solar power

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nosherduke996

Well-Known Member
Location
Newdigate,surrey
Hi all, has anybody on this forum had solar panels fitted and are generating there own electricity. I am currently thinking about it, and am trying to look at the pros & cons.
At the moment i am paying £ 65 per month for gas and electric, so i am thinking of having solar panels installed to generate our electricity. Also i am thinking that we should be quids in, as we use so little power as there is only two of us.
 

downfader

extimus uero philosophus
Location
'ampsheeeer
Hi all, has anybody on this forum had solar panels fitted and are generating there own electricity. I am currently thinking about it, and am trying to look at the pros & cons.
At the moment i am paying £ 65 per month for gas and electric, so i am thinking of having solar panels installed to generate our electricity. Also i am thinking that we should be quids in, as we use so little power as there is only two of us.


My Father reckons we should link in a car alternator and an old bike and generate our power that way. :biggrin:
 

2PedalsTez

Über Member
A couple of my neighbours have had solar panels installed. One has so many I am convinced they are talking to E.T.
 

aberal

Guru
Location
Midlothian
General thinking is that solar panel salesmen are the double glazing salesmen of the modern era. Look at your sums very carefully would be my advice. You are not likely to generate a great deal of electricity and it could take years to make your money back, if ever, once you've paid for them and their installation. Personally, I'm really cynical about them - as you can probably guess.
 

steve52

I'm back! Yippeee
i have been looking into this also and listened to loads of yack about how they will earn there money back and reduce my bills, even had offers to put them on my roof for free,/? although this turned out to be mainly a way to try and hard sell me 12,000 punds worth lol. i though if they are that good why arnt the eletrisity companys installing them on every roof selling the house holder the eletricity generated at a chepper rate and siphonning off the excess?
i would think that the answer is there not that efficent yet
,
 

MontyVeda

a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
it's more a case of... do you feel more comfortable flicking a switch knowing its not coming from the national grid?

I used to write articles and press releases for a solar panel installer a few years back, the more research i did the less likely the prospect of them actually paying for themselves became. without doing any sums and being relatively ignorant... how long does it take for double glazing to pay for itself? Realistically.

so my opinion, if it suits why way you'd rather live your life then yes, go for it.

if you hope you'll be earning from them in 15 or 25 years and it seems like a good investment, you may be disappointed.

The efficiency is getting better all the time, but the angle and orientation of your roof, plus things like tall trees casting shadows on to the roof are all factors which make a difference.
 
The fact is at the point of installation, you lock-in at the then current rate of the Feed In Tariffs, which means you get paid 41.3p per KwH, which is guaranteed to increase by RPI over a 25 year period. What you have to do is alter your pattern of electricity consumption, to use electricity during sunny days, as you still get paid for generating the juice, even if you've used it rather than passing it into the Grid. Which is daft, but that's the way it works.




[sub]No - I am not a solar panel seller, nor do I sell double glazing.[/sub]
 

downfader

extimus uero philosophus
Location
'ampsheeeer
I am told by the enthusiasts that you should buy the kits instead of going to people like B&Q, etc. There are a couple of greenie forums where they've discussed this in more detail.

Also look at solar water heating as this is supposed to save you the most money and is the cheapest to install. Again, you can DIY it.

I made a basic solar thermal air heater to try it out. Only 6 cans but it does work.

The biggest savings come from proper insulation.
-Fibreglass, reflective bubble wrap, etc in the loft and wall cavities.
-Use thicker winter curtains. Put curtains over external doors, close internal doors and
-switch off unused lights.
-use the kettle to heat up the water for your washing up (if bowl is used) as it uses less energy than the gas/electric home heaters. Insulated kettles are better as they heat up quicker
-lay down rugs on bedroom floors to double up on the carpets own insulation

I saw a former Soviet town on telly a few years back. -30 outside, they would hang small wooley rugs on the walls to help keep the place warm.
 

Yellow Fang

Legendary Member
Location
Reading
If you have a few thousand pounds spare then it's better to invest it on solar photovoltaic panels than leaving it in the bank. The Feed In Tariff pays you 38p per kWh (or something like that). In addition, if you are out, you can export that electricity to the grid and your utility provider pays you an extra 3p per kWh (so that's 41p per unit). If you are in, however, not only do you get your basic 38p per kWh, you also save the 15p per kWh you would have paid your utility provider for the electricity you didn't use (53p per unit). The panels should pay for themselves between 10 and 15 years. PV panels last a long time, 25 years or more, because they have no moving parts. Cables may corrode over time and the panels may lose efficiency, but they'll still last 25 years. You may have to replace your inverter after about 10 years. A kWh is a unit of electricity BTW.

One thing to bear in mind is that the tariff you get will decrease every year you leave it. This is because it is anticipated that the costs of installing the PV panels will reduce once economies of scale start kicking in. The high initial price to help kick-start the PV industry.

The only other thing I would worry about is whether future governments would honour the agreement. It's actually the electricity companies who are forced by the government to pay you, funded ultimately by their other customers. I expect future governments will honour the scheme. I suspect what a future government might do is restrict the scheme for new takers, but honour the payments to those who are already signed up. There was a similar sort scheme in Spain. The Spanish government would like to stop making the payments because they are in deep economic trouble, but they can't because they'd be sued. I suspect it would be the same here.

Without the Feed In Tariff, solar photovoltaic panels would never pay for themselves. They also have to be installed by an accredited installer and connected to the grid to qualify for the Feed In Tariff.
 

Cheddar George

oober member
Get a solar PV company in to give you a quote, they will tell you what you would expect to generate from the size and aspect of your roof. Your electricity usage is mostly irrelevant ...... it's all about the feed in tariff, the government has targets to meet and are paying good money to meet them.
 

sunnyjim

Senior Member
Location
Edinburgh
Get a solar PV company in to give you a quote, they will tell you what you would expect to generate from the size and aspect of your roof. Your electricity usage is mostly irrelevant ...... it's all about the feed in tariff, the government has targets to meet and are paying good money to meet them.


Trouble is, it's not their money- it comes from the other electricity conusmers paying more.
Noothing to do with energy useage or saving the planet etc- it's ticking boxes and transfering money from people without suitably large houses & land to those who do, and of course to the double glazing solar panel installers.
 
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