Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

barrymung

I have dipped into this thread rather late so forgive me if this has already been answered...

As I see it:

• The Company install and maintain the solar panels for free.
• The Company get the Government grant
• The householder gets to use the electricity generated for free
• Any surplus electricity is sold back to the grid and the money goes to the Company

Seems perfectly fair to me, if this is the case.

It's maybe a bit cheeky that the company claim a grant intended to householders but then again the Government shouldn't leave such loopholes if they don't want people using them!

Thought: What's to stop the householder charging a series of leisure batteries during the day and using them to power things, via an inverter, during the night?

Cardew

barrymung wrote: »

Thought: What's to stop the householder charging a series of leisure batteries during the day and using them to power things, via an inverter, during the night?

The use of batteries has been discussed before.

A 12v 60Ah battery costs approx £50. an inverter a lot more.

Assuming you could use all the power in the battery and with no losses in the inverter that would provide power worth about 7p. In practice far less.

Unless you had special circuitry that power could only be used when the house wiring was switched to the battery.

You could of course not bother with an inverter but have part of your house wired for 12 volt DC lighting and save a penny or two.

Is it worth it?

competitionscafe

Only came across this today after seeing the BBC clip:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8732725.stm

Just one thing I would add is that the point made in the clip is that everybody else effectively subsidises the people with panels - to which the company replied - get the panels and then that no longer applies.

To which I would add:

You cannot do that if

a) You are not in the very limited number of areas where they are offered. (I appreciate they can only expand their service at a certain rate).
b) If like me you rent a property then you don't have that option.
c) The panels are quite ugly - in certain areas they may not be allowed?
(Parts of Edinburgh for example - World Heritage sites/listed buildings + not enough sun?)

Just my initial thoughts on viewing the clip - have not had time to read the whole thread.

barrymung

SarahLucyD wrote: »

I'm so sorry about that. The problem is that the further 'up North' we go, the lower the yield - making it less financially viable for us. It's likely that we'll expand but at the moment it's looking more likely that it will be to spread downwards, incorporating parts of Leicestershire and the Midlands.

Once again - sorry.

Sarah - A Shade Greener

Do you cover central Southern England? It's one of the sunniest areas in the UK! (And from a business point of view is one of high employment, meaning people tend to be out during the day..)

Cardew

barrymung wrote: »

Do you cover central Southern England? It's one of the sunniest areas in the UK! (And from a business point of view is one of high employment, meaning people tend to be out during the day..)

They have already stated in this thread that they don't cover Southern England.

It also doesn't matter if people are out all day or not - or consume all the electricity generated - or none at all.

By the way - we aren't claiming the export tariff at 3p per kw hour. We have opted out and claim it instead as a straight 50% of what we generate x 3p per hour (which is one of the options under the FIT Scheme), we don't even fit an export meter so it matters NOT what the homeowners use

So if the system generates, say, 3,000kWh a year they get 1,500 x 3p(on top of the FIT) regardless of the amount of generated electricity consumed in the property.

collingbone614

I viewed their website and it looks interesting. I live in Lancashire, however, so it doesn't look like I can get it.

Cardew

Much as we all like 'something for nothing' I get the impression that some people get a false impression of just how much this scheme is likely to save them.

It seems that the ballpark figure for the ASG sytem is to generate around 3,000kWh per year. For large systems like this it is difficult to use more than 40% to 50% in the property. - Don't forget all the generation is during daylight hours - the majority in the hours around midday, and in the summer. By that I mean that it is not a steady output all day and all year.

So the average customer is likely to save 1,200kWh to 1,500kWh pa which at present prices is around £120 to £150 a year - but of course the savings will increase as electricity prices inevitably increase.

For that reward you are signing in effect a long term binding agreement to lease out your roof for 25 years.

Should solar PV panels reduce significantly in price in future years(as many predict) and the present FIT scheme remain in force(the FITs reduce slightly year on year from 2012) the house owner will not be able to take advantage and fit his own system.

Just food for thought.

barrymung

Prices are likely to fall over the coming years. However, would you rather pay for a system and use the free electricity or get the system for free?

£120 a year might not sound a lot but it's £3000 over the space of 25 years and every little helps!!

martint123

barrymung wrote: »

Prices are likely to fall over the coming years. However, would you rather pay for a system and use the free electricity or get the system for free?

£120 a year might not sound a lot but it's £3000 over the space of 25 years and every little helps!!

It is not mainly the electricity that is the saving if you buy your own - it is the inflation proofed 25 years of highly subsidised FITs that attract. Although these are planned to decrease for new installations as presumably cheaper installs come about.

XRayDave

Hi folks

Time for an update.

The panels have been in for exactly two weeks today. Last Friday, I obtained an Efergy Elite Energy Monitor & hooked it up to the PV inverter's supply to the main distribution board (sounds scary but NO electrics are involved - simply a clip placed around a wire).

We have had several sunny days and a couple of grey days since then. Here's what I have found out:

On the gloomy / overcast days, the panels produced a total of 8.4kWh (Sun), and 11.2kWh (Mon) - my figures I hasten to add.

Today (Wed 16th) we have had a gloriously sunny day with virtually cloudless skies - and produced a whopping 23.5kWh in total.

Since Friday lunch-time (when the meter arrived in the post) until the close-of-play today (Wednedsay) the panels have produced a total of (according to the energy monitor) 83.4kWh.

I have noticed that the panels don't produce very much early morning or late afternoon-on (about 140 - 300W) but around mid-day they are approaching the 3kW mark.

So, assuming that we have used all of this free/green electricity, it should have saved us approximately £11 so far - and that is in just 5 [FONT=&quot]½[/FONT] days. Realistically, it has probably saved us 50-60% of this figure.

Projecting these figures backward to our install date and then forward to the end of the month would suggest around 400kWh for the month making ASG some £166 of income and potentially saving us £52.96. Even if we only use around half of this (reasonably, I think) that would still be a £26-odd per month knocked off our bills.

So, one very HAPPY bunny

Hope this helps

XRayD

PS Thanks for your kind offer Sarah for a sparks to fit the monitor, but it is all sorted : )