Free solar panel discussion

Cardew

Elainemary wrote: »

Hi Zeupater and thanks for the info and link.
Is RHI in addition to FITs or are they just replacing it? The site doesn't make it too clear.

FITs are for the generation of electricity(mainly solar PV and wind turbines). It is an established system that started April 2010 and all the rates are published.

RHI(Renewable Heat Initiative) as the name implies is a subsidy for certain forms of heating. At the moment it is still a proposal and the detail is not get known.

There presumably will be no restriction on houses getting FITs also getting further subsidies under RHI; but until the details are known there is little point in speculating.

zeupater

Elainemary wrote: »

Hi Zeupater and thanks for the info and link.
Is RHI in addition to FITs or are they just replacing it? The site doesn't make it too clear.

Hi

It looks like it will be in addition to FiTs and cover different technologies such as solar thermal, CHP, biomass boilers, ASHP, GSHP and geothermal.

The real issue is that the scheme will cover so many different heat sources that it will be much harder to quantify/meter than is possible for solar pv which generates easily measured electricity. I expect that much of the final scheme will be based on 'assumed' heat production/collection with a typically flat system of payment.

HTH
Z

Gizmosmum_2

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

It looks like it will be in addition to FiTs and cover different technologies such as solar thermal, CHP, biomass boilers, ASHP, GSHP and geothermal.

The real issue is that the scheme will cover so many different heat sources that it will be much harder to quantify/meter than is possible for solar pv which generates easily measured electricity. I expect that much of the final scheme will be based on 'assumed' heat production/collection with a typically flat system of payment.

HTH
Z

There's an argument that biomass won't be included (DECC and DEFRA are arguing about whether it's renewable) and a query about solar thermal being included too - we're going to have to wait and see what happens later in the year. I'd heard that the June start had been put back again ....

zeupater

Gizmosmum wrote: »

There's an argument that biomass won't be included (DECC and DEFRA are arguing about whether it's renewable) and a query about solar thermal being included too - we're going to have to wait and see what happens later in the year. I'd heard that the June start had been put back again ....

Hi

Looks like there are too many people employed in these organisations if they have enough time to debate semantics. My immediate solution would be to chop half of the positions and ensure that targets & deadlines are still met by those remaining.

Many years ago I was given some sound advice by a really good senior manager which, in a meraphorical nutshell, said that no matter how good a man manager you are, every so often you just have to put someone up against the wall and shoot them, it makes everyone else sit up, take notice & pull their socks up .... I have used the advice and it certainly works as described.

Z

clarkec321

Just been researching reducing my bills, I live in a rural area and don't have gas so everything apart from heating (oil fired) is electric.
Don't have the funds to splash out on the panels myself & won't have for many years to come, if ever.

I don't really see the benefit of the free deals being sufficient enough to get signed into a 25 year contract, with all the upside going to someone else, so was interested in the Government's green loan scheme as a way to avoid the upfront cost, but can't find anything about it, has it started yet? Or is it something to create positive headline that will only see the light of day in a watered down format that is basically useless

thanks

John_Pierpoint

Probably the latter.

There is a big bun fight for the great and the good next week called Eco Build (Google it).
Ministers have a habit of making announcements to coincide with it and the end of the tax year (5th April).
However the economy is in a mess, so they keep double counting the pennies and any give-aways are getting postponed.

You like me have an isolated property.
How easy is it to insulate - it makes much more sense to spend 100's of quid on good insulation than 1000's of quid on fancy new eco heating kit, before the old gear is worn out.

hardpressed

I haven't read all the posts so this may have already been answered. This morning I noticed, what I assume are solar panels being put on a roughtly East facing roof. Don't they need to be facing South to get the maximum amount of sun ?

Equaliser123

hardpressed wrote: »

I haven't read all the posts so this may have already been answered. This morning I noticed, what I assume are solar panels being put on a roughtly East facing roof. Don't they need to be facing South to get the maximum amount of sun ?

Ideally Southerly facing. If you put the details into one of the more sophisticated calculators, you can establish the difference.

Our roof is WSW facing and I'm pretty pleased with the generation that our 3.29kwp system is achieving.

zeupater

hardpressed wrote: »

I haven't read all the posts so this may have already been answered. This morning I noticed, what I assume are solar panels being put on a roughtly East facing roof. Don't they need to be facing South to get the maximum amount of sun ?

Hi

As a rough rule of thumb, a 35Degree roof centrally located in England would achieve the following (Taking South=100%) ......

S ........... 100%
SW/SE .... 94%
W/E ........ 80%
NW/NE .... 64%
N ........... <55%

.... so with a standard roof angle without shade you will be able to generate no matter what direction your array faces. The problem is the effect of the lower generation on the system payback, which with a due South roof would likely be in year 11, whilst a due North roof would probably be in year 19. Factoring in an allowance for replacement inverters, maintenance etc it is marginal whether a system facing North would ever show a positive financial return, but anything South of West or East should be okay.

HTH
Z

Nang

If I have got this right, looks like Fits are going up by 2p from 1st April. For us retrofit < 4 KWP owners.

Check out document at:-

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Pages/MoreInformation.aspx?docid=16&refer=Sustainability/Environment/fits