installing our own solar how do you know

Deals_2

how many kws you need for a 2/3 bed house . thanks

noncom_2

It's not a case of knowing how much you need. Even if you could specify a system which would generate exactly as much as you consume, a lot of it would be at the wrong time (ie generating at midday, and you wanting to switch the lights on when it's dark!).

So, instead, the two questions are: how big is your roof, and how much can you afford?

A 2kW system which would fit a typical small terrace house might cost 10k, whereas an almost 4kW system requires a big roof, but would only cost an extra £5k (so you get more value for money).

Deals_2

not really sure of the difference!

noncom wrote: »

It's not a case of knowing how much you need. Even if you could specify a system which would generate exactly as much as you consume, a lot of it would be at the wrong time (ie generating at midday, and you wanting to switch the lights on when it's dark!).

So, instead, the two questions are: how big is your roof, and how much can you afford?

A 2kW system which would fit a typical small terrace house might cost 10k, whereas an almost 4kW system requires a big roof, but would only cost an extra £5k (so you get more value for money).

KG-THPP

If it is a new house get as much as will fit on your roof.
Existing houses (retrofit) have a 41p per kWh Feed In Tariff for systems less than 4kW.
Systems larger than 4kW have a slightly lower FIT of 36p per kWh.

If you buy them yourself you may see your electricity bill vannish completely.

noncom_2

KG-THPP wrote: »

If it is a new house get as much as will fit on your roof.
Existing houses (retrofit) have a 41p per kWh Feed In Tariff for systems less than 4kW.
Systems larger than 4kW have a slightly lower FIT of 36p per kWh.

If you buy them yourself you may see your electricity bill vannish completely.

Agree with the first part of the post......

Regarding the second part: you will not see your electricity bill vanish in the sense that you will no longer need to pay an energy company. Much of your electricity consumption will happen while the panels are not generating, and since it's not practical (unless you happen to live where a Grid connection is impossible) to use battery banks to store your electricity, you will export power that you generate but don't use immediately and import power when you need more than the panels are making. So you will still get a bill for the imported electricity.

However you will also get a payment from the company for the energy you generate, and an additional one for what you export (which may be either metered or estimated). This is very likely (even with quite a small Solar PV system) to be larger than you are paying them for energy.

As an example, a typical large house may consume say 4000kWh (units per year) which will cost anything around £300-£500 depending on your tariff. A 4kW solar PV system could generate £1500 in FIT payments (and reduce your actual import bill by 25% to 50% as well).

So you definitely "earn" off the system, but you need to remember that you have paid £15kish for the equipment, which will depreciate in value and may need maintenance etc from time to time.

A smaller 2kW system costing £10k is likely to make £700-£800 in payments. These figures of course all depend on where you live in the UK, and how close to a South facing roof at the right angle you have, the effect of any shading, and the quality of the equipment installed.

ptz4ctz

I have loked at puttinh panels up for about 3 yrs. Finally, as the intrest rates were so low , we took out ISA's and put up solar pannels. Brilliant! We have nearly 3 KW and they are producing loads. Since March we have made £600. I am totally chuffed. we had brilliant installers as :jwell. Very Lucky. Pat.