My solar PV first year payback calculation

BFG_2

albyota wrote: »

for solar P.V. ( electric ) from april 2010 everybody will be able to get paid 36.5 pence per unit generated and you are already entitled to £2,500 grant from the low carbon building programme, see here http://www.fitariffs.co.uk/Technologies.html
and here http://www.microgeneration.com/default.asp?sID=1162555134187

Sorry to be a cynic, but..

I'll take a stab in the dark here........

It's still not viable financially [or green, or security wise]

albyota

BFG wrote: »

Sorry to be a cynic, but..

I'll take a stab in the dark here........

It's still not viable financially [or green, or security wise]

perhaps not for you, but there are a lot of people who do think the security of our fuels are at risk, as for green, we all know that to produce these different technologies uses a lot of fossil fuels and emits loads of CO2, but there has to be a point of transition where the balance goes from 100% fossil fuel use to 50 / 50. one day, there are early adopters to this, just like the people that bought plasma tellies at £2000 a go, now that the companies with the technology have that boost of money, they develop it further, smaller, cheaper, then everybody has got them for less than £500 each.. computers were the same when they came out, now there's probably 2 or 3 in most houses......hundreds in offices...etc...all causing global warming, and in turn will require air conditioning to cool the office down. nobody ever blames computers for global warming, its always travel, and air con.

karie

A couple of points with regard to the feed-in tariff:

- yes it will replace ROCs for installations under 5MW (household solar is well under this threshold)
- the rate is 'grandfathered' - this means that your 36.5p from april 2010 is guaranteed for 25 years. however rates will decrease over time, so if you installed solar PV in 2015, for example, the rate you receive will be 36.5p - x% (dont have the info to hand), and this too will be 'grandfathered', i.e. fixed
- i have a feeling that there is some clause which states that if you receive an LCBP grant for £2.5k between now and april 2010 you are not eligible for the feed-in tariff/ have to pay the grant back/ something like that - i'd have to check the details to confirm. this does not apply to existing installations

hope that helps

albyota

so if you installed solar PV in 2015, for example, the rate you receive will be 36.5p - x% (dont have the info to hand), and this too will be 'grandfathered', i.e. fixed
- i have a feeling that there is some clause which states that if you receive an LCBP grant for £2.5k between now and april 2010 you are not eligible for the feed-in tariff/ have to pay the grant back/ something like that - i'd have to check the details to confirm. this does not apply to existing installations

Karie, I'd be very interested to find out the exact route the MCS / LCBP grant is likely to take i.e. if you can get the grant this year, (or wait till April 2010) £2.5k or 50% whichever is lower, and whether the FIT's are payable as you say or have to pay the grant back clause like you suggest..

karie

hi albyota, i will check the document i read tomorrow and let you know

albyota

thankyou Karie,

bmbyker

Just to add my POV. I too have had solar PV fitted, 7 x 175w panels. They have been up for just over a month now and we are keeping a daily spreadsheet of energy generated and used.

I was never of the opinion that the cost would ever be repaid, however I do believe I can mitigate my costs and so far that is borne out by the figures.

At the same time I have also had an ASHP and Rainwater Harvesting installed.

My gas usage is now between 1-2 therms per month as the ASHP is now doing all the water heating. My electricity usage does not appear to have increased significantly over this time last year. Obviously the PV is having an effect here as my understanding is that the electriciy is supplied first from PV and then the grid if the demand is over what the PV can provide?

My toilets are connected to the Rainwater system and that seems to be working fine too.

If I can give less money to the Gas, Electricity and Water companies I see that as a benefit. It seems to me that energy costs will only increase.

I am happy to make the spreadsheet available to interested parties. I know it's only 1 month so far but we will continue to update it on a daily basis.

All of the technologies seem to generate lots of emotive responses, like the original poster, I would like to get some figures out there to allow people to make a better assessment.

Bmbyker.

Mcfi5dhc

bmbyker
I'd like to swap spreadsheets please - I'll PM you my normal email address. I update mine weekly, and have just over a years data on there.

My original set-up for the meter was that my meter would run backwards whenever I generate more than I was using (which is frequently over spring and summer), but if I was using more than my panels generated, then the meter would run slower (but still the regular way).

So if you had the same set-up as this, IMO you are right in that you are using the PV power first, and then the grids power.

With a seperate export meter, your normal meter stops going backwards (actually stops when you are generated >100% usuage), and the export meter also counts up (bit less interesting, but the higher paying companies like to keep a track on you!).

Financially, I think it would be better to export 100% of your power (it would be with Scottish Power anyway), and to pay for all of your usage electric normally, but I don't think they'll allow you to do this.

Mcfi5dhc

bmbyker

Mcfi5dhc

No problem. The only difference between us is that we have a fully electronic meter so we can't see what's going on. We just press the 'blue' button to access the different readings. We seem to still have 'Economy 7' but that's going now. We have moved to Southern Electric as it was difficult to get any information from Scottish Power about Microgeneration.

:T

yakky58

I use SSE (Southern & Scottish Electricty) and they supplied me, free of charge an export meter. Pressing the blue button I can switch between induction, what I draw from the grid and what I export. When I generate more than I am drawing I get 'No Load' come up.

I have to say that the microgenration team at SSE are really good. They respond to mail within 24 hours and are happy to answer any questions. They take my readings without verification and adjust my bill accordingly. As for ROC transfer it could not be easier via the OFGEM site to pass to SSE. They pay good rates.