Free solar panel discussion

MeToo

Questions to ask:

What will solar panel technology cost in 5 yrs ? Think how vast changes in cost/value occured with computers.
Thin film solar energy generators are already invented (demo recently on TV) and no doubt will appear soon at less cost, be lighter (insurance/roof loading: see below) and maybe more serviceable (cleaning, see below).
What then about your £10K investment and return ?

How do you clean your fancy new sky lights ? They are bound to get dirty and absorb your free sunshine.

What about your house insurance - premiums increased ? roof loading exceeded ?= insurance declined /

Your free electricity has to be stored (at low voltage) ie heavy batteries involved (put where?),
then inverted to grid voltages (shortage of inverters reported recently).
Your supplier then offers you an average price per kwh without a smart meter, or a more precise return with one installed. How precise? How guaranteed? Meter cost ?

Beware of Geeks bearing gifts ... !

cnmzroej

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Because the £12,000 is a retail cost to you. The company pays the wholesale costs or manufactures them themselves, so the cost to the company is closer to £2000 rather than £12,000 imo.

£800pa for a £2000 investment multiplied by hundreds/thousands is a worthwhile business. That's why car salemen are moving from the forecourts to selling these things.

Ah I see, ~£800 a year. That seems less crazy.

Still, if they can actually make something for £2,000 and retail it for £12,000, that's an impressive markup. Wouldn't they be even better off just selling the units?

cnmzroej

Poosmate wrote: »

There was a fab thread about this called something like "Free Solar Power - Is It A Scam". All the questions are answered there. It's well worth a read (that's if it hasn't been deleted by the Forum Police). There was an employee of A Shade Greener who we were chatting with for ages but someone grassed on her and she was banned.

I'll try to find our old thread.

Poo

Google
Free solar power system. Is it a scam?
and find that threat at
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2072787

Looks like an exhasuting read.

Allan87

I have a south facing roof, how likely is acceptance?

nottseagull

joolsleeds wrote: »

......the right roof pitch, otherwise its a no-go.

What does this matter? No pitch is going to be ideal as the sun is low in the sky in winter, and high in summer.

Jon_Tiffany

Does anyone know if you would need to get permission from your mortgage lender? If so, are there any fees for this? Do ASG pay the fees?

John_Pierpoint

MeToo wrote: »

Questions to ask:

Your free electricity has to be stored (at low voltage) ie heavy batteries involved (put where?),

Please get your head round the concept before trying to scare the horses.

Every kilowatt hour (unit) of carbon free electricity your panels produce "earn" their owner 41.3 pence.
This output is instantly "stored" into the national grid because it is converted from a fairly high direct voltage into an "export" voltage alternating current by the inverter. Because the export voltage is higher than the normal mains voltage the current goes "backwards" through the meter into the national grid.
Some meters turn backwards:D
Until your local electricity authority get a roundtuit and install an export meter it will be assumed that you are consuming half of the electricity you are producing and the half you are exporting will earn a further 3 pence per unit.
These amounts are guaranteed for 25 years and will increase with inflation.

A South facing roof with a fairly gently 30 degree slope is said to give the highest yield from the available light/sunshine.
If this is a potential of 100% there are charts available giving the percentage for other pitches and roofs nointing x degrees east and west of due south (even pointing North generates some electricity).

There are also charts showing the variation from 100% from the ideal house (for the UK) somewhere in say Hampshire.

Obviously John O Groats is not an ideal location.

YulBrynner_2

I think Martin's generally excellent site should be very wary of touting the free solar panel offer or for that matter any free renewable energy incentive scheme. Providers are making these offers on the back of the governments renewable heat incentive scheme rather than the feed in tariffs. Two key points to remember are that (1) The public (you and I) are paying for these ridiculous tariffs and (2) These tariffs are not actually guaranteed. The feed in tariffs are based on the German experiment and everyone touting 'free renewables' will tell you all about how its worked so well in Germany. In fact; the German experiment has been an unmitigated disaster and the government may well soon withdraw these tariffs. Don't for one minute think that couldn't happen here!
Also bear in mind that the proposed RHI scheme which is scheduled to kick in next April has not actually been agreed. The companies offering free installs primarily get their money back from this scheme but payments vary dependent on the type of renewable energy you have installed. The Government have carbon reduction targets and have to incentivise installers of renewable energy sources but it is clear that the payments offered under this scheme are grossly excessive and unsustainable in the long term. Read all about the German's disastrous solar panel experiment on George Monbiots website; the article is titled 'The German Disease".

Cash incentives for renewables are not guaranteed or even finalised at this point and whilst I'm sure they will be offered; the cash value has not been agreed. If these schemes collapse at any point in the future you could well be left to pick up the remainder of the bill for the installation. Beware of these schemes and read the small print to understand who will pay the remainder of the installation costs in the event that feed in tariffs and renewable heat incentives are withdrawn.
One more noteworthy point is that if you have the spare cash to invest and want to take a risk on the long term sustainability of RH incentives then the RHI scheme could more than cover your own installation costs and provide a future income stream for you rather than the installer.

YulBrynner_2

I should mention that I speak from experience having spent many hundreds of thousands of pounds on installing renewable energy within the social housing sector but I wanted to also make you all aware of the really big loophole in this whole scheme.
I was recently made aware that its quite easy for owners of solar panels to make simple wiring modifications to ensure that the mains electricity supply is diverted from the solar panel to give the appearance of being generated as renewable energy which is fed back into the grid. Essentially unscrupulous owners can sell their energy providers electricity back to them at a grossly inflated cost. Whilst this information might have many of you rushing to install solar panels; my concern is that once this issue becomes common knowledge and hence heavily abused; there is no option other than to withdraw payments for feed in tariffs.

paulhereford

I am very interested in Solar but don't have the space or aspect to achieve it at the moment plus planning permission would be a problem....crazy.

Here's to a move to a bigger property so that this can be achieved.