Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

splodger_seedswapper

just a little update - next doors had a survey this afty - and they did a full electrical report to go with this - as it turns out - my HA are only interested in properties that are super energy efficient - so that they can get the higherest rate FIT - our properties are no where near efficient enough - so it's doubtful they will offer us the panels anyway - all down to money money money - go figure :mad::mad::mad:


many many thanks to all who replied - you have been a great help

John_Pierpoint

I would think the Rent a Roof company is looking for a 4kWp 30 degree roof facing due south with no shading and preferably on a bungalow.

As far as I know the only hurdle is the requirement for an Energy Performance Certificate of "D" or better (mind you by the time you have 4kWp of panels on the roof, you will most likely have upped most buildings to a "D" or better ).

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generating-energy/Getting-money-back/Feed-In-Tariffs-scheme-FITs/Energy-Performance-Certificates-and-the-Feed-in-Tariff

It is getting more scientific and accurate all the time:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9922124-54.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Could-Solar-Panels-on-Your-Roof-Power-Your-Home-191902051.html

Someone posted a link on here (but I cannot now find it) for something similar in the UK, it produced a satellite image with the roofs shown in "gold".

LunarTic

We've just had solar panels from A Shade Greener installed. There has been no cost to ourselves, and disruption to our house was minimal - all we had to do was clear the loft so that the installers could gain access. We just had scaffolding outside our house for around 3 weeks (so that there is enough time afterwards in case there are any issues that need to be resolved). All wiring was either in the loft or on the outside of our house, so there was no damage to interior walls (so no need for any re-decorating inside). Our electricity meter cupboard is in our porch, so all they needed to do was to drill into the electricity cupboard from outside the house to put a wire through from the inverter in the loft and add an isolation switch and RCD.

Yes, we're well aware that, if we had the money, we'd have been better off in the long term by paying to have our own system installed and pocketing the feed-in tariff ourselves - but we're in the situation where we seriously don't want to get into any more debt, so we were more than happy to take the deal with A Shade Greener - where we will save on our electricity bill, despite not profiting from the feed-in tariff ourselves. So, bearing this in mind, we would be happy to recommend A Shade Greener to anyone in a similar situation - who wants to save on their electricity bill without paying for the outlay of getting solar panels installed themselves - but isn't too concerned with not gaining personally from the feed-in tariff.

theboylard

Glad it's worked for you.
To make better use of the"free" electricity, see if you can scrape the£200 or so needed to add a proportional diverter. ASG won't lose out on anything, and you will be the ones to gain as you can use even more the energy panels create.

Munchkinsmum

theboylard wrote: »

Glad it's worked for you.
To make better use of the"free" electricity, see if you can scrape the£200 or so needed to add a proportional diverter. ASG won't lose out on anything, and you will be the ones to gain as you can use even more the energy panels create.

What is a proportional diverter for? We are having panels fitted from ASG.

theboylard

It detects when you are exporting energy and instead of letting it go to the grid, it diverts it to, typically, your immersion heater in your hot water cylinder.
This means you benefit with free hot water (when the weather is better obviously!)

As asg don't care what you do with the generated energy, you are better off maximising what you do get.

If you Google terms like iboost, solarimmersion and immersun, you'll see various devices that do the clever stuff for you.

There are also self build projects that offer the same functionality, again search engines will help you.

If you don't have a hot water cylinder (i.e. You've a combi boiler), then the basic use of diverters is not for you, but you may be able to use them to divert to another device or even storage node, but that is not cheap!

Ranjoharbri

I realise that this is an old thread, but I thought I'd leave a message for anyone else who stumbles across it.
We had solar panels fitted by 'Ashadegreener' on the 6th of September 2014.
To date the panels have produced a total of 1699 kw/hrs of electricity and our electricity bill has been reduced by just over 50%. (Through the winter months)

Although the process from first contacting Ashadegreener to actual installation did take a approx 3 months, as far as my wife and I am concerned it was well worth the wait.

The system has operated flawlessly, actual installation was carried out in just over half a day and we have not been charged a single penny by Ashadegreener.

This is not a scam, it's a fantastic offer, and if they are still operating in your area, I highly recommend that you contact them.

Martyn1981

Ranjoharbri wrote: »

To date the panels have produced a total of 1699 kw/hrs of electricity and our electricity bill has been reduced by just over 50%. (Through the winter months)

Hello, and welcome.

Firstly, I'm a big fan of renewables and PV, so I'm not criticising at all, but can I double check what you've said.

To reduce your bill by 50%, especially in the winter months should be quite difficult. Do you perhaps have a good size system (4kWp?), a steepish south facing roof, and a relatively small level of consumption?

My electricity import is nearly halved, from about 3,000 to 1,600 units per year, but the bill isn't halved as the standing charges 'muck that bit up'. Also my systems are summer specialists, so reduce summer demand by about 2/3, but have far less effect on winter demand.

Another possibility for a dramatic winter reduction in your bill, may be a backwards running meter. If that's the case, then unfortunately, you will need to notify your leccy supplier to get the meter replaced, otherwise you could get billed retrospectively for any imported units that get 'deleted' by exported units.

Best of luck with the system, glad you're happy with it, hope you get another 19.5 years of savings and entertainment from it.

Mart.

easymoney999

Just had a guy visit from A Shade Greener, in the next 2 weeks will have a site servey.

Looking at my niebours house he has 16 panels (unsure of size), where can I find out basic info regarding usage/consumption?

I'm fully aware dull days less generated at night no generation.

On an average day what household appliances can you use for free, washing machine, kettle, how do u find when you are reaching the limit for free electricity ?