Solar at scale

[WH16]

I have just been idly browsing on Rightmove and looked at a house with a modest roof-mounted solar array. Nothing unusual there. What did surprise me was that they stated a £2k pa income generated by the panels. Is that right?

If so has anybody any experience of installing solar at scale? Like several acres worth? Is it a planning nightmare, or do the numbers just not add up in reality? I asked Claude and got a mixed response, and it also indicated an install cost of over £150k per acre, so obviously a significant investment if correct. However, given an acre is the equivalent of several hundred 'roofs', surely it's a no-brainer? What am I missing?

[hairy vx]

I would think the £2k pa includes savings on electricity not purchased.

[Dg504]

FiTs were 40 odd pence per kWh at one point so could easily be that amount PA

To work it back, £2k is 5000kWh at 40p, a 5kW system is probably c.20 panels (or less nowadays)

Edited by Dg504 on Tuesday 5th May 15:48

[TheRainMaker]

Our export rate is 12p per kWh at the moment.

Our generation this year to date is 2.3MWh, which would be £276 if we exported it all; this is an 11.62kWp system (25 panels).

The system must be MASSIVE

[4Q]

They will be getting legacy Feed in Tariff payments which were either 20 or 25 years from installation depending when they were fitted. The early adopter's started on 42p per kWh of generation (not export) for 25 years which has now risen to around 70p per kWh as it was index linked to CPI. The scheme has been closed to new entrants for some years but existing installations can transfer the FIT benefit to new owners

[WH16]

4Q said:

They will be getting legacy Feed in Tariff payments which were either 20 or 25 years from installation depending when they were fitted. The early adopter's started on 42p per kWh of generation (not export) for 25 years which has now risen to around 70p per kWh as it was index linked to CPI. The scheme has been closed to new entrants for some years but existing installations can transfer the FIT benefit to new owners

I thought it maybe something along those lines. The rates I was seeing were closer to 6-12p/kWh for new installs.

[theboss]

I looked at a house a few years ago that had a ground mounted array in a field some distance from the house (i.e. you wouldn't even know they were there) and the chap told me the FIT payments had covered his mortgage for the past 10 years. I believe it used to be highly lucrative as others have suggested. Not so much now, though still very useful of course.