Solar Panels?

[dunc_sx]

gangzoom said:

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-...

Thanks for confirming, that's a really unfair system. Is FIT outdated though or does everyone still use it for new systems? My system cost the previous owner 20k and it would take about 20 years to pay that back, so what are people doing to make this stuff worthwhile? Not FIT assumably?

Thanks,
Dunc.

[dunc_sx]

markiii said:

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

Thanks as well, responded properly above this post.

Cheers,
Dunc

[Condi]

dunc_sx said:

Thanks for confirming, that's a really unfair system. Is FIT outdated though or does everyone still use it for new systems? My system cost the previous owner 20k and it would take about 20 years to pay that back, so what are people doing to make this stuff worthwhile? Not FIT assumably?

Thanks,
Dunc.

The FIT tariff when your panels were installed would have been quite generous, the early ones were about 40p/kwh from memory, at a time when power was 10/12p/kwh to buy. FIT no longer exists, as the cost of installations have come down, what cost your previous owner £20k might only be £7k today. It has been replace by the Smart Export Guarantee which is considerably worse for customers than FIT was, but then FIT did do what it was designed to do - it helped stimulate a market and bring down wholesale costs, and if solar is economically viable anyway without any support (which it is, for some people) then support shouldn't be given.

[Enut]

Biggus thingus said:

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?

It's through the East Sussex Solar Together scheme, Home Smart Energy are the company but I have already tried referring a friend to them but they won't offer the same deals as offered through the scheme.

[g40steve]

dunc_sx said:

Thanks for confirming, that's a really unfair system. Is FIT outdated though or does everyone still use it for new systems? My system cost the previous owner 20k and it would take about 20 years to pay that back, so what are people doing to make this stuff worthwhile? Not FIT assumably?

Thanks,
Dunc.

Previous owner probably paid £20k, the panels back then were probably 240-50W max. My neighbour has 16 panels from 2012 & they have max 4KWH, no batteries but plenty of FIT payment.

ROI argument is dead & buried right now with E @50p+ a unit & those with storage probably paying little overnight.
Factor in the low production months got to be a no brainer.

[ARHarh]

g40steve said:

dunc_sx said:

Thanks for confirming, that's a really unfair system. Is FIT outdated though or does everyone still use it for new systems? My system cost the previous owner 20k and it would take about 20 years to pay that back, so what are people doing to make this stuff worthwhile? Not FIT assumably?

Thanks,
Dunc.

Previous owner probably paid £20k, the panels back then were probably 240-50W max. My neighbour has 16 panels from 2012 & they have max 4KWH, no batteries but plenty of FIT payment.

ROI argument is dead & buried right now with E @50p+ a unit & those with storage probably paying little overnight.
Factor in the low production months got to be a no brainer.

Got a fit payment of £346 for the last 1/4 yesterday on my 2013 installed system, and the FIT payments payed for the install in 8 years.

Will I be able to get SEG after the FIT payments end?

[Evanivitch]

ARHarh said:

Got a fit payment of £346 for the last 1/4 yesterday on my 2013 installed system, and the FIT payments payed for the install in 8 years.

Will I be able to get SEG after the FIT payments end?

Yes. You can get SEG now if you opt-out of FiT.

[ChocolateFrog]

Condi said:

dunc_sx said:

Thanks for confirming, that's a really unfair system. Is FIT outdated though or does everyone still use it for new systems? My system cost the previous owner 20k and it would take about 20 years to pay that back, so what are people doing to make this stuff worthwhile? Not FIT assumably?

Thanks,
Dunc.

The FIT tariff when your panels were installed would have been quite generous, the early ones were about 40p/kwh from memory, at a time when power was 10/12p/kwh to buy. FIT no longer exists, as the cost of installations have come down, what cost your previous owner £20k might only be £7k today. It has been replace by the Smart Export Guarantee which is considerably worse for customers than FIT was, but then FIT did do what it was designed to do - it helped stimulate a market and bring down wholesale costs, and if solar is economically viable anyway without any support (which it is, for some people) then support shouldn't be given.

50p a unit.

My mate bought a house last year not giving jt much of a thought but he now gets £2000 a year back, which seeing as he also fixed his dual fuel until 2024 makes me feel a little sick with envy.

[JD]

gazapc said:

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?).

Oh great, thanks for the link, that feels a bit more realistic giving me 4206 kWh for the South array, and 2269 for the North.

This is an an entirely new part of a building, and I am planing on integrated panels, I was curious more from the point of view that the roof would be symmetrical if I put panels both sides!

I don't think my roof covering will be that expensive as to make the panels a no-brainer versus tiles, the mounting system is about £800 for 4kW.

Electricity usage is currently low in summer high in winter due to heating the outdoor office electrically, but with the new building it will have A/C units for the main spaces and office will move indoors, and I expect an electric company car is not far away (or we are incentivised to charge the hybrids at home)

[ARHarh]

Evanivitch said:

ARHarh said:

Got a fit payment of £346 for the last 1/4 yesterday on my 2013 installed system, and the FIT payments payed for the install in 8 years.

Will I be able to get SEG after the FIT payments end?

Yes. You can get SEG now if you opt-out of FiT.

Thanks for that info.

Wont be opting out of fit yet, but when it ends at least i can still get a bit of income. Unless they change it though.

[AW10]

Traffic said:

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.

Given that the U.K. government hasn’t got to grips with how they’re going to deal with current prices paid by consumers realigning FITs is likely to be a long way off.

I’ll venture a guess that FIT rates were based on the expectation of energy rates seeing annual increases broadly in line with inflation, not the incredible repeated spikes we’ve seen in the last 9 months and are expected for the next 6+ months.

[AW10]

ARHarh said:

Thanks for that info.

Wont be opting out of fit yet, but when it ends at least i can still get a bit of income. Unless they change it though.

Pretty sure your Inflation-linked FIT payments are “guaranteed” for 25 years.

[markiii]

JD said:

gazapc said:

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?).

Oh great, thanks for the link, that feels a bit more realistic giving me 4206 kWh for the South array, and 2269 for the North.

This is an an entirely new part of a building, and I am planing on integrated panels, I was curious more from the point of view that the roof would be symmetrical if I put panels both sides!

I don't think my roof covering will be that expensive as to make the panels a no-brainer versus tiles, the mounting system is about £800 for 4kW.

Electricity usage is currently low in summer high in winter due to heating the outdoor office electrically, but with the new building it will have A/C units for the main spaces and office will move indoors, and I expect an electric company car is not far away (or we are incentivised to charge the hybrids at home)

make you have a multi input inverter, if you daisy chain arrays together they only work at the output of the worst panel. I have a dual input inverter with a south and east facing array, connected separately

[markiii]

they are, guaranteed inflation linked for 25 years from install

[TriumphStag3.0V8]

markiii said:

JD said:

gazapc said:

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?).

Oh great, thanks for the link, that feels a bit more realistic giving me 4206 kWh for the South array, and 2269 for the North.

This is an an entirely new part of a building, and I am planing on integrated panels, I was curious more from the point of view that the roof would be symmetrical if I put panels both sides!

I don't think my roof covering will be that expensive as to make the panels a no-brainer versus tiles, the mounting system is about £800 for 4kW.

Electricity usage is currently low in summer high in winter due to heating the outdoor office electrically, but with the new building it will have A/C units for the main spaces and office will move indoors, and I expect an electric company car is not far away (or we are incentivised to charge the hybrids at home)

make you have a multi input inverter, if you daisy chain arrays together they only work at the output of the worst panel. I have a dual input inverter with a south and east facing array, connected separately

Used to be the case, not any more. Most modern setups are controlled to the panel level now

[ARHarh]

markiii said:

they are, guaranteed inflation linked for 25 years from install

Only for PV installed before 1st august 2012 after that its 20 years. https://www.fitariffs.co.uk/fits/principles/future...

[markiii]

ooh didn't realise they'd reduced it, glad mine were before that

[TDK-C60]

How can you find out what e.g. Octopus are paying for export electricity?

On their site I can only see the cost per unit for import - which also seems quite high. I suppose it is high as it is linked to the fact they will pay for export?

The Go tariff looks like you can get 4-5 hours at night for only 7.5p. Are there any strings for that? I think I saw somewhere you had to have an EV for this tariff, but I can't find that constraint described. Can you export electricity on this tariff too, or just other ones?

[AW10]

ARHarh said:

Thanks for that info.

Wont be opting out of fit yet, but when it ends at least i can still get a bit of income. Unless they change it though.

Pretty sure your Inflation-linked FIT payments are “guaranteed” for 25 years.

[JD]

markiii said:

make you have a multi input inverter, if you daisy chain arrays together they only work at the output of the worst panel. I have a dual input inverter with a south and east facing array, connected separately

Just at the planning stage at the moment, but I believe I can get an inverter with a pair of MPPT inputs and put each direction into each connection.

I am a little averse to using optimisers or micro-inverters as the panels are going to be mounted "in roof" making access difficult I expect.