Free solar panel discussion

slacky555

Cardew wrote: »

In fact there was a discussion on this in the 'green' forum and Mcfi5dfc was of the opinion that even if he had a much larger system, he would not use much more electricity in the house than he does at present.

P.S.
Love the term 'the export-two'!!

cheers guys

Have you got a link to it??

Green forum do you mean greenfingered? had a look but couldn't find much last time you mentioned the green forum.

slacky555

slacky555 wrote: »

Just been looking in to your point here, at the moment the fit is 41.3p and will drop to 37.8p for an install that is registered after 31st march 2012.

So isnt it the date at which the install is registered the key here?

So if homesun register the install when/if i get it installed posibbly in the next few weeks then i buy it from them say 5 years down the line i would still have the 41.3p fit not including any rises from it being index linked???

please correct me if i am reading this wrong.

thanks

Krish

Can you please check this point that i made as looking at some FIT forms the energy companies are asking for the invoice of the system, i guess for the date of install, but in my situation this would not be the date of install. it would be when you first installed it.

cheers

Cardew

slacky555 wrote: »

cheers guys

Have you got a link to it??

Green forum do you mean greenfingered? had a look but couldn't find much last time you mentioned the green forum.

There are a load of threads in the 'Green and Ethical Moneysaving' section on MSE.

Mcfi5dhc

slacky555 wrote: »

Thanks

So you are using 41-49% of what you generate which is great.

What do you use from the grid per year now?

I use about 4000 units in total pa.

A Used 4000
B Generated 1200
C Exported 600

So, units I would have had to pay for were, A minus C, 3400
(all figures rounded)


Recent accurate figures are:
Used Generated Exported Export %
October 282 76 36 47.37%
November 389 41 10 (!) 24.39%


As Cardew rightly says, if I had a bigger system, I would use more of the free leccy at home. But, having whacked it through the spreadsheets, I don't think it would be significant for me.

You can only adjust it, by playing about with the times you do things. Listing the electrical items we have with medium/large consumption, this is what we do:

Kettle - use when we need it
Shower - use when we need it
Washing Machine - set for timer for early morning most of the time
Tumble Drier - use when we need it, but if notice its sunny, may put it on delibrately
Electric Oven - use when we need it
Fridge - on 24/7
Freezer (x2) - on 24/7
Security Lights - only used at night!
Normal lights - only used at night!
Vacuum cleaner - sometimes try and do it when its sunny, usually do it without caring though
Iron (x2) -our big sin*
TV (x2) - use when we need it
DVD Player - use when we need it
Playstation - use when we need it

Anything not included, I would consider low usage, and don't really care about saving 5p here or there, like battery chargers etc.

You'll see I have colour coded them.
Blue - use it when you want to. End of.
Green - we try and change behaviour
Purple - sometimes we do, and sometimes we don't save.
Red* - we could easily do our ironing in the daytime. But, we have kids, and every moment awake is precious, especially when I work away a lot. So, I'd rather lose a few quid a year, and do team ironing with the missus, with a couple of bottles of plonk.

HTH

Nang

jnorris235 wrote: »

I admit I have only read half the 84 pages herein. But I'll ask anyway.
Our house faces east and west but we have a large garden.
Could we not save on installation by having them on the ground?
As for reduced output in the evenings - is it silly to mount a large mirrored surface to gather extra light? probably very silly but it is the evening when one uses most electricity.

Hi

If you are considering installing a system on the ground, now is the time (during lowest sun) to check out the shading.

The great thing about having them on a roof (particuarly a high one) is the fact that they are less affected by tall things shading them.

Now its mid winter the sun barely rises and it is very clear to me that even low objects or objects quite a distance away can cause problems.

Unless you put them right in the middle of a field with a 20 meter space on the east, south, west facing aspect I would expect some issues in the winter.

furndire

Totally agree with you Nang. For anyone considering a system in the future even on a roof nows the time to see where any shading is coming from.

Doc_N

furndire wrote: »

Totally agree with you Nang. For anyone considering a system in the future even on a roof nows the time to see where any shading is coming from.

Worth mentioning perhaps, though, that the impact of any shading at this time of year might prove to be marginal - simply because the system will be producing only around a fifth (or less) of its April - August monthly capacity.

Nang

Doc_N wrote: »

Worth mentioning perhaps, though, that the impact of any shading at this time of year might prove to be marginal - simply because the system will be producing only around a fifth (or less) of its April - August monthly capacity.

Keeping in mind that the original post was about the wisdom of geting solar panels installed at ground level.

I reckon if I had put mine in my garden, shading would have been a major issue, significantly reducing output between October and March. These months account for about 30% of the total yearly yeild.

So to my mind, rooftop definitly the safest way to go.

What about you fundire?

furndire

As you said before,
"Unless you put them right in the middle of a field with a 20 meter space on the east, south, west facing aspect I would expect some issues in the winter" a roof is the way to go"

Even a hedge/fence would shade your panels at this time of year if they were on the ground. I know the amount is probably marginal, but for example today, we have had between 800, and 1900 on monitor, so had washer on, followed by dryer, and then dishwasher (not all at once), so at least we have supplemented what we would have used from the grid quite well.
I said before that a neighbour has a huge poplar tree, must be at least 200 metres away, and that is causing some shading, but I did'nt think that the neighbours trees about 100 metres away would cause a some as well, thank goodness they are deciduous, so bare spindley brances - at least one consulation is, its supposed to be the shortest day today/tomorrow, so sun should start to go higher in the sky from now on

HomeSun_company_representative

slacky555 wrote: »

Just been looking in to your point here, at the moment the fit is 41.3p and will drop to 37.8p for an install that is registered after 31st march 2012.

So isnt it the date at which the install is registered the key here?

So if homesun register the install when/if i get it installed posibbly in the next few weeks then i buy it from them say 5 years down the line i would still have the 41.3p fit not including any rises from it being index linked???

please correct me if i am reading this wrong.

thanks

Hi slacky555,

You are not reading this wrong. The key point is indeed the install registration date. Hope this clarifies the matter.

Krish