Free solar panel discussion

Gizmosmum_2

kensington143 wrote: »

I've just received an email saying our property is suitable. They are sending a contract and whgen they receive a signature they will do a survey. Wondering whether to ahead now
:eek:

I'm sure we'd all love to see the contract so we're a bit more informed about what's involved. Do you think you'd be able to post it somewhere so we could see it???

Pincher

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I would have thought that spending all that extra money on thermal solar, when day time electricity is available at 3p a unit, is just silly?

Mind you I'm still not convinced that paying 41.3 pence a unit to avoid using "fossil" electricity is not also "just silly".

Cardew wrote: »

Their idea was to heat water with PV electricity rather than not use it at all.

Unless the people on the ASG type system use the generated electricity it is just exported and they gain nothing - 'use it or lose it'!!

Even for many of those funding their own system the same applies. They get a payment of 3p/kWh for 50% of the generated power regardless of how much they use in the house.

This just points out the inflexibility of the whole scheme.
Instead of allowing professionals to tailor the individual requirements of each property, it's hi-jacked by profiteering commercial outfits who just do whatever will maximise profit.
Why can't we ask for solar thermal panels instead, which I could actually use, and save on fossil fuels. Isis makes no money out of it, that's why. There are probably country houses out there where a wind turbine will be far more suitable.

Basically the scheme is giving away size 8 shoes, and my feet are the wrong size for their shoes.

Gizmosmum_2

Pincher wrote: »

This just points out the inflexibility of the whole scheme.
Instead of allowing professionals to tailor the individual requirements of each property, it's hi-jacked by profiteering commercial outfits who just do whatever will maximise profit.
Why can't we ask for solar thermal panels instead, which I could actually use, and save on fossil fuels. Isis makes no money out of it, that's why. There are probably country houses out there where a wind turbine will be far more suitable.

Basically the scheme is giving away size 8 shoes, and my feet are the wrong size for their shoes.

We're all waiting to hear if the Renewable Heat Incentive goes ahead next year. If it does I'm sure there will be similar options for solar thermal, ashp and gshp. The RHI is calculated to provide 12% ROI so it's even more than solar pv.

kensington143

Gizmosmum wrote: »

I'm sure we'd all love to see the contract so we're a bit more informed about what's involved. Do you think you'd be able to post it somewhere so we could see it???

I'll do my best if and when it arrives - after all, I'm interested in everyone's opinions and thoughts.

:undecided

pauldreed

kensington143 wrote: »

I've just received an email saying our property is suitable. They are sending a contract and whgen they receive a signature they will do a survey. Wondering whether to ahead now
:eek:

Which company are you dealing with? It seems strange that they didn't they do a survey before offering the contract?

Gizmosmum_2

pauldreed wrote: »

Which company are you dealing with? It seems strange that they didn't they do a survey before offering the contract?

I'm guessing that they want some sort of commitment before going to the expense of sending out someone to do the survey. They should have already checked on Google earth for potential shadow, orientation and potential roof size. I'm not sure how you can sign up to something without it being fully explained. There's a cooling off clause of at least 7 days anyway so if you do change your mind you can opt out as long as you do it within timescale.

kensington143

pauldreed wrote: »

Which company are you dealing with? It seems strange that they didn't they do a survey before offering the contract?

ISIS SOLAR
Have had double glazing fitted in the past and we've always signed the paperwork before they have done the survey. Do you think the survey is more for the fitters benefit - ie what sort of roof (tiles, slates etc) and so forth?

pauldreed

Gizmosmum wrote: »

I'm guessing that they want some sort of commitment before going to the expense of sending out someone to do the survey....

I think that you are probably right. The companies are now in direct competition, and are maybe trying to lock in as many potential customers as possible, at as early a stage as possible.
I've just had a survey done by ASG, and if it's approved, they will then send out the contract.

hansi

I just an email from them saying that my property is suitable and that they will be contacting me. Has anyone else used this company?

Pincher

Gizmosmum wrote: »

We're all waiting to hear if the Renewable Heat Incentive goes ahead next year. If it does I'm sure there will be similar options for solar thermal, ashp and gshp. The RHI is calculated to provide 12% ROI so it's even more than solar pv.

I got the £400 for the boiler scrappage, which will probably disqualify me for RHI for ASHP. I think they also want you to REPLACE your gas boiler, which is a joke, because heat pumps don't work efficiently at higher temperatures, so you have to replace your perfectly good radiators with larger ones, or rip the whole house up for underfloor heating. And then the heat pump will fail just when you need it most, and the engineer is skiing so you end up using electric bar heaters over Christmas and New Year.
I am doing a hybrid, 1st floor will be heat pump, ground floor remains gas/radiator. Resilient configuration.

My roof is East-West, so I don't tick their boxes for solar thermal.
I have three dormer windows in the back of the house, which I have just re-enforced with ply and new felt. I only need one dormer to put an A frame up for mounting a south facing solar thermal panel. Because it's not visible from the front, I shouldn't need planning permission. I live in dread that they will simply reject me again because I don't tick the "south facing" box.

Basically, I will have to lie by ticking the "south facing" box when applying for RHI. And then they do a Google Map on my roof, and don't even bother to send a surveyor out. If they did send a surveyor out, it will be some moron who says "What's an A frame?", "We don't do none of that fancy stuff." REJECTED AGAIN.