Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

zeupater

anxious_mum wrote: »

Blimey Zeupater! Can you type more slowly please!

Seriously though, thank you for that info, it has certainly simplified things for me, even with my tiny brain. I think my point is, as I am not paying for anything at all, then any gain is better than none.

Hi

Re: 'any gain is better than none' .... this can be true ... or .... this can be wrong, depending on your personal situation and point of view. If you look carefully at the examples in the previous post and think for a while you'll notice that if the homeowner had dual tariff electricity supply (E7 etc) the first scenario would definately be cheaper than nighttime timed use, the second marginally cheaper, the third definately more expensive. Complicating the situation by adding any other baseload to the calculation (such as TV, chargers, alarm, clocks, freezer, refrigerator etc ...) creates a further peak load shortfall and therefore makes the second scenario more expensive than E7 nighttime washing, even though the pv output would be typical for a reasonably bright day ..... If you don't have dual tariff electricity supply, then doing the washing whilst the sun shines makes sense, but it is unlikely that all of the electricity used will be 'free' and it is also unlikely that all of the electricity being produced will be used.

Consideration should also be made to whether a 'rent-a-roof' (free) system will add value or reduce value of property at sale, therefore this is a potential financial risk being taken in order to reduce your electricity bill.

HTH
Z

anxious_mum

Hmmm...I take both of your points above. Firstly, Graham2003, I went through the loft conversion thing, and as long as any windows are placed on the north facing side of the roof, there will be no problem. As to what percentage I should be saving, he couldn't be accurate, of course, but the fact that there will be a saving is enough for me, plus its a way of generating power using a natural source.

Zuepater, I don't currently have a duel tariff supply, and wouldn't consider having appliances running through the night due to my mum living in an annex downstairs, she would be bothered by the noise.

The way I see it, in a few years time, when you drive down a street like mine with all of the south facing roofs, the roofs without the panels will be in the minority, not the other way around. They have been doing this in Germany for years now, and houses with solar panels are more sought after than those without. And if I can do my 'environmental' bit, then I'm happy!

zeupater

anxious_mum wrote: »

.... The way I see it, in a few years time, when you drive down a street like mine with all of the south facing roofs, the roofs without the panels will be in the minority, not the other way around. They have been doing this in Germany for years now, and houses with solar panels are more sought after than those without. And if I can do my 'environmental' bit, then I'm happy!

Hi

I agree, there will be a steady take-up of solar pv and the majority of suitable roofspaces will probably eventually have them in one form or another.

Within Germany you will find that the market has been driven by a long running FiT scheme (German Renewable Energy Act) which was very lucrative in terms of subsidies, their installations are also considerably cheaper, the result of a more mature market ..... the UK has a long way to go to catch up !. I believe that the majority of installations in Germany are owned, not 'rent-a-roof' schemes which seem to be peculier to the UK (but am open to correction if anyone has information to the contrary), therefore, houses for sale with panels are likely to have owned arrays which would make them more attractive to a purchaser due to the substantial FiT income.

HTH
Z

John_Pierpoint

More households with capital as against debt in Germany?

keith_r59

anxious_mum wrote: »

...The way I see it, in a few years time, when you drive down a street like mine with all of the south facing roofs, the roofs without the panels will be in the minority, not the other way around. They have been doing this in Germany for years now, and houses with solar panels are more sought after than those without. And if I can do my 'environmental' bit, then I'm happy!

I'm not so sure. Houses with rented solar panels installed don't actually offer the potential purchaser much of an incentive to buy when compared to houses with non-rented panels or houses with no panels at all. I'm happy to be proved wrong but I think these rent-a-roof schemes will put the majority of people off.

Cardew

keith_r59 wrote: »

I'm not so sure. Houses with rented solar panels installed don't actually offer the potential purchaser much of an incentive to buy when compared to houses with non-rented panels or houses with no panels at all. I'm happy to be proved wrong but I think these rent-a-roof schemes will put the majority of people off.

This is the reasoning put forward by many of us on MSE.

The problem is that many people do not appreciate how small their annual savings will be on the 'rent a roof' schemes.

They are seduced into thinking that they will be saving £hundreds a year, whilst the reality is they will be saving £tens a year.

XRayDave

For those of you interested...

For Nov, total generated o/p from our 3.3kWp ASG system was 138kWh. Two days towards the end of the month produced 11 & 12kWh respectively.

For Dec (up to Mon 20th) the panels have only produced 77kWh but 4 of those days produced zero (panels covered with snow) and three days we only got 1kWh. With leaden grey skies, we seem to get 2-4kWh and on the odd day where we get clear-blue sunny winter skies, we have had 3x11kWh and a 10!

So, from install in 2nd June we have generated 1780kWh. Not too shabby then

So, based on 50% usage (rough guess) and 10p/kWh (reasonable unit cost), this has saved just about £90 (which I'd rather have in my pocket than the power company's).

Season's Greetings to all,

XRD

Jon_Tiffany

XRayDave wrote: »

For those of you interested...

For Nov, total generated o/p from our 3.3kWp ASG system was 138kWh. Two days towards the end of the month produced 11 & 12kWh respectively.

For Dec (up to Mon 20th) the panels have only produced 77kWh but 4 of those days produced zero (panels covered with snow) and three days we only got 1kWh. With leaden grey skies, we seem to get 2-4kWh and on the odd day where we get clear-blue sunny winter skies, we have had 3x11kWh and a 10!

So, from install in 2nd June we have generated 1780kWh. Not too shabby then

So, based on 50% usage (rough guess) and 10p/kWh (reasonable unit cost), this has saved just about £90 (which I'd rather have in my pocket than the power company's).

Season's Greetings to all,

XRD

So is that a £90 saving for the six months or for the year?

Excellent output figures by the way, looks like your system is performing well.

XRayDave

That's a total saving of £90 from the start of June only Jon - and that is based on a "rough" 50% usage figure.

The figure I quoted of 1780kWh for the total generated is the cumulative figure from the Generation meter - so I know that that is correct.

At 10p/unit (we were initially paying 13.4p/unit but are now paying 9p/unit after I switched energy supplier) that would equate to a £178 saving since the panels were put in - or, using my 50% usage figure - they have saved us £89 (I rounded up)!

Look forward to seeing the figures for the end-of-year.

I'll add an Excel graph that I've got of the production so far.

Kind regards,

XRD

XRayDave

Here's an Excel graph of our PV panel output to date.



Data up to & including Mon 20th Dec (the last date I have figures for until next Wednesday (29th).

Season's Greetings,

XRayDave