My solar PV first year payback calculation

albyota

Ok steve, whether the guts are chinese, japanese, german, or austrian, if the electronics being on 24/7 which like the Data General / Dell servers etc.. in a lot of government IT data centres and communication exchanges are, and have been for in excess of 15 years, surely there is hope for the better quality inverters either lasting as long, or naturally coming down in price significantly not to worry about. I remember buying a video camera for £800 in 1990 now they are as cheap as chips, I bought a Microwave oven in 89 and cost over £300 with all the warnings about the seal that if it got damaged could cause cancer.

albyota

Insurance implications

If you are thinking of modifying your property or any outbuildings to make use of renewable energy sources, you should inform your home insurance company of any changes you make. Direct Line home insurance covers solar panels as standard as part of our buildings cover .

daytona600_2

some pv inverters are supplied with 30 years design life
and 10 or 20 years factory warranty

y

albyota wrote: »

Other than the panels which have a 2 - 5 yr guarantee or more, the only other bit to be concerned with is the inverter, 'Fronius', and 'Sunny Boy' inverters, I have been looking around the web and there are inverter systems with 5 and 10 year warranty's, the cables and plug and sockets do not perish or fail, the PVC T+E cables in your house will last in excess of 25 years, the isolators will not fail or perish, and the 2 way meter is supplied and is the responsibility of the energy supplier. What else can fail? Yes you may have to factor in a periodic check at a cost of £100 or so every 3/5 years.

The ‘Sunmaster’ is a grid connected solar inverter, used for
the feed back into the utility grid of power generated by
photovoltaic modules.
GUARANTEE SPECIFICATIONS
Mastervolt assures the product guarantee of the
Sunmaster during five years after your purchase, on the
condition that all instructions and warnings given in this
manual are taken into account during installation and
operation.
Among other things, this means that installation is carried
out by a qualified electrician, that installation and
maintenance are executed according to the stated
instructions and correct working sequence and that no
changes or repairs may have been performed on the
Sunmaster other than by Mastervolt.
The warranty is limited to the costs of repair and/or
replacement of the product by Mastervolt only.

stevehead

I did some ringing around today, and the actual rate of FIT (feed in tarrif)is still not set. The consultation document recommends 36p per unit for solar leccy, but it's a mistake to assume that's what you'll get. It might even be more, but then again....
And... people who installed might not get the full 36p if they used a grant - still unclear.
The installers are trying to tempt customers by saying you can get £2500 grant AND the 36p FIT if you order before next April. If this is true, then the economics start to look a lot better.
The FIT rate will be decided this month.

I got quoted just under £10k for a 2.2Kw install (subject to survey) including the grant. This will generate 2000KWh a year in south Devon. the FIT payment from this alone will give £720 a year if it's set to 36p. For the next 25 years.
How does that compare to say, Government Bonds?

stevehead

Thanks for that info Cathy. Did anyone ask / respond to the question as to whether FIT income will be tax free?

Dave2112

Hi, can someone just confirm something for me as I'm a bit unclear. At any point in time when the PV array is generating more electricity than you are using the excess is fed back into the grid @ 5p (though this might fluctuate). When it's generating less then you take excess from the grid @ what ever you've agreed to pay for your electric.

Therefore, in my circumstance, during the day when there is minimal use but max generation I'd feed most back into the grid. Then in the evening when I have max use but minimum generation I'd be taking from the grid. This would also be exagerated in winter when more electric is used (lights on earlier, c/h pump working etc.) but due to darker/earlier nights you would generate less electric.

Another point if you sell your house as I would have thought most people will not be in the same house for 20+ years. Is the FIT transferable to the new owner at the rate you've been set at? I'm also not sure about what it's effect would be on the house value - I guess you could work something out along the lines of "it'll save/generate X amount of money over the remaining number of years so that would be added to the house price but I guess it'll be more emotive than that.

tks

Cardew

Dave,
The assumptions in first part of your question are correct.

So if you generate 1000kWh and export 600kWh you get the FIT rate on the 1,000kWh, 600kWh @5p(or whatever) and you save on 400kWh at whatever rate you pay for your electricity(say 10p)

So assuming FIT rate is 36.5p, and 5p/10p for the others you would effectively get £365 + £40 + £30.

In the unlikely event you could use 80% and export 20% it would be £365 + £80 + £10 so not a huge difference.

Good question about selling houses.

stevehead

Cardew wrote: »

Good question about selling houses.

Yeah I can just imagine in 20 years time that a roof covered in corroded panels will be a liability when it comes to sell.
The vendor will be forced to negotiate down because the purchasers' position will be that they will have to pay for the decommissioning and disposal of the old system, and buy a replacement, in a couple of years time.

Mcfi5dhc

stevehead wrote: »

Yeah I can just imagine in 20 years time that a roof covered in corroded panels will be a liability when it comes to sell.
The vendor will be forced to negotiate down because the purchasers' position will be that they will have to pay for the decommissioning and disposal of the old system, and buy a replacement, in a couple of years time.

This will be tested by me next year when me and Mrs Mcfi5dhc put the house up for sale (We were toying with it this year, but decided against it). Not quite sure whether we'll sell them or take them with us, but whichever way we'll end up with PV on the roof of the next house.

As an FYI, the bits exposed to the elements are glass and aluminium, so I'm not worried about corrosion. All the wiring bits outside are concealed in weather tight fittings which may, or may not last for a long time (googling it hasn't found any evidence either way)

Just to tidy up some points from previous replies, my PV system is insured (with AA this time). It was insured with Endsleigh before - neither company has had a problem insuring them - incidentally, both did it for just £10 extra.

As far as longevity goes, Sharp (the company that mande my panels) has quite an interesting article about one of their panels still working after about 50 years which is pretty good. The panels themselves were made in Wrexham (low carbon miles!), and the wiring n other bits in Germany (not by Sharp)

Thanks

BFG_2

Wow, so is solar now a cost effective thing to do??

I ask because I was under the impression it's not a sensible investment at the moment.