Free solar panel discussion

Doc_N

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

It's almost all down to the haze reflecting a good proportion of the radiation and reducing what is hitting your panels .... I get the same so don't worry.

The deeper blue colour the sky is the better your system will perform. These 'wedgewood' blue skies just limit performance more than you would think possible. When you've had your system a while you'll be able to guess what's being generated just by looking at the sky.

HTH
Z

Nang wrote: »

Hi Doc

I had the same concerns, with my four 4Kw system. The sun is creating a lovely bell shaped curve but despite 20 x 200 w panels, its peaking at about 3.41 but in most cases about 3kw.

I spoke to a colleague in Leeds and its the same for him, so I stopped worrying about it.

I also suspect that that as the panels get hot they lose efficiency (I read about this in some literature from SMA, about matching inverter size to panel ratings). I see this in effect when the sun goes behind a cloud for a bit and then comes out again it maxes out for a while and then slowly descends again.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the help and advice, guys - seems I was worrying about nothing. I'll sleep easy.

Gizmosmum_2

We've got a ESE facing roof and we're getting 21kwh/day from our Sharp 3.96kwp system in the North - haven't got tired of looking at the meter for the last few days. I can't quite believe how well it's performing considering the orientation and our location.

mickflynn39

I've had a 3.84KW system fitted for 18 days now and the highest reading I've had is 3.81KW. This reading has surprised me greatly as I was expecting some loss of production by the time the system had converted the suns rays into electricity. What are other peoples best readings against system size? For aprox. the first 10 days I was getting readings over 3KW regularly but over the last week it has never gone above 3KW. Looking at previous recent posts this seems to be in line with what others are experiencing.

mickflynn39

I've read a lot of this thread before but simply don't have the time to read it all. For what its worth this is my opinion. If you can afford to pay for the system then it is a no-brainer that this is the way to go. Even if you don't have the funds readily available it would be worth taking out a loan to pay for the installation.You would make about the same money if not more in one month as you would save in a whole year on the rent a roof scheme.

I live on a housing estate in an affluent area where most of the houses are large detached with South or South East facing roofs and 6 systems have been installed over the last couple of months. All have gone down the rent a roof route except me.

These households don't appear short of money as most have 2 or 3 (sometimes 4) cars on the drive. I think the rent a roof sales people must have done a good job on them or they are just incredibly stupid and short sighted.

A saving of about £100 per annum at best is not worth all the drawbacks of having a rent a roof system installed. If you don't buy the system then don't bother as you are just lining the pockets of the rent a roof companies for very little benefit to yourself.

jellyhead

Why don't you think it's worth it? I can't decide ... there's no way we will be able to buy our own so it's a choice of rent a roof or don't have solar.

Cardew

jellyhead wrote: »

Why don't you think it's worth it? I can't decide ... there's no way we will be able to buy our own so it's a choice of rent a roof or don't have solar.

You need to read all the posts on here as they discuss the reservations about Rent a Roof. Basically these are:

1. The savings for the houseowner are modest, a £100 a year is probably the maximum - many will make less.

2. The 'rent a roof' company make lots of money from your roof - in the order of £1,200+ per year.

3. You have signed an agreement giving another company rights over your roof for 25 years.

4. Those rights have to be accepted by any new owner which could influence the desirability(and hence value) of your house. The mortgage company could object, the new owner can't install his own panels, you mustn't let trees etc grow to put roof in the shade etc.

5. To me the biggest objection would be a firm using MY roof to make a fortune and feeding me scraps!!!

If none of the above bother you - go for it!

jellyhead

I did read most of the thread a while back but it got too technical for me.

I know the company installing the panels would be making a fortune out of me, but I'm really not in a position to borrow money to buy my own, and I doubt we will ever move house. The only considerations for me really are if we got into serious financial trouble and had to move in with parents as a last resort - then we'd be trying to sell the house and might not be able to get much with those panels on.

Also, if we need to fix the roof would having to pay isis to remove the panels, put them up again, and reimburse them for lost FITS counteract any gain we'd get from the free electricity?

We have ummed and ahhed for a few months, with me wanting them and husband being cautious.

I can live with isis taking us for mugs, we still get something that we couldn't provide for ourselves.

Nang

Cardew wrote: »

You need to read all the posts on here as they discuss the reservations about Rent a Roof. Basically these are:

1. The savings for the houseowner are modest, a £100 a year is probably the maximum - many will make less.

2. The 'rent a roof' company make lots of money from your roof - in the order of £1,200+ per year.

3. You have signed an agreement giving another company rights over your roof for 25 years.

4. Those rights have to be accepted by any new owner which could influence the desirability(and hence value) of your house. The mortgage company could object, the new owner can't install his own panels, you mustn't let trees etc grow to put roof in the shade etc.

5. To me the biggest objection would be a firm using MY roof to make a fortune and feeding me scraps!!!

If none of the above bother you - go for it!

It was 3 and 4. that Cardew quoted above that was the nail in the coffin for us.

We got a solicitor friend to look over the contract. She was very uncomfortable with it and ended up saying its up to you but I wouldn't.

It was some time ago but, she said that in her opinion the contract would be tied to the owner not the property. So if you sold the house to a new owner and they decided not to play ball, it would still be you who would be held as in breech of contract.

I had a list of questions after this and when I tried to discuss them, the RaR co in question, started getting defensive. That was more than enough for me to pull the plug.

We still wanted to go ahead so we brought our own panels.

When I told her we were going solo, she almost seemed relieved.

If you want to read a good account of someones experience with the free schemes I can recommend:-

http://www.malcolmknight.co.uk/solar/

Equaliser123

jellyhead wrote: »

Why don't you think it's worth it? I can't decide ... there's no way we will be able to buy our own so it's a choice of rent a roof or don't have solar.

If it was me, I wouldn't get it.

We have bought solar panels. The reduction in electric bills is, as Cardew says, extremely modest. To my mind, the risk of a purchaser being put off in the future - together with the potential hassle of having part of my property let - is simply not worth the 'benefit'.

solarexpert

There are real solar panels that one can get almost free. One can get such free solar panels just for asking, for many institutions want to get rid of slightly degraded ones that can be used in households for free. Even though the panels are slightly degraded, these would work fine. Moreover, photovoltaic (PV) panels are not the only type of solar energy.