Rooftop Solar Panels

[shaunbhoy]

Anyone got these, are they worth having?
Just spoke with one of my sisters who has had some put on her place. She and her hubby are quite pleased so far and derive much satisfaction from watching their leccy meter effectively going backwards!
Sounds to be a reasonable thing to do if you have a decent sized south-facing roof to mount them on (which I do).

Thoughts?

[DimPrawn]

You have two options.

1.

You pay for the panels and the install and you get two things. You get to use all the energy they produce and for every kilowatt hour of power you get a very generous feed in tarriff paid, even if you use the energy.

downside is it requires capital upfront and you won't break even for many many years.

2.

A company "rents" your roofspace and pays for the panels and the install. In return you still get to use any electricity generated but the company receives the feed in tarriff not you. Downside is it makes selling your house more complicated, upside is none of your savings are used.

[TimberWolf]

Anyone got these, are they worth having?
Just spoke with one of my sisters who has had some put on her place. She and her hubby are quite pleased so far and derive much satisfaction from watching their leccy meter effectively going backwards!
Sounds to be a reasonable thing to do if you have a decent sized south-facing roof to mount them on (which I do).

Thoughts?

Photovoltaics or heat collectors?

I thought the gist of it was that massive subsidies are available, up to including free installation (and then the installer collects the lovely tax payer funded subsidies and grants instead of you). But who knows how long the electricity subsidies will last.

If it were your own money, wind would make more sense.

[PRC1964]

Photovoltaics or heat collectors?

I thought the gist of it was that massive subsidies are available, up to including free installation (and then the installer collects the lovely tax payer funded subsidies and grants instead of you). But who knows how long the electricity subsidies will last.

If it were your own money, wind would make more sense.

You calling Mr Bhoy a wind bag? Come to think of it, you may be right, and not just about him, but most of the CUK members.

[DimPrawn]

Photovoltaics or heat collectors?

I thought the gist of it was that massive subsidies are available, up to including free installation (and then the installer collects the lovely tax payer funded subsidies and grants instead of you). But who knows how long the electricity subsidies will last.

If it were your own money, wind would make more sense.

There are no feed in tarriffs for heat collectors.

The PV panels get something like 42p per unit generated even if you use the electricity. Crazy "green" policies. No wonder utility bills go up 30% per year.

Govt have committed to 20 years paying this. It's not like govts change the rules is it?

[MrRobin]

I looked into this in quite some depth a short while ago. Although I worked out I could make back my capital in c.12 years, I decided against it in the end because there was no guarantee that the FIT wouldn't be cancelled/reduced in future years and I figured I probably wouldn't be in this house that long anyway

The feed in tarrif for wind power is worth the square root of bugger all. Not worth it even if you live in a Welsh valley.

[TimberWolf]

Interesting chart here:



Return on investment above is in terms of energy rather than money, but provides some indication of the costs in money terms. Note how far to the left photovoltaics are Wind scores almost suspiciously well.

[wim121]

You have two options.

1.

You pay for the panels and the install and you get two things. You get to use all the energy they produce and for every kilowatt hour of power you get a very generous feed in tarriff paid, even if you use the energy.

downside is it requires capital upfront and you won't break even for many many years.

2.

A company "rents" your roofspace and pays for the panels and the install. In return you still get to use any electricity generated but the company receives the feed in tarriff not you. Downside is it makes selling your house more complicated, upside is none of your savings are used.

Also PV cells need replacing every 20 years or so ... So as soon as you start to break even, you only have a few years of pure profit .... It is attractive though as you get 40p per lwh or so fed back ... If you arent too wasteful with electric and have half a roof of PV panels, you will use less than you feed back to the grid ...



A more sensible use of your roofspace is solar heating. Basically just domestic hot water and cetral heating pipes, coiled through a box that asorbs sunlight.

Have a friend with both PV for electric and solar powered heating. The heating saves far more on gas/electric bills and was cheaper. Even on cloudy days up north in lancashire, they get 60*c on hot water and about 40*c on cloudy winter days. You could heat it up further with an electric element or feeding it through a gas boiler. Might sound like nothing, but the energy saved from heating up from cold to hot and warm to hot is staggering. Also if you consider that it will graudally warm a house offering continous heating like a ground radiator pump, but far cheaper, its a no brainer ....

If you are good with your hands, you can build your own solar heating panel boxes cheaply with black paint, tinfoil, copper and plastic pipe, etc. Very simple to do ....





Anyway all of that, I would recommend on gutting and redoing a house. If you just want to save a bit of money on energy, I would suggest re-insulating your loft, between your ground floor and foundations and getting cavity wall insulation. You can get it all done cheaply/free if anyone in the house is on the dole, if not, its still very cheap to do. A few hundred and your energy bills will fall. Far better saving ratio than solar ....

[wim121]

There are no feed in tarriffs for heat collectors.

The objective is to substancially save on energy bills via that method at a far lower cost than PV .....

If it were your own money, wind would make more sense.

I looked in to wind and did calculations last year. Considering buying one this year.

You still get the fee in tariff price, but you can buy mills off ebay for about £300-£500. Calculating their energy output, alloowing for diminshing levels year on year, the mill has a five year garuantee on parts and breaks even after 18 months and then is in to pure profit. Most backyard mills will last just under 10 years ...

[wim121]

Interesting chart here:



Return on investment above is in terms of energy rather than money, but provides some indication of the costs in money terms. Note how far to the left photovoltaics are Wind scores almost suspiciously well.

Oh yes, we all should know renewables are for retards as they are extremely inefficient. However if the government is going to pay energy producers, especially low level ones rather well, why not benefit off their sheer stupidity?