Solar Panels?

[dunc_sx]

Just wondering what FIT rates people are seeing? I bought a house with panels fitted so never actually paid much attention but I want to make sure I'm getting as much back as possible given the rises.

Assume it's easy enough to change to the company offering the best rate?

I'm SSE for gas, electricity and FIT.

Cheers,
Dunc.

[gangzoom]

dunc_sx said:

Just wondering what FIT rates people are seeing? I bought a house with panels fitted so never actually paid much attention but I want to make sure I'm getting as much back as possible given the rises.

Assume it's easy enough to change to the company offering the best rate?

I'm SSE for gas, electricity and FIT.

Cheers,
Dunc.

FIT traiffs are decided by Ofgem, and is based on when the system was installed. As far as I know everyone pays the same, ie Ofgem rates.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/feed-tariff-...

[markiii]

correct, theress no point in moving, I'm not even sure if you can?

[Biggus thingus]

Enut said:

First time poster on this thread.

We have date for fitting our solar panels next month.

16 panel system (6.2 KWH) with 12.8 KW storage (4 batteries), EPS system, 6 optimisers, bird protection (we have a large local pigeon/dove colony), including all scaffolding and fitting.

Cost is £13K.

I know some will say we could have got it cheaper but after over 2 years of getting messed around and let down by other suppliers, I'm just glad it's going to get installed.

Given the soaring cost of electricity and the fact that I have pond pumps and UV's running 24/7 I think it will be a long term winner.

That sounds like a pretty good deal

Care to share the name of the firm? Do they have a referral scheme?

[J210]

Is it worth looking at solar panels and maybe storage. We use about 10KWH a day max if not charing the car and around 17KWH a day if charging the car.

[Patch1875]

One of my customers has just had panels fitted. He got a Scottish government grant to pay for it and he seems to think it will pay itself back after 4 years.

Is that right?

[g40steve]

Patch1875 said:

One of my customers has just had panels fitted. He got a Scottish government grant to pay for it and he seems to think it will pay itself back after 4 years.

Is that right?

@50p soon to be 60p could be 70p what do you think?
All depends on what you pay & what you get for it, everything posted in the past three months is much more expensive.
Supply & crazy demand just drive’s prices higher & higher.

[Road2Ruin]

Patch1875 said:

One of my customers has just had panels fitted. He got a Scottish government grant to pay for it and he seems to think it will pay itself back after 4 years.

Is that right?

Highly unlikely, but not beyond the realms of possibility. Depends on HIS total outlay, how much of the electricity he can likely use and how much he currently pays per Kwh at the mo.

[NuckyThompson]

Patch1875 said:

One of my customers has just had panels fitted. He got a Scottish government grant to pay for it and he seems to think it will pay itself back after 4 years.

Is that right?

He's in scotland they get about 6 minutes of sun a day so no........

[Shades]

Looking at having solar (+ battery) installed.
Live close to Loughborough, does anyone have any recommendations for installers in the East Midlands to get quotes from.

Cheers

[ARHarh]

markiii said:

correct, theress no point in moving, I'm not even sure if you can?

You can move your FIT to another company but no point as the price is fixed and index linked for 20 years

[g40steve]

Shades said:

Looking at having solar (+ battery) installed.
Live close to Loughborough, does anyone have any recommendations for installers in the East Midlands to get quotes from.

Cheers

I’m East Leake, So Energy Solar fitted mine in July.

[JD]

As part of a new roof on an extension, I am just planning the Solar.

I can fit 4kW on the South side, I am trying to work out if 4kW on the North side is worthwhile. (about £3000 to add panels and mounts)

The PV calculator from the energy saving trust seems to suggest only a 30% drop in yearly production for the North side, but I find that very hard to believe as surely it is in complete shade (30 degree pitch) for half of the year?

Has anyone got any real world examples of North facing panels?

[OutInTheShed]

JD said:

As part of a new roof on an extension, I am just planning the Solar.

I can fit 4kW on the South side, I am trying to work out if 4kW on the North side is worthwhile. (about £3000 to add panels and mounts)

The PV calculator from the energy saving trust seems to suggest only a 30% drop in yearly production for the North side, but I find that very hard to believe as surely it is in complete shade (30 degree pitch) for half of the year?

Has anyone got any real world examples of North facing panels?

The peak output of North facing panels will be rubbish.
But on cloudy days, when your South facing panels are only doing 30% of what they do on a sunny day, your North facing panels will only be maybe 30 or 40% worse.
So adding a lot of North facing panels helps on 'bad' days, and can be useful if you're more interested in say maximising the number of days you can achieve xkWh, rather than getting the max kWh per year.

If you're properly off grid and want to minimise generator hours, then it's a game of first get as many panels as you can, worrying about where they point comes second.
If you need to justify the capital of each panel, then where it points matters.

Personally, I have roof area facing E, W and N. I don't see payback in North pacing panels. Must admit I can't put figures to that.
But I'd probably do better to put some panels on fences and suchlike.

[Traffic]

gangzoom said:

dunc_sx said:

Just wondering what FIT rates people are seeing? I bought a house with panels fitted so never actually paid much attention but I want to make sure I'm getting as much back as possible given the rises.

Assume it's easy enough to change to the company offering the best rate?

I'm SSE for gas, electricity and FIT.

Cheers,
Dunc.

FIT traiffs are decided by Ofgem, and is based on when the system was installed. As far as I know everyone pays the same, ie Ofgem rates.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/feed-tariff-...

It's no wonder the UK is in such a mess.

This is beyond antique (April prices?) WTF?! why people are not being paid close to hourly spot prices is insanity when there is a rampant energy crisis.

I know I bang on about it, but I do believe there is a great solution for the UK if someone with some balls took some basic steps.

[Traffic]

Biggus thingus said:

That sounds like a pretty good deal

Care to share the name of the firm? Do they have a referral scheme?

Why optimisers? that seems a bit retro tech these days?

[Traffic]

Patch1875 said:

One of my customers has just had panels fitted. He got a Scottish government grant to pay for it and he seems to think it will pay itself back after 4 years.

Is that right?

Using £ money

I have sold so far in August sold £420 back to the grid and saved probably £70 by using some of my production. My system cost about £18K and is deemed a bit unusual by UK standards. But ROI for August alone is amazing, sadly caused by Putin mainly and some idiotic EU energy laws.

My solar guy reckoned on 7 years payback, I assumed 8 or 9.

It might be significantly less the longer things carry on.

I'm not sure of the grant in Scotland, we got about £5k off here in sunny Sverige.

UK is now offering VAT free which is pretty nice, but the standard home electrical connection seems to be a limiting factor for many here in this forum.

It seems a little mad people even bothering with such small arrays when the inverter itself becomes close to 50% of the cost, I went big on panels - 54 of them! 3 modules, I could have perhaps gone even bigger but that was budget then.

[NMNeil]

An open question.
If you have a grid tie system in the UK you use most of the power you generate, but any surplus is sold to the utility company for xxx pence per Kwh. As the electricity rates rise does the xxx pence the utility company pays you also rise?

[Traffic]

NMNeil said:

An open question.
If you have a grid tie system in the UK you use most of the power you generate, but any surplus is sold to the utility company for xxx pence per Kwh. As the electricity rates rise does the xxx pence the utility company pays you also rise?

It should do, but pretty certain that does not happen as mirco-production is still frowned upon, there used to be FIT and even that is antique.

[gazapc]

JD said:

As part of a new roof on an extension, I am just planning the Solar.

I can fit 4kW on the South side, I am trying to work out if 4kW on the North side is worthwhile. (about £3000 to add panels and mounts)

The PV calculator from the energy saving trust seems to suggest only a 30% drop in yearly production for the North side, but I find that very hard to believe as surely it is in complete shade (30 degree pitch) for half of the year?

Has anyone got any real world examples of North facing panels?

Have you used this tool? It will provide a bit more detail than the energy saving trust one including a monthly production breakdown. 30% does seem potentially a bit optimistic.
https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/

Consider cost - if you are re-roofing can you go for an in roof option? That saves on tiles. A friend had this done as the panels were cheaper per m2 than the tiles so the net install cost was very little.

With a larger system you will need DNO approval.

Think in terms of how an additional 4 kW may (or may not) help with your overall electricity usage (and will that change soon i.e electric car?).

NMNeil said:

An open question.
If you have a grid tie system in the UK you use most of the power you generate, but any surplus is sold to the utility company for xxx pence per Kwh. As the electricity rates rise does the xxx pence the utility company pays you also rise?

The SEG (smart export guarantee) is how post-FIT PV gets paid for export. SEG rates are pretty low for most providers, but they have been creeping up. Octopus are one of the few to fully reflect current high prices
Their 'Agile Outgoing' tariff can have you being paid over 50p per kWh for export at the moment. Conversely it can also drop very low when there is excess generation.
Some example stats: https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-agile-outgoing...