They entirely miss the point about the different between the panels being in landscape vs portrait, and only discuss the possibility of spacing them wider apart.
As far as I can see they should have been able to get exactly the same number of panels in, possibly even an extra few had they done it in landscape, the rows would have been about 25cm wider, but there looks to be space for that albeit with probably a relatively minor increase in shading from the edge protection fencing.
That would then have massively reduced the shading impact during the shaded months, even if the overall shaded area of the panels was identical (assuming the use of an inverter with a full scan shading function, such as ABB / SMA tripower.
Their response would seem to indicate that they don't seem to understand this vital point of solar PV system design.
As far as I can see they should have been able to get exactly the same number of panels in, possibly even an extra few had they done it in landscape, the rows would have been about 25cm wider, but there looks to be space for that albeit with probably a relatively minor increase in shading from the edge protection fencing.
That would then have massively reduced the shading impact during the shaded months, even if the overall shaded area of the panels was identical (assuming the use of an inverter with a full scan shading function, such as ABB / SMA tripower.
Their response would seem to indicate that they don't seem to understand this vital point of solar PV system design.