Solar Panels - why bother?
Discussion
Seems to be all the rage around my town, mainly ex council houses are getting loaded up with them, maybe they are still housing association property, not sure, but they are a bloody eyesore!
I doubt anybody with a 'proper' house would use them, and I fail to see how they would get past planning permission, when anybody building an extension is ordered to use matching roof tiles etc ( I think?)
Or is the whole country so green-paranoid that they dare not show any reluctance to anything that promises to save the planet??
I looked at them when we lived in the Philippines, which has the second most expensive electricity in the world. But at $25,000 (£20,000) to install, for a full system for our house, and dubious longevity, it seemed a loser from the start. I'm sure we'd be buying new batteries and suchforth before the system had even approached paying for itself. The usual retort when you mention that to a salesman is "but batteries are improving in quality all the time".
Okay bud, we'll wait until they get it right.....
I doubt anybody with a 'proper' house would use them, and I fail to see how they would get past planning permission, when anybody building an extension is ordered to use matching roof tiles etc ( I think?)
Or is the whole country so green-paranoid that they dare not show any reluctance to anything that promises to save the planet??
I looked at them when we lived in the Philippines, which has the second most expensive electricity in the world. But at $25,000 (£20,000) to install, for a full system for our house, and dubious longevity, it seemed a loser from the start. I'm sure we'd be buying new batteries and suchforth before the system had even approached paying for itself. The usual retort when you mention that to a salesman is "but batteries are improving in quality all the time".
Okay bud, we'll wait until they get it right.....
kuro said:
thebraketester said:
The tarrif deals are not as good as they once were.
I was fortunate to buy a house that already had them installed. The previous occupants owned them outright and were on one of the early index linked tarrifs. Basically they pay for my gas and electric bills.megaphone said:
No they don't! Every other bill payer is paying for your electricity and gas, we subsidise the FIT, totally crazy scheme, unsustainable and rightly dropped to a more realistic amount...
Yes, all part of the great 'save the planet' hysteria bandwagon so many brainwashed people have jumped on over the last decade or so.Funny this thread has just come up, I have just bought a new house, which is a new build and it comes with solar panels already installed. Heres a pic from the front where you can see the panels up top,
Now we haven't moved in yet, nor have i any experience of solar panels before, but i'm led to believe they feed into the hot water tank to keep that hot to save on boiler usage???, and as the house has all water fed underfloor heating downstairs should save on the bills front.
Those in the know with regards to solar panels, with the pic above, are they likely to make that much of a difference, or did the builder just add them on to get the efficiency rating up and tick a few boxes.
Now we haven't moved in yet, nor have i any experience of solar panels before, but i'm led to believe they feed into the hot water tank to keep that hot to save on boiler usage???, and as the house has all water fed underfloor heating downstairs should save on the bills front.
Those in the know with regards to solar panels, with the pic above, are they likely to make that much of a difference, or did the builder just add them on to get the efficiency rating up and tick a few boxes.
I had solar panels installed on the house I'm renovating. Bought the house in August 2014, combined gas & electric at the time was £96-100+ a month. We had a new boiler installed, replaced 2 radiators for bigger ones and 2 more replaced for big towel rails. All lights replaced with either energy type bulbs or leds (including 24 down lighters) Solar panels were fitted in mid November 2015, cost of install was around £4500.
11.5 months of fit payments and reduction in the combined bills were around £900. Combined bills are now £56 a month and the fit payments around £600.
I work alternating shifts so every other week my usage during the day is pretty much free, we bought new kitchen appliances as part of the renovation for the new kitchen and made sure everything had timer delays on them so we can set the dishwasher and washing machine to come on during the day when its free.
For us it was worth it and payback within 5-6 years (as we were told by the suppliers), now with the fit payments reduced I don't know if I would bother.
11.5 months of fit payments and reduction in the combined bills were around £900. Combined bills are now £56 a month and the fit payments around £600.
I work alternating shifts so every other week my usage during the day is pretty much free, we bought new kitchen appliances as part of the renovation for the new kitchen and made sure everything had timer delays on them so we can set the dishwasher and washing machine to come on during the day when its free.
For us it was worth it and payback within 5-6 years (as we were told by the suppliers), now with the fit payments reduced I don't know if I would bother.
mikeiow said:
I reckon we use about 25-30% less electricity than before, so we are helping save the planet ....
No you aren't, you're helping to create toxic chemical wastelands and not even saving any harmless CO2 plant food production (whole life) if that was your delusional aim.Green virtue signalling whilst like most green schemes, actually wrecking the planet, and profiteering by forcing up everybody else's electricity bills and creating more fuel poverty.
Gazzas86 said:
Funny this thread has just come up, I have just bought a new house, which is a new build and it comes with solar panels already installed. Heres a pic from the front where you can see the panels up top,
Now we haven't moved in yet, nor have i any experience of solar panels before, but i'm led to believe they feed into the hot water tank to keep that hot to save on boiler usage???, and as the house has all water fed underfloor heating downstairs should save on the bills front.
Those in the know with regards to solar panels, with the pic above, are they likely to make that much of a difference, or did the builder just add them on to get the efficiency rating up and tick a few boxes.
Solar panels that are used to supplement your hot water heating (rather than generate electricity) are actually worthwhile - all things accounted, but it won't save the world either.Now we haven't moved in yet, nor have i any experience of solar panels before, but i'm led to believe they feed into the hot water tank to keep that hot to save on boiler usage???, and as the house has all water fed underfloor heating downstairs should save on the bills front.
Those in the know with regards to solar panels, with the pic above, are they likely to make that much of a difference, or did the builder just add them on to get the efficiency rating up and tick a few boxes.
Robertj21a said:
One thing that's always bothered me - what if the roof itself needs some attention/repair. Can these panels be easily removed/replaced by anybody ? What if the panels are damaged ? Are different systems/manufacturers consistent (i.e to an agreed standard) so that if one company goes bust in 5 years time there's still a similar unit available when needed ?
I'll just bump this post in case any experts out there can answer it, these questions about the practicalities are very relevant imo. 4Q said:
A 4kW PV sytem, on a south-ish facing roof will generate around 3800kWh per year.
You'll get paid 4.2p FIT for every unit you generate for 20 years = £160
You'll also get paid 4.85p for export for half of you generation regardless whether you use it or not = £90
You'll also use around 40% of your generation yourself meaning you don't have to buy it saving another 12-15p @12p = £230 you can increase savings by managing usage to generation so things like dishwasher, drier, washing machine etc running during the the daytime.
The install cost would be around £5k and all the above payments rise with inflation so payback should be around 10 years. More importantly longer term is that you've eliminated 40-50% of your electricity bill for the next 20-25 years.
PM me if you'd like a detailed spreadsheet showing actual generation predictions for your location, costs, payback, panel degradation over time and factoring maintenance costs.
Edited to add, I'm not trying to sell you a system - I only teach the subject.
Would love a copy, my Dad has them he loves his spreadsheets and stats please mail me if you can :-)You'll get paid 4.2p FIT for every unit you generate for 20 years = £160
You'll also get paid 4.85p for export for half of you generation regardless whether you use it or not = £90
You'll also use around 40% of your generation yourself meaning you don't have to buy it saving another 12-15p @12p = £230 you can increase savings by managing usage to generation so things like dishwasher, drier, washing machine etc running during the the daytime.
The install cost would be around £5k and all the above payments rise with inflation so payback should be around 10 years. More importantly longer term is that you've eliminated 40-50% of your electricity bill for the next 20-25 years.
PM me if you'd like a detailed spreadsheet showing actual generation predictions for your location, costs, payback, panel degradation over time and factoring maintenance costs.
Edited to add, I'm not trying to sell you a system - I only teach the subject.
Edited by 4Q on Sunday 19th February 09:30
King Herald said:
Yes, all part of the great 'save the planet' hysteria bandwagon so many brainwashed people have jumped on over the last decade or so.
I own this little lot, paid for by EU grants under a compulsory renewable energy policy dictated by Europe. The fixed panels in the bottom half made me enough profit to pay cash for the 'tracking' panels in the top section. Then the lecky company wised up to the fact that every watt I supplied cost five times the output of their nuclear plants, so they taxed the s
t out of 'renewable' energy, and tens of thousands of KwH worth of solar panels are disconnected from the grid. The only time my panels have been 'switched on' to the grid in the past 10 months was when temps fell to -25C and Bulgaria was forced to stop selling power to Turkey. Unfortunately my panels were covered by 18 inches of snow at the time.
I have a very small system - about 8kwh worth. It generates about 3.5k a year (FIT now about 52p per unit IIRC), so from an investment perspective it's rather good. I spent about 20k on the system. That's better than most financial investments. From an environmental perspective, I'm not so sure.
I found 12 new panels and an inverter on Ebay some time back, and bought the lot for £800. I am in the process of installing those directly onto the hot water storage system, and while I don't think it will save much, I'm pretty much guaranteed free hot water (in summer) for the next 30 years.
I found 12 new panels and an inverter on Ebay some time back, and bought the lot for £800. I am in the process of installing those directly onto the hot water storage system, and while I don't think it will save much, I'm pretty much guaranteed free hot water (in summer) for the next 30 years.
megaphone said:
kuro said:
thebraketester said:
The tarrif deals are not as good as they once were.
I was fortunate to buy a house that already had them installed. The previous occupants owned them outright and were on one of the early index linked tarrifs. Basically they pay for my gas and electric bills.kuro said:
megaphone said:
kuro said:
thebraketester said:
The tarrif deals are not as good as they once were.
I was fortunate to buy a house that already had them installed. The previous occupants owned them outright and were on one of the early index linked tarrifs. Basically they pay for my gas and electric bills.My install cost £5.9k in 2013 and has saved me approximately £1.2k a year. So about a 5 year payback. It was a no brainer for me. People who do not have any spare cash to invest in such things have told me they are an eyesore, or they take a hundred years to pay off, or little old ladies cannot afford electric now due to having to pay for my electric. I invested to make my daily costs cheaper so I don't have to work as much anymore.
All decent systems will have come with a 25 year insurance policy, so your initial investment should be all you need to pay for the lifetime of the product/FIT.
Its not difficult to have a module in the house which uses the solar power to heat hot water, even in winter an average system can produce 1kw for a few hours a day. Most companies which fit them should be able to offer solar to hot water.
I know a few people with them, average payback seems to be about 7-10 years with FITs for 25 years and a reduction in electric usage while mains bills are going up. If you can heat your hot water as well then it shows a good return compared with other financial investments. Panels are cheap at the moment.
Its not difficult to have a module in the house which uses the solar power to heat hot water, even in winter an average system can produce 1kw for a few hours a day. Most companies which fit them should be able to offer solar to hot water.
I know a few people with them, average payback seems to be about 7-10 years with FITs for 25 years and a reduction in electric usage while mains bills are going up. If you can heat your hot water as well then it shows a good return compared with other financial investments. Panels are cheap at the moment.
ARHarh said:
My install cost £5.9k in 2013 and has saved me approximately £1.2k a year. So about a 5 year payback. It was a no brainer for me. People who do not have any spare cash to invest in such things have told me they are an eyesore, or they take a hundred years to pay off, or little old ladies cannot afford electric now due to having to pay for my electric. I invested to make my daily costs cheaper so I don't have to work as much anymore.
Then add on (or subtract) about 10% of the property value as it now looks crap 
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff