Free solar panel discussion

thor

Cardew wrote: »

Thor,
Whilst I understand your enthusiasm for 'green' energy; I suggest you are rather missing the point here.

We have a situation where companies have found a loophole in the regulations to swell their coffers.

To achieve this firms set up thousands of solar PV systems on thousands of separate roofs.

Can you think of anything more wasteful of our precious resources. Thousands of sets of scaffolding, inverters, monitoring equipment, vans driving to and from locations for installation and subsequent maintenance; not to mention the additional manpower.

If the aim is to encourage 'green energy' why not errect all of these panels in a brownfield site on factory roofs etc in Southern Britain(where the output is so much higher)

I have no problems with this either and I think the mass employment of renewables of the type you are suggesting will become inevitable in the not too distant future as world oil and gas supplies fizzles out.
When that day comes we need to have a mix of green and nuclear and if that means wind turbines across the moors, the whole of cornwall covered in PV panels and wave energy generators surrounding Scotland then so be it!

theoldclucker

I've just applied for this scheme, as my property is eligible, south facing roof blah blah blah.

I will post up how long it takes from the initial registration, to the company coming out to inspect roof etc, to fitting and the outcome of any savings or payments as and when appropriate.

It was encouraging to read the posts of people who already have taken advantage of the scheme and their savings and payments for electricity produced. Thanks to those folk, it was most helpful.

My property is all electric with Economy 7 heating, and although I won't be able to take advantage of the 'free electricity' during the night when the heaters are on, I can now stop putting the washing machine and drier on timers and use them during the day. OR, I can have the E7 heaters wired direct bypassing the E7 meter and heat them up during the day, not sure this would work, as they'd probably use more electricity than I'd be producing. So will stick with option one I think and see how it pans out.

I think this scheme is ideal for all electric homes, like mine. Even it it saves money on daytime use it's good, as at present my daytime units are around 14p per unit.

zeupater

theoldclucker wrote: »

I've just applied for this scheme, as my property is eligible, south facing roof blah blah blah.

I will post up how long it takes from the initial registration, to the company coming out to inspect roof etc, to fitting and the outcome of any savings or payments as and when appropriate.

It was encouraging to read the posts of people who already have taken advantage of the scheme and their savings and payments for electricity produced. Thanks to those folk, it was most helpful.

My property is all electric with Economy 7 heating, and although I won't be able to take advantage of the 'free electricity' during the night when the heaters are on, I can now stop putting the washing machine and drier on timers and use them during the day. OR, I can have the E7 heaters wired direct bypassing the E7 meter and heat them up during the day, not sure this would work, as they'd probably use more electricity than I'd be producing. So will stick with option one I think and see how it pans out.

I think this scheme is ideal for all electric homes, like mine. Even it it saves money on daytime use it's good, as at present my daytime units are around 14p per unit.

Hi

On E7 take care that your bills do not actually go up if you change your energy usage patterns. It's really gloomy here today and a 3.3kWp system might just power my slow cooker at the moment, when the fridge or freezer (or both) cut in I'd be importing ... if I were to turn the washing machine or dishwasher on now and was on E7 I would be importing at daytime rates and paying 3 to 4 times the cost of doing the same at night .......

On a 3.3kWp system (which isn't restricted by an undersized inverter to save investment cost) you can expect roughly the following ...

25% of annual power below 700W production
50% below 1600W
75% below 2400W
3% above 3000W (If not limited by the inverter)

(Note : These figures are %age of total annual production, NOT producing at these rates for a %age of the time.)

.... there are only very rare occasions when a 3.3kWp pv system will provide a saving over E7 when using high draw systems such as a dishwasher or washing machine, so don't even think about an immersion heater or radiators .....

HTH

evei_2

I am at a latitude of 56 deg North with a south facing roof but I suppose I am too far north for the free schemes?

Cardew

theoldclucker wrote: »

My property is all electric with Economy 7 heating, and although I won't be able to take advantage of the 'free electricity' during the night when the heaters are on, I can now stop putting the washing machine and drier on timers and use them during the day. OR, I can have the E7 heaters wired direct bypassing the E7 meter and heat them up during the day, not sure this would work, as they'd probably use more electricity than I'd be producing. So will stick with option one I think and see how it pans out.

As stated above, if you change the wiring or start using washing machine and dryer during the day, I suspect your bills will go up.

You will stop using electricity at the night rate of, say 5p/kWh and start using a combination of 'free electricity' and electricity costing 14p/kWh.

Elainemary

theoldclucker wrote: »

I've just applied for this scheme, as my property is eligible, south facing roof blah blah blah.

I will post up how long it takes from the initial registration, to the company coming out to inspect roof etc, to fitting and the outcome of any savings or payments as and when appropriate.

It was encouraging to read the posts of people who already have taken advantage of the scheme and their savings and payments for electricity produced. Thanks to those folk, it was most helpful.

My property is all electric with Economy 7 heating, and although I won't be able to take advantage of the 'free electricity' during the night when the heaters are on, I can now stop putting the washing machine and drier on timers and use them during the day. OR, I can have the E7 heaters wired direct bypassing the E7 meter and heat them up during the day, not sure this would work, as they'd probably use more electricity than I'd be producing. So will stick with option one I think and see how it pans out.

I think this scheme is ideal for all electric homes, like mine. Even it it saves money on daytime use it's good, as at present my daytime units are around 14p per unit.

Think you have a great idea here.:T Keeping us all informed as to progress will be VERY helpful to the rest of us! It may even stop some of the insults and generally childish behaviour which has crept in recently.

sarajames101

My gran is getting a free installation. It is South WEst ( nearly west ) but the company ( myenergystation ) told her they do free installations anywhere between East and West aslong as they have a minimum of 8 panels... No limit either so she is going to have 30 solar Panels..

I was sceptical but I will keep informed on here.

Has anyone else had such a large installation?

grahamc2003

Elainemary wrote: »

Think you have a great idea here.:T Keeping us all informed as to progress will be VERY helpful to the rest of us! It may even stop some of the insults and generally childish behaviour which has crept in recently.

Hello Elaine, Could you explain in more detail why you think re-wiring an economy seven installation would be beneficial in some way? Also, could you expand on why, if you have e7, running high powered items like washing machines (presumably at midday instead of at night) is somehow beneficial if for those who have 3kW (capacity) of free solar panels?

I must say, I agree with others who think the idea is completely counterproductive - in that it will not only cost more (substantially more if the heating moves to day rates), and also lead to higher co2 emissions (even though some of the energy comes from the solar panels)

zeupater

Hi

I have to agree with grahamc2003's post above ...... I'm sitting here on a gloomy overcast October day at less than 90 minutes past solar noon and at the moment cannot produce enough power to run my slow cooker, and that only consumes 181W ...... I might just be able to charge up a couple of small storage radiators in the middle of the summer, but who needs the heating on then ?? .... when it's bright it's great, but you can't guarantee what the weather's going to be like tomorrow, believe me, I've just checked, and yes my solar panels are still there ......

Ooooo, it just got brighter & I'm covering the slow cooker requirements again ..... there you go, I told you it was reliable :cool:

sporty_han26

My Friend has solar panels in and it all going well. She was impressed that they really do work.