Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

Gizmosmum_2

dane-katie wrote: »

Hi, the 6Kwh system would just be on my house, then another 6Kwh on FIL roof and 3.5Kwh on sister in laws house.

We cant afford to buy the panels ourselves, FIL can afford to buy them but he will never make his money back - his words due to his age.

It would be £500 per house.

Would it be safe to pay on credit card? and if they did a bunk with the money my FIL could get the money from the CC company?

2 of the houses are agricultural so the leases wont make a difference and the other one FIL only is only worth about 90k so he aint bothered about that one, only cost him 3k to begin with.

Agricultural buildings don't come under Permitted development who is responsible for getting Planning Permission through??? Could be an extra, unanticipated cost ... I have to say the more I see of the rent a roof contracts the less I like them. I had an open mind to start off with but that earlier comment about the equivelant of a tank of fuel really hit home.

It's a great option if you have the capital to buy but otherwise forget it ...

Jon_Tiffany

dane-katie wrote: »

We cant afford to buy the panels ourselves, FIL can afford to buy them but he will never make his money back - his words due to his age.

This is an excellent point, I know of a few people who have decided not to go for solar pv (free or self financed) due to their age. To be fair, they also decided against some other long term investments for the same reasons. They wanted to have the cash at hand, or in one case the plan was to spend it all on holidays while they can!

XRayDave

Hello again!

Reading theough the last few months of argument - I'm glad I stayed away!

Anyway, I just popped in to give folks interested in Solar PV some figures. Had a 3.3 kWp (18-panel) system fitted on 2nd June 2010. Nearly 1 year in (as I write there are just 18 days to go) and a total amount generated of 2925 kWh so far. Currently averaging 14.92 kWh/day (last 14 days), so looking at a projected total for the year of 3194.7 kWh

Hope this helps folks

XRayDave

Gizmosmum_2

XRayDave wrote: »

Hello again!

Reading theough the last few months of argument - I'm glad I stayed away!

Anyway, I just popped in to give folks interested in Solar PV some figures. Had a 3.3 kWp (18-panel) system fitted on 2nd June 2010. Nearly 1 year in (as I write there are just 18 days to go) and a total amount generated of 2925 kWh so far. Currently averaging 14.92 kWh/day (last 14 days), so looking at a projected total for the year of 3194.7 kWh

Hope this helps folks

XRayDave

Where in the country are you XRay - they look very promising figures. Ours is performing about 15% better than anticipated but I wondered if it was just because we'd had good weather early this year.

XRayDave

Sunny Sheffield - in the Independent Republic of South Yorkshire (aka Arthur's Land)

XRD

Cardew

XRayDave wrote: »

Hello again!

Reading theough the last few months of argument - I'm glad I stayed away!

Anyway, I just popped in to give folks interested in Solar PV some figures. Had a 3.3 kWp (18-panel) system fitted on 2nd June 2010. Nearly 1 year in (as I write there are just 18 days to go) and a total amount generated of 2925 kWh so far. Currently averaging 14.92 kWh/day (last 14 days), so looking at a projected total for the year of 3194.7 kWh

Hope this helps folks

XRayDave

That is about 10% better than ASG estimate I believe(they talked about 2,800kWhpa)

Have you any idea how much of that output you have used in your house?

XRayDave

Hi Cardew,

No, no idea of actual usage. Although I have 2 "clip-on" Energy Meters (an Efergy Elite on the panel o/p and an Owl on the Electricity Board's feed) they don't discriminate between the currebt direction.

In other words, I know that the Elite meter will be producing "correct" figures as current only ever flows from the panels. The Owl meter however will continue to display a figure regardless as whether the current is flowing into the house (= grid supply) or from the panels into the grid (= export).

I can update folks as to the current production (no pun intended) using ASG's own figures...

As of COP yesterday (latest figures available) the panels have produced 3099kWh - so with just one week to go, it looks like I'm going to break the 3.3MWh mark.



Hope this is of interest.

XRD

hasdogs

XRayDave wrote: »

so with just one week to go, it looks like I'm going to break the 3.3MWh mark.

Hope this is of interest.

Hinkley Point B is a small 35 year old slight knackered (running at 70%) capacity nuke and produced 6.4TWh in 2010.

1.94 million times more than your installation. Just for some perspective.

keith_r59

hasdogs wrote: »

Hinkley Point B is a small 35 year old slight knackered (running at 70%) capacity nuke and produced 6.4TWh in 2010.

1.94 million times more than your installation. Just for some perspective.

The total solar energy absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, ocean and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year, This equates to more energy in one hour than the world uses in one year.

Just for some perspective.

celerity

keith_r59 wrote: »

The total solar energy absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, ocean and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year, This equates to more energy in one hour than the world uses in one year.

Just for some perspective.

Nice rejoinder :T.

I also like this quote:

"The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth's non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined."

/\dam