Free solar panel discussion

chrismale

Assuming a 4% interest rate, which can be obtained with fixed deposits even now, with a lump sum of £12000 and a monthly contribution of £0, after 25 years your savings could be worth £31,990.
This is made up of a lump sum of £12000, contributions of £0 and investment growth of £19990. I don't know what the value of 25 yer old solar panels would be.

tingleytim

My roof is south west facing and is of no interest to A Shade Greener. How much less efficient is a SW facing roof compared with a south facing roof? When cloudy there is presumably very little difference. But what tends to be the difference overall? Is it still worth my while installing panels at my own expense on a SW facing roof?

bribery

You have used the simple comparison of cost £12500, potential return over 25 years £23000.
However do the sums still add up if you do the Net Present Value calculation (which should be the basis of all comparatives over 5 years)? - my guess is that the "savings" will evaporate & may even show a loss.

farmersboy

EcoPower wrote: »

I have installed a 1Kw system last November and have been very pleased with the result. After the Govt grant for installation the cost was £5K. FIT payments look like being circa £300 PA giving about a 17 year pay back. I cannot see how this makes any commercial sense for people to give away free panels. Am I missing something?

The system I have will be worth around £1100p.a. with the Feed in Tariff to the 'free' installer, index linked and guaranteed for 25 years. The installers can get it at cost, rather than the mark up they make charging you or I (a 3kw system may be £14k commercially, but cost the installer £9k). I understand payback for the installers is 9 years, meaning around 16 years of profit...

Sooler

Can I get rid of the panels?
No. You must keep them on for 25 years and let Isis come and maintain them. There is no option to buy the company out. But after the 25 years the panels are yours to keep or ditch.

So what's the disposal costs? and what state is the roof in when they are taken off?

Tony_The_Ferret_2

camaj wrote: »

Does it matter who's "paying" for it? It's still a good thing and it's even more of an incentive to be part of the scheme.

Clearly it's better to go it alone but a lot of people, apparently, dislike high upfront payments even if the returns are fantastic so schemes like this give people a risk-free way of taking part. Even if the whole thing collapsed you'd still have had cheaper electricity until then, although the article suggests that wouldn't happen

It is cheaper for the Government and power providers to pay you to generate rather than build new power stations. If only they would drop this requirement of only allowing (MCS) companies to supply the product and services. This is hikeing up the prices. The real way to get microgeneration, Wind, water or PV into the mainstream and more users is to make it more accessable. MCS is supposed to stop cowboy companies from cashing in. But the same cowboys can do the job if they pay for the certificate. But Joe public has to stump up extra. We could inport the equiptment from Europe, where is is more common, and competative. BUT no MCS.
I do not have any thoughts on the FREE idea, but would have thought if they are prepared to offer it, it must be worth it to someone, why not YOU.

Seems a bit of a long payback if you do the calculations,,, £120 per year savings and (potential) FIT of £800 on an outlay of £10,000, , that is over 10 years providing nothing goes wrong.
how can this be GREEN, also what of the environmental costs of manufacturing and shipping the units as well as the man in a van to deliver AND NUMEROUS CUPS OF TEA WHILST THEY ARE FITTING THEM.
Remember,,, it is easier to SAVE electriity, generateing it is difficult

skelly01

baldmosher wrote: »

I live in a 22-storey tower block in Salford. The entire south facing side of the building, minus windows, could easily be panelled. This would, according to the Encraft calculator, generate some £90,000 of electricity, at current prices, each and every year, practically indefinitely. There are two identical tower blocks and that's before we take into account the "seven sisters" in Pendleton that are 17 floors tall.

I wonder if the schemes to regenerate Pendleton in the coming years are taking this into consideration. They blooming well should be. They're talking about cladding our twin towers in snazzy dark grey cladding anyway!

It amazes me that with schemes like this available councils don't fit them on all their properties as standard. If nothing else, it'll help keep the rain off the roof and prolong its life. And it will help those on low incomes who really need help with their bills.

Seems an excellent idea on the face of it, I think it would become a commercial generator though which would not be covered by the FIT scheme.
that said projects like this should be the norm.

cheyne139

I have storage heaters that run on Ecomany 10 tarriff. Would solar panels be any good for me?

Tony_The_Ferret_2

cheyne139 wrote: »

I have storage heaters that run on Ecomany 10 tarriff. Would solar panels be any good for me?

When would you want them most, in the summer or winter. When is there the most solar power generated.... even if they could be used for storage heaters, do not think they could store the summer heat and release it in the dark gloomy days of winter:xmassign:

Antispam

It wont belong before other companies jump into this bandwagon and possible utility companies as they already give subsides for insulation and cheap light bulbs

Also as they get popular prices with tumble so what may cost 8k today may be a lot less and assuming feed in tarrif increases annually at a modest rate it could be a good investment especially if energy prices increase