Solar panels

worto03 · 24 February 2006 at 1:56PM

Hi,

Just wondered - apart from the obvious benefit to the environment are solar panels viable in the UK as a cost cutting exercise?

On an average semi-detatched house how long does it take to get a decent Return On Investment?

Just wondered if any members had any experiance with this?

Cheers,
worto.

ariba10 · 24 February 2006 at 2:00PM

In a few words -- For Ever.

worto03 · 24 February 2006 at 2:01PM

LOL - thought that might be the answer, I'll probably only be in the house for 5 years beign my first house so if thats the case it's not really something worth looking into.

Cheers,
worto.

robv_3 · 24 February 2006 at 2:22PM

A few years ago it was pretty normal for solar panels heating hot water only to return after ~12 years. Now with the reduced cost of the panels and the increasing gas prices it could be as low as 5 years.

May be worth looking at heat banks and using the solar panel for both central heating and hot water.

wealthsaver · 24 February 2006 at 3:26PM

worto03 wrote:

Just wondered - apart from the obvious benefit to the environment are solar panels viable in the UK as a cost cutting exercise?

On an average semi-detatched house how long does it take to get a decent Return On Investment?

Good discussion on this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=155905

worto03 · 24 February 2006 at 3:48PM

thanks for the info & the link - I'll head over to the other thread.

I knew it would have been discussed somewhere but couldn't find it.

cheers,
worto.

jammymutt · 25 February 2006 at 4:17AM

I have been contemplating solar water heating for a while but have decided to get Gas now due to the high initial cost of Solar.

kittiwoz · 26 February 2006 at 12:04AM

Photovoltaics are un-economic. They require at least 10 m^2 of South facing roof with a pitch no greater than 40 degrees. They are expensive to install, in large part due to the cost of connection to the grid or inverters and batteries which require maintenance. Say you pay £5,000 per kWpeak installed (typically 2kWpeak). For each kWpeak you produce an expected 750kWh per year. At a price of 10p per kwh this is a fuel saving of £75 annually. So you get your money back in a little under 70 years! Except that the system only has a lifetime of about 25 years.

Having said this there have been some developments lately that could see an increase in the use of pV technology. Multi-junction cells, created by stacking materials with different band gaps (that is that absorb photons with different energies) could push efficiencies from the 10-12% currently typical of simple multi-crystaline silicon cells to as much as 35%. Also dye adsorbed nano-crystaline semiconductors have been developed which demonstrate efficiencies of >10% at a much lower cost than traditional silicon cells. My guess is that the high efficiency multi-junction cells will turn out to be very expensive and will be used by NASA and in large desert solar arrays while the translucent nano-crystaline film will become a common architectural material and expand the range of places it is considered economical to use pV cells.

For the minute solar water heaters are a much better prospect. The initial costs are lower and they are much more efficient. I would estimate such a system would pay back in 5 to 8 years. There is a £400 grant available from The Clear Skies initiative.

Wind power is currently where it's at. There is a lot of investment going in to this area currently, meaning it's expected to take off in a big way. It's cheaper to install than pV and less intrusive, i.e. it's easier to install, takes up less room and isn't as ugly. Renewable Devices has developed the roof mounted "Swift Turbine". This typically provides 2,000-3,000kWh of energy per year. They cost £5,000 when they were launched but this is expected to drop to about £2,000 by the end of the year due to increased production. You have to contact them to find out the current cost but with a grant for 30% of the cost available from the Clear Skies Initiative you would make your money back on an initial cost of £5,000 in 14 years and on £2,000 in 5.6 years assuming a saving of £250 a year.

For more info, including about grants, see the Energy Saving Trust webiste http://www.est.org.uk/myhome/generating/ and The Clear Skies initiative http://www.clear-skies.org/households/GrantsAndTechnologies.aspx Also Renewable Devices Swift Turbines http://www.renewabledevices.com/swift/index.htm

yds3 · 10 May 2006 at 9:50PM

kittiwoz wrote:

Photovoltaics are un-economic. They require at least 10 m^2 of South facing roof with a pitch no greater than 40 degrees. They are expensive to install, in large part due to the cost of connection to the grid or inverters and batteries which require maintenance. Say you pay £5,000 per kWpeak installed (typically 2kWpeak). For each kWpeak you produce an expected 750kWh per year. At a price of 10p per kwh this is a fuel saving of £75 annually. So you get your money back in a little under 70 years! Except that the system only has a lifetime of about 25 years.

Having said this there have been some developments lately that could see an increase in the use of pV technology. Multi-junction cells, created by stacking materials with different band gaps (that is that absorb photons with different energies) could push efficiencies from the 10-12% currently typical of simple multi-crystaline silicon cells to as much as 35%. Also dye adsorbed nano-crystaline semiconductors have been developed which demonstrate efficiencies of >10% at a much lower cost than traditional silicon cells. My guess is that the high efficiency multi-junction cells will turn out to be very expensive and will be used by NASA and in large desert solar arrays while the translucent nano-crystaline film will become a common architectural material and expand the range of places it is considered economical to use pV cells.

For the minute solar water heaters are a much better prospect. The initial costs are lower and they are much more efficient. I would estimate such a system would pay back in 5 to 8 years. There is a £400 grant available from The Clear Skies initiative.

Wind power is currently where it's at. There is a lot of investment going in to this area currently, meaning it's expected to take off in a big way. It's cheaper to install than pV and less intrusive, i.e. it's easier to install, takes up less room and isn't as ugly. Renewable Devices has developed the roof mounted "Swift Turbine". This typically provides 2,000-3,000kWh of energy per year. They cost £5,000 when they were launched but this is expected to drop to about £2,000 by the end of the year due to increased production. You have to contact them to find out the current cost but with a grant for 30% of the cost available from the Clear Skies Initiative you would make your money back on an initial cost of £5,000 in 14 years and on £2,000 in 5.6 years assuming a saving of £250 a year.

For more info, including about grants, see the Energy Saving Trust webiste http://www.est.org.uk/myhome/generating/ and The Clear Skies initiative http://www.clear-skies.org/households/GrantsAndTechnologies.aspx Also Renewable Devices Swift Turbines http://www.renewabledevices.com/swift/index.htm

:beer: :beer: :beer:

A theory that seems to raise it head and by the time the theory has been spoken it is already outdated.
Most of the semi-conductor manufacturers, i.e sharp, cypus, etc are lobbying the government to back Solar power, even the USA (7-8KW system fitted on the white house) has backed solar power. Our government opted for wind power because because the Danish had good results. Larger mass per head of population.
Every month claims to PV efficieny come from a university of manufacturer of semi-conductors. The equation is simple, the working parts in a solar cell are the same as your DVD recorder and how much was that a year ago. More backing and placing renewable energy technologies into new builds will reduce the cost.

I have solar PV and calculated that in 15 years time I will be paid back, that was 3 years ago, but with electricity companies buying back electricity (thanks to Ofgem changing the ROCs) that goes to the grid. Also the constant increase in energy prices will reduce help to reduce pay back.

Not one type of renewable energy is the answer, they all have something, combine this with better Energy Efficiency and throw in a pinch of changing our mind sets.

Solar panels

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