Solar Power - always a scam??

yakky58

Hi Cardew,

Sorry been out enjoying the sunshine on the golf course.

Indeed their are cowboys within the industry, I would never say that there are not. In fact the first company who came round made all sorts of claims for a DHW system (cost £6500) which under examination never stood up so they were showed the door.

As to what I spent that money was made in the stock market and I decided, personal reasons, to invest in my house rather than risk some dodgy Icelandic bank or any bank for that matter. My savings are around £500/year in combination of generated electric, less use of gas, ROCs, energy saving bulbs and switching off unused devices (kids PCs, phone chargers etc). So I can say that £500 in my pocket is of use. So if that is what people choose to do then I am supportive.

All I would say to anyone thinking on this. Is to investigate and get lots of quotes, and do lots of the work yourself. Research deeply into the quality and longevity of the products.

For all that confuse things, a megawatt is 1000kwH. I genetrate over a year > 2000kwH. That equates to around 40% of my electrical usage. I try and only use 5000kwH a year. As for gas savings the hot water from the DHW saves me around £100-£125 per year. Between April and October I pay around £60-70 in gas bills. But you have to change your habits, for example, showers early in the morning use gas heated water, a shower in the evening uses hot water from the DHW. So its not free unless you make personal changes in lifestyle. That's something you should consider.

Washing the panels to maintain peak performance is not so onerous as you would imagine, an hour twice a year up a ladder. I don't mind heights so no issue for me.

Registering with OFGEM and the monthly import was painful until they developed the new website. Now its 10 minutes once a month. Selling the ROCs to my supplier SSE is simple, 3 clicks of a mouse on the OFGEM site. You get the option of a cheque of money off the bill, I chose the latter for simplicity. My next bill will be free and the one after will be significantly reduced. Nice before the Christmas period.

Now as to Cardews view that I could have made more money in a savings account. Looking at the rates now...yes its true if I lock it away for a period and lose money drawing down early. So I believe that is marginal. I chose this as an investment in my property. Has it added value to my property, yes. Has it added what I spent, probably not at this time with deflated property prices. An estate agent who lives by me said that in 6-12 months time I'll get my money back maybe a big more. So I ask is that a loss of money?

I would never advocate that people go ahead based on the discussion in this website forum and never on the sales pitch you get. I would recommend the company (send an email) as they were honest from day 1. They changed my solar tubes as they defective, cost all absorbed by them. That seemed very reasonable to me.

choille

http://www.nanosolar.com/

Think this will be the way forward in a few years.

SailorSam

The financial payback for solar heating will depend upon where you live, !!!!!! Strawbridge who did up the farmhouse in Cornwall will get a greater return than if he did the same in the Highlands of Scotland, also as an ex army engineer he was able to do most of the work himself. The rest of us would need to take into consideration the cost of labour to install it.
As we run out of fossil fuels and they become more expensive, alternative will become more worthwhile.

SailorSam

On Freeview now, Channel Dave..... James May with alternative sources of energy.

choille

!!!!!! Strawbridge who did up the farmhouse in Cornwall will get a greater return than if he did the same in the Highlands of Scotland,

That is a misconception. The Highlands are good for solar as is quite a lot of Scotland as we have much clearer skies than say at the CAT centre in Wales.
Cornwall is good - as it has good light - so do some parts of Scotland - it's not all dark & dreich all the time.

Cardew

choille wrote: »

!!!!!! Strawbridge who did up the farmhouse in Cornwall will get a greater return than if he did the same in the Highlands of Scotland,

That is a misconception. The Highlands are good for solar as is quite a lot of Scotland as we have much clearer skies than say at the CAT centre in Wales.
Cornwall is good - as it has good light - so do some parts of Scotland - it's not all dark & dreich all the time.

It most certainly NOT a misconception.The Highlands are not good for solar(compared to other parts of UK.

It is nothing to do with the quality of air etc but the fact that Scotland's latitude is further north than Cornwall.

The strength of the solar energy available at any point on the Earth depends, in a complicated but predictable way, on the day of the year, the time of day, and the latitude of the collection point.

In fact I have seen a brochure for solar panels wher they quote a mean average output of 1,000kWh in UK and state it ranges from 1150kWh in SW England to 850kWh in Northern Scotland.

Some parts of the Artic have the best light in the world, but it ain't much good for solar energy;)

choille

Because we have clear skies we have a high level of UV light.

We also have a lot longer days in the summer - It doesn't get dark here in the summer.

You can quote facts & figures you've got off someone's graph, but there are huge variances throughout the whole of the country.

But as it rains here all the time we will be having a micro hydro system ;-)

Cardew

choille wrote: »

Because we have clear skies we have a high level of UV light.

We also have a lot longer days in the summer - It doesn't get dark here in the summer.

You can quote facts & figures you've got off someone's graph, but there are huge variances throughout the whole of the country.

But as it rains here all the time we will be having a micro hydro system ;-)

So by that theory, the South pole where they have 24 hour daylight and crystal clear skies (with a hole in the ozone layer to help) should be great for solar;)

I don't suppose the map in this link will convince you either?

http://www.brightgreenenergy.co.uk/solarpanel_sizing.asp

choille

Solar panels do not need direct sunlight to work.

HTW

My local council have a scheme were they give you 10k intrest free loan. They put a charge on your house and you only have to pay back the 10k when you sell the house so overtime inflation will erode the the 10k. You can still get the 2.5k from the goverment

You can use the 12.5k on any renewable energy system.You do not have to add any more money if you do not want too

I am looking at a PV system and may add up to 5k it all depends on the pay back period. At this moment I do not know how many KWh 17.5k will buy