Free solar panel discussion

Cardew

Jon_Tiffany wrote: »

No, the scheme was not designed just for householders, it was designed to encourage small scale renewable generation. This is a quote from page of the government response:

"The FITs scheme is intended to encourage deployment of additional small scale low
carbon electricity generation, particularly by individuals, householders, organisations,
businesses and communities who have not traditionally engaged in the electricity
market."

The scale of FIT payments was fixed so individual householders with systems <4kWp would get 41.3p for each kWh generated + 3p for exported.

Larger systems get progressively smaller FIT payments

These commercial schemes with thousands of small systems (like ASG etc) generate many MW yet exploit a loophole in the regulations to get the larger subsidies intended for individual households. Don't forget the subsidies paid to these firms for their profit are paid by us in higher prices.

It would be far more efficient and less costly to us if the scores of thousands of panels now installed by these firms on houses dotted all over UK were installed on a few 'wind farms' on large warehouses, factories etc.

jer123

have tried to register with all three company's in weekly e-mail the two company's mentioned specifically for the north, one allowed us to register then said they were not working in this area but would hold details, the other was working no further north than parts of Yorkshire but isis took all details. Surely areas like ours with no gas supply should be a priority as they must use more electricity than other areas? There are more people who have 'all electric' homes. So are we truly talking of being green or just another company making money from those who have no money, ie needing free solar panels?

Mcfi5dhc

jer123 wrote: »

have tried to register with all three company's in weekly e-mail the two company's mentioned specifically for the north, one allowed us to register then said they were not working in this area but would hold details, the other was working no further north than parts of Yorkshire but isis took all details. Surely areas like ours with no gas supply should be a priority as they must use more electricity than other areas? There are more people who have 'all electric' homes. So are we truly talking of being green or just another company making money from those who have no money, ie needing free solar panels?

All three companies are trying to make money, that is the number one priority. They are not charitable organisations, but neither are they ruthless - they will not rip you off, it will not cost you anything. To make things easy for them, they are trying to fit panels on homes close the their HQ's, and to get every fitting to be the same as all the other ones.

A Shade Greener have been quoted in the press as getting applications/queries/comments every five seconds throughout the day (before taking their phone number off their website). This massive power (excuse the pun) allows them to pick and choose the best candidates, which will be those closest to them with the least amount of hassle.

Trees/shading/dodgy roof/too far away etc etc, forget it, they'll move on to the next one to consider. By the time they have reviewed yours, they'll have another few hundred new applications to sift through.

PK49

Have successfully registered with Isis Solar for post code in Bury St Edmunds - now waiting for contract.

Estimated lead time from them is approx 4 weeks from 'Go' to installation, which should take approx 3 days.

Re house selling - I can't imagine that the company would have the final say over whether you can sell your house or not - they would still be getting the FIT within the 25 years no matter who owns the property. Also, there is a peppercorn rent for the air space above the roof - check it out with Isis.

jer123

The other issue that is really annoying is the description of 'The North' . Companies (and the media ) need to be more specific about the area they are talking about. Its not difficult to say nothing further north than Yorkshire or Manchester etc.

Henbest

jer123 wrote: »

have tried to register with all three company's in weekly e-mail the two company's mentioned specifically for the north, one allowed us to register then said they were not working in this area but would hold details, the other was working no further north than parts of Yorkshire but isis took all details. Surely areas like ours with no gas supply should be a priority as they must use more electricity than other areas? There are more people who have 'all electric' homes. So are we truly talking of being green or just another company making money from those who have no money, ie needing free solar panels?

I sugest if you have no mains gas and its important to secure supplies of heating and hot water to invest in a high quality solar water heating system, much more efficient of up to 92% for tube collectors than PV panels at 16%, hence why you need a large roof area.
Sit tight and wait to hear about the RHI Scheme which should be known before the end of the year.
I have produced over 35,000kWh of solar heated water over 3.8 year always in winter dumped into my central heating system during the day.
The RHI if its rolled out pays out a deemed price of £0.18p per kWh, so using 3 times the number of tubes compared to a tank of domestic water only will deliver during peak hour times 7,000 watts an hr.

Henbest

I the numbers projected are correct, what will stop all this race for the highest paid tariff is the shortage in Europe of grid tied inverters.
On Dutch company could only gurantee me a supply in February next year.
Sunny Boy from SMA the biggest brand in the market cant even supply my German PV distributer who sold 40 MW of panels last year.
No inverter means no completed system so make sure you have a gurantee from any supplier/installer that they have inverters in stock

beedydad

Mcfi5dhc wrote: »

All three companies are trying to make money, that is the number one priority. They are not charitable organisations, but neither are they ruthless - they will not rip you off, it will not cost you anything. To make things easy for them, they are trying to fit panels on homes close the their HQ's, and to get every fitting to be the same as all the other ones.

A Shade Greener have been quoted in the press as getting applications/queries/comments every five seconds throughout the day (before taking their phone number off their website). This massive power (excuse the pun) allows them to pick and choose the best candidates, which will be those closest to them with the least amount of hassle.

Trees/shading/dodgy roof/too far away etc etc, forget it, they'll move on to the next one to consider. By the time they have reviewed yours, they'll have another few hundred new applications to sift through.

I think you should re - address your comments!

They are going to get huge amounts of money and profit.

Whereas you the householder are very cheaply giving over/away your own roof space!

They get practically guaranteed income over 25 years - whereas you will get a discount on what you manage to use from the PV kit.

This is very onesided and does make business sence to them BUT is very poor business for the householder.

GET RENT FOR YOUR ROOF SPACE - ask for this in addition - something like £100 per annum extra that would then make it better VFM

Regards

beedydad

quoia wrote: »

Taking the other 2 companies first:

ASG started installing several months ago and have ONLY offered 6000 free systems in total - it was 3000 at the outset of the scheme but they recently added another 3000 Free systems. They have not mentioned a timescale to my knowledge for achieving 6000 installations.

ISIS I believe have 18,000 up for grabs - again no date for when this will be completed.

Please correct me if you have information to the contrary.

Regards HOMESUN - from their press release

"HomeSun, the free power company, is looking for 100,000 homes to install solar panels for free over the next 3 years, 2000 of which will be in the next 12 months."

So the vast majority will take place in years 2 & 3, by which time I presume they will have gained significant experience and trained a lot more "mere mortals" into "qualified persons"

98,000 over 2 years - call it 100 weeks = 980 a week - that's 196 a day (5 day week)

Call it 2 days to do a system properly and you need 2 persons.

800 installers required in 12 months time.

Can't see why a company installing £1bn worth of PV solar systems wouldn't employ 1000 installation engineers.

I think you will find that the companies have absolutely no way of getting anything like an extra fully trained and qualified installers in such numbers!!!!!
They may not have to be fully MCS as individuals but they will have to be fully qualified electricians registered with NAPIT or others. This does not happen overnight. Or even in 1 or 2 years.

I really think their promotion of installing these numbers is impossible both in the actual installs and their quoted timeframe.

There will be alot of unhappy potential customers.

On reflection if you want PV then buy it yourselves - from a local friendly instller and get the quote transparently itemised.

Regards

Mcfi5dhc

beedydad wrote: »

I think you should re - address your comments!

They are going to get huge amounts of money and profit.

Whereas you the householder are very cheaply giving over/away your own roof space!

They get practically guaranteed income over 25 years - whereas you will get a discount on what you manage to use from the PV kit.

This is very onesided and does make business sence to them BUT is very poor business for the householder.

GET RENT FOR YOUR ROOF SPACE - ask for this in addition - something like £100 per annum extra that would then make it better VFM

Regards

I'm not too sure why my comments need re-addressing because I agree with your sentiments, but my point is:

With an application every five seconds, they can pick and choose who they want. No discussion, no negotiation, they'll just move on to the next.

(I am a PV owner by the way - from a local friendly installer)