Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

Cardew

Grolsch30 wrote: »

Can I just ask,

I don't know much about solar panels, but I always thought that the panels generate and store a certain amount of electricity which then can be used during the night when there is no light?!

I am looking to buy a new build property which has not been built yet and trying to weigh up this scheme from ASG or would it be more worthwhile buying my own istallation.
If the panels cannot store a certain amount of electricity to use during the evening then the benefits of ASG are'nt that great as you'd be paying your supplier for the electricity and during the daytime when everyone is at work ASG will get the benefit. Only at weekend could one get the full benefit of this scheme?
Whereas if you can afford to buy a system then you will benefit from all the electricity produced even though the payback maybe some years down the line, but the resale value of your house should you decide to move should be alot higher than the norm no?

Am I looking at this in a to simplistic kinda way?

No they don't store electricity*, what cannot be used in the house is exported to the grid.

* You are confusing this with tiny solar systems that store electricity in a battery. e.g. Illuminated Roadside signs.

As said previously, you are in effect renting out your roof and the 'rent' is the electricity you can use during daylight hours. It will depend on your lifestyle just how much of that electricity you can use - I suspect at today's prices it could save you £50 to £200 a year.

There are several threads in this section on the pros and cons of owners fitting Solar PV. As all calculations are based on assumptions, it is not possible to give accurate pay back times.

Mankysteve

I wouldn't say that Battery powered system are small. there are some big ones out there.

Some system store the power generated in the Solar panel in battery banks for use in low light levels.

With a grid tied system Your basically using the national grid as your battery.

If your running on a off grid system you can still be able to get FITs btw.

Cardew

Grolsch30 is looking at a system for his new house and considering this 'free' system.

He might might just have a problem storing the output of a 3.3kW system in batteries!!!

patman99

!!!!!! Smallbridge mentioned on 'Its not easy being green' that the current tariff pays 5p/Kwh, whilst the new one will be paying 14p/Kwh.

Based on this, if a company installed a 3.3 Kw array on someones roof, and it generated electricity for an average of 8 hours each day, then (assuming a 3.3 Kw unit provides 3.3Kw/h ubits each hour), they would make £408.80 each year, if they then gave the householder 20% of this, each householder would recieve £81 a year.

The beauty of such a business model is that once installed, it requires no maintanance, and so long as there is light (even moonlight will generate power), then the money continues to roll-in.

BTW, you can install a rack of batteries between the solar panel and the mains converter. 5 200Ahr batteries should be about right (you can add more as you wish). BT are a good place to obtain batteries as they have racks of them in each exchange in case of power failures, and they tend to change them every year, with the old ones going to scrap.

BFG_2

So is it a scam or not?????

Cardew

Mankysteve wrote: »

I wouldn't say that Battery powered system are small. there are some big ones out there.

Some system store the power generated in the Solar panel in battery banks for use in low light levels.

With a grid tied system Your basically using the national grid as your battery.

If your running on a off grid system you can still be able to get FITs btw.

Are you sure?

I understood that FITs were only for grid based systems!

Mankysteve

Definitely spent the last 3 mounts researching small scale renewable energy as part of a uni work experience. You have to have a meter installed to measure the output of the an inverter and of course there would be no 5pkwh for the stuff you export.

The new FIT's scheme isn't exactly a FITs scheme as you get 35pish for every Kwh your produce not for every KWh you export to the grid like a proper feed in tariff would. You can get 5p for every Kw you export to grid ontop on every Kwh you produce.

Iam not sure wherever they are scam or not but it not a very good business model as it would take at least 7 to 8 year at best before an investor saw any payback then the returns wouldn't be that high. I suspect they'll go bust before they reach payback. But all the best to them they'll need it.

Grolsch30

Nothig is ever easy, I am no expert (far from it), and I know there is a solar system which advertise that it generates water for your bath etc so this system must store the energy from the solar panels!
Then there is the solar enrgy which advertises the fact that you can run your house on the power generated and sell any excess back to the grid.

If we decide to go ahead with the new build property I would in an ideal world like both. As the house has not been built yet I hope that the install and price/ arrangements with the building company can be accomodated flawlesly.
I have been looking at solar tiles C21e tiles I think they are called.

Anyway it all depends on the financial deal i can work out with the building company which hopefully will give the finances to install a good pv system because i strongly feel the way energy prices are going I would feel much more at ease being a wee bit independant from them.

Also I have read in a couple of articles that a pv system will increase the worth of your property (by at least 6% should you decide to sell up), which it should blooming well do given the cost!

Dave2112

Mankysteve wrote: »

but it not a very good business model as it would take at least 7 to 8 year at best before an investor saw any payback then the returns wouldn't be that high. I suspect they'll go bust before they reach payback. But all the best to them they'll need it.

I'm sure you could reverse engineer how much income they'll get from FIT (based on the amount produced and pretty much fixed income per year) and then any excess fed back into the grid (which varies on the amount of electricity the householder uses). Unlike a lot of businesses, their income per house is steady (FIT part) and overall will only increase the more they install.

They then have to source the systems, pay wages, rent office space etc. all for an amount less than their income. And from their volume I reckon they are paying substantially less than you or me would for panels etc.

So IMO they've got a very good business model, assuming they have cash flow for a few years they can keep installing and get a big enough base set up to generate the income. Edit - if they did start to run out of money they can scale back the company to fit in with the income they were getting from systems already installed.

BFG_2

BFG wrote: »

So is it a scam or not?????

See above.