Free solar panel discussion

mickflynn39

Thanks for the advice Gizmosmum.

zeupater

Gizmosmum wrote: »

You need a minimum of 300mm, C&G training is now recommending 500mm. A lot depends on how windy it is where you live. Better to have a smaller system that stays on your roof than a larger system that flies with the wind. Why not compromise and go for something like a Sanyo Hybrid that's smaller and more efficient but uses the space that a mono or poly would for a 3kwp?

Hi Gizmosmum

You'd need to be very careful with the pricing of the high efficiency panels though .... if it's a case of maximising the FiT, then the economics of the higher priced/high performance panels may never break even on a price/performance basis.

Regarding the Sanyo hybrid panels in particular, I've recently seen a post at £13.5k for 18x215W hybrid panels (HIP-215NKHE5) .... if that's the case then Sanyo have seriously slashed their prices ..... could anyone in the business confirm this as mickflynn39 would probably be interested .... so would many others ..... you might also find that many current owners would feel sick ..... :eek:

Regards
Z

Gizmosmum_2

zeupater wrote: »

Hi Gizmosmum

You'd need to be very careful with the pricing of the high efficiency panels though .... if it's a case of maximising the FiT, then the economics of the higher priced/high performance panels may never break even on a price/performance basis.

Regarding the Sanyo hybrid panels in particular, I've recently seen a post at £13.5k for 18x215W hybrid panels (HIP-215NKHE5) .... if that's the case then Sanyo have seriously slashed their prices ..... could anyone in the business confirm this as mickflynn39 would probably be interested .... so would many others ..... you might also find that many current owners would feel sick ..... :eek:

Regards
Z

I suspect it's more a case of the installer slashing their costs - watch out for the new Sanyo's waiting for MCS in March, they are going to be 19% efficient. Might be worth waiting for ..

Everyone who has installed recently is going to be a bit sick (me included) because prices have dropped in January and are set to drop again in the next couple of months after which they should stabilise a bit. I'm assuming it's simply down to scale of economy, I heard last week that 20,000 householders are waiting to have solar pv installed.

mickflynn39

Gizmosmum wrote: »

I suspect it's more a case of the installer slashing their costs - watch out for the new Sanyo's waiting for MCS in March, they are going to be 19% efficient. Might be worth waiting for ..

Everyone who has installed recently is going to be a bit sick (me included) because prices have dropped in January and are set to drop again in the next couple of months after which they should stabilise a bit. I'm assuming it's simply down to scale of economy, I heard last week that 20,000 householders are waiting to have solar pv installed.

I'm getting a quotation next week off a company that only installs Sanyo panels. He said the panels are'nt available until March. My roof size is 7.1M x 4.6M so I'll post what he comes up with so people can compare other deals available.

mickflynn39

mickflynn39 wrote: »

I'm getting a quotation next week off a company that only installs Sanyo panels. He said the panels are'nt available until March. My roof size is 7.1M x 4.6M so I'll post what he comes up with so people can compare other deals available.

3.2KW £10,900
3.5KW £12,250
4.0KW £13,500

These rates are before any haggling.

BrummyGit

Whilst I accept that this doesn't apply to rent-a-roof schemes and is caused by an ill-considered scheme initially, this is an example of why I am happy for someone else to carry the risk of political change with FiTs for 25 years on my solar installation:

Solar energy firms threaten legal action over feed-in tariffs

Nang

For the folk still umming and erring about whether to invest in their own panels, I have put Jans data up on :-

http://www.uksolarcasestudy.co.uk/

Hope it helps.

Also found out my counter had an annoying pop-under, sorry about that..It has been removed.

After reading the posts above, about 19% efficient panels for 14k, starting to think that maybe going first isn't always such a good idea.

Also got a couple of other folk contacting me with data, I will try to publish theirs too at the end of the month.

Nang..

mickflynn39

BrummyGit wrote: »

Whilst I accept that this doesn't apply to rent-a-roof schemes and is caused by an ill-considered scheme initially, this is an example of why I am happy for someone else to carry the risk of political change with FiTs for 25 years on my solar installation:

The scheme should have been better thought out initially. Labour introduced the scheme and I think the present government are just trying to close the loop-holes.
If they don't stop large scale commercial "solar farms" then there will be less to go round for the people the scheme was originally intended for.
There is always the risk of the scheme changing when new governments get elected but on the balance of probabilities if you've got the right kind of roof and the money to pay for the installation then it is an opportunity too good to miss.
I'm going to fork out £13,000 to get a 4KW system. The money generated by the scheme will be enough to pay for my gas, electric and water rates for the next 25 years.
If somone had told me if I gave them £13,000 now I could have those bills covered for the next 25 years I would have snapped their hand off.
I'm amazed a lot more people aren't doing it. Sometimes you can be a bit too cautious.

beedydad

mickflynn39 wrote: »

The scheme should have been better thought out initially. Labour introduced the scheme and I think the present government are just trying to close the loop-holes.
If they don't stop large scale commercial "solar farms" then there will be less to go round for the people the scheme was originally intended for.
There is always the risk of the scheme changing when new governments get elected but on the balance of probabilities if you've got the right kind of roof and the money to pay for the installation then it is an opportunity too good to miss.
I'm going to fork out £13,000 to get a 4KW system. The money generated by the scheme will be enough to pay for my gas, electric and water rates for the next 25 years.
If somone had told me if I gave them £13,000 now I could have those bills covered for the next 25 years I would have snapped their hand off.
I'm amazed a lot more people aren't doing it. Sometimes you can be a bit too cautious.

Micky

interesting comments. Question?
what is the difference between a solar farm gaining FIT's as a commercial business - and a commercial business (could be the same company) gaining FIT's by dividing their solar "farm" into fragmented bits by placing them on donor rent a roofs?

Not a lot but is another loop hole not foreseen with the Regs.

At least with the farms there would be a proper contract to provide a rental to the landowner and/or a cut in the FIT. whereas the domestic rent a roof don't pay a rent at all - but they suggets that you will benefit by cutting your bills - which is variable and not guaranteed!

beedydad

I did post this elsewhere under "green & ethical moneysaving"

How many solar PV have so far been taken up?

See extract from BBC article - some say the figure is a success - i would say it is a failure - why? well if there are 20+ million properties in the UK, probably of which say 25% could be suitable - then 21,000 installations is nats pee to help reduce carbon and ween us off fossil fuels!!
Output
So far about 21,000 schemes are registered to take advantage of the FIT scheme, which has just under £400m allocated to it.
The vast majority of these are homes and use photovoltaic solar panels.
Friends of the Earth (FoE) said feed-in tariffs had been a great success and argued they should not be restricted.
"The government should be planning to expand the scheme, not holding a knee-jerk review aimed at applying the financial brakes," said FoE.
"This review is exactly the kind of move that will kill off the confidence of investors who have flocked to take advantage of the scheme."
The typical home installation produces about 2.5 kW.
Homeowners are told they can earn £800 a year from their tariff payments, based on the subsidy of 41.3p per kilo watt hour.
This payment is index-linked and guaranteed for 25 years, and households also save an estimated £120 a year from lower heating bills.
However the homeowners who take part have to pay for the cost of installing the equipment, which can be about £10,000.
At present the maximum size of an installation under the FIT scheme is five megawatts (5,000 kW).