear of a neighbouring canopy entirely.
• Split the strings by orientation and shade zone, with each zone on its own MPPT input, so a morning-shaded row does not pull down a clear row.
• Move the array to the rear block or servant quarter roof where the front lawn trees dominate the main roof.
• Trim branches, with the owner's agreement and where the tree is inside the plot. Trees on the street belong to the horticulture authority and should not be touched.
• Accept a smaller array in the clear zone rather than filling the roof with panels that only work half the day.

That last option annoys sales-driven installers because it shrinks the invoice. It is usually the right answer. A well-placed 8 kW in full sun outperforms a badly placed 12 kW under a peepal.

Roof structure on a sixty-year-old bungalow

Most Shadman houses have solid RCC slabs and carry a solar array without any trouble. The distributed load of a mounted array is only 15 to 20 kg per square metre, less than a group of people standing on the roof. That is not the concern.

The concerns are specific and local. Older Shadman construction sometimes includes brick-and-girder roof sections over verandahs and side rooms, which are not the same as a modern slab and should not carry drilled footings. Many bungalows have had two or three rounds of waterproofing and a lime or tile finish on top, so drilling for chemical anchors risks breaching the layer and causing a leak that only shows in the first monsoon. Where the roof has a recent membrane treatment, ballasted mounting or footings set on properly flashed pads is the safer choice, even though it costs more.

A caveat worth stating plainly. If a house has a decorative parapet, jali screens, or an original terrazzo terrace, a rooftop array will change how it looks from the street. Some owners in Shadman care about that a great deal. In those cases a car-porch canopy mount or a rear-block array is the compromise, and it usually means a smaller system.

Sizing for a Shadman household

Bills here run high. A one kanal bungalow with four to six ACs, two fridges, a deep freezer, a water pump, and outdoor lighting can cross 2,000 units in July. Even a 10 marla Shadman house with three ACs sits around 900 to 1,200 summer units.

House	Summer units/month	Suggested size	Battery	Installed range
10 marla, 3 ACs	900 to 1,200	8 kW hybrid	5 kWh lithium	PKR 1,100,000 to 1,500,000
1 kanal, 4 to 5 ACs	1,400 to 1,900	10 kW hybrid	10 kWh lithium	PKR 1,400,000 to 2,200,000
1 kanal, heavy load plus pump	2,000 plus	15 kW three-phase	15 kWh lithium	PKR 2,300,000 to 3,100,000
Upper portion tenant only	400 to 600	5 kW hybrid	5 kWh lithium	PKR 700,000 to 900,000

Detailed component breakdowns sit on the 8 kW, 10 kW hybrid, and 15 kW price pages. Panel choice matters at this size, so the 585W panel and Longi price pages are worth a look before signing.

Three-phase, and why Shadman applications take longer

A good number of Shadman bungalows are on three-phase LESCO connections because of the AC and pump load. Three-phase changes the inverter choice, the protection design, and the net metering application. Load has to be balanced across phases or the export credit gets calculated oddly, and LESCO's three-phase net metering approvals move slower than single-phase ones. Six to ten weeks is normal, and paperwork through our office is PKR 15,000. The mechanics are covered on the net metering service page and the 2026 rule changes article.

Under the current net billing regime, exported units earn around PKR 11 while imported units cost PKR 48 to PKR 65 depending on slab. For a high-consumption Shadman house that means self-consumption is where the money is. Running the pump, the washing machine, and the pool filter in daylight hours is worth more than exporting the same units. A battery earns its keep here too, since every stored unit displaces a PKR 60 import rather than a PKR 11 export.

Monsoon, smog, and leaf litter

Central Lahore gets the full monsoon in July and August, and generation drops 30 to 40 percent in a heavy week. That is normal and the annual average absorbs it. The monsoon output article has month-by-month figures.

Shadman has one maintenance problem that other areas do not. Leaf litter. Tree-lined streets mean dry leaves settle on the array through autumn and again after spring shedding, and they trap dust and bird droppings underneath. On a flat-tilted array the leaves sit rather than slide off. Cleaning every four to six weeks through autumn and smog season is realistic here, versus a quarterly schedule in an open society. Our cleaning service covers this, with rates on the cleaning cost page.

Bird nesting under the array is the other Shadman classic. Mature trees mean plenty of birds, and the gap between panel and slab on an elevated frame is prime real estate for them. Mesh skirting around the array perimeter costs a few thousand rupees at installation time and saves a recurring problem, including chewed DC cabling that eventually shows up as a fault call to our repair team.

What a Shadman job looks like end to end

1. Survey with shadow trace and roof structure check, PKR 3,000, adjusted in the final bill.
2. Layout drawing plus BoQ, usually within a day, showing exactly which roof zones carry panels.
3. Material delivery. Shadman streets take a truck and a small crane, unlike the older inner-city areas, so this stage is straightforward.
4. Structure fabrication and fixing, two to three days on an elevated frame.
5. Panels, DC and AC wiring, inverter and battery commissioning, one to two days.
6. Net metering application if wanted, six to ten weeks with LESCO.

Total on-site time for a 10 kW Shadman install is typically four to six working days, longer if the roof needs custom flashing over an existing waterproof membrane.

Start with numbers, not a sales visit

Add up twelve months of units from the LESCO bills, run them through the calculator, then book a survey through the contact page. If the plan includes storage, the hybrid and battery service page explains configurations, and lithium battery prices are listed separately. For homes considering full independence from the grid, see the off-grid option, though for a Shadman bungalow that is rarely the economical route.

Nearby areas covered by the same crews include Gulberg, Model Town, Garden Town, and Lahore Cantt.