Solar Panel installation quotation

Equaliser123

Quick question - has anyone any views on whether Building Control consent is required / desirable?

We are not in a conservation area so understand that there is no planning issue but wanted to make sure we are 'clean' on the building control side prior to installation.

Oh, Green Project have apparently put their prices up by 30% but are honouring existing quotations.

zeupater

Equaliser123 wrote: »

Quick question - has anyone any views on whether Building Control consent is required / desirable?

We are not in a conservation area so understand that there is no planning issue but wanted to make sure we are 'clean' on the building control side prior to installation.

Oh, Green Project have apparently put their prices up by 30% but are honouring existing quotations.

Hi

My understanding is that solar is classified as a permitted development, with restrictions, and that MCS installers are able to sign off the installation without BC involvement (same as GasSafe etc) ... your intended installer or, better still, local council will be able to confirm this.

Regarding Green Project prices, I believe that they were operating a 10% discount a couple of months ago and a fixed discount (£500 ?) until very recently and both of these were withdrawn in the run-up to the government's spending review. Their website still shows the standard price for a 3.96kWp array as being £14499, so no change published yet.

I wonder whether mention of a 30% increase is a marketing ploy to ensure that people with existing quotations consider converting them into orders now that the (industry created ?) uncertainty regarding FiTs has been thrown aside ? .... maybe a last throw at maintaining current inflated margins before the anticipated 10% reduction early next year.

HTH

rhiwfield

Equaliser123 wrote: »

Quick question - has anyone any views on whether Building Control consent is required / desirable?

We are not in a conservation area so understand that there is no planning issue but wanted to make sure we are 'clean' on the building control side prior to installation.

You will probably see in your contract with the MCS installer that you are responsible for building control compliance, though building control consent is not required, I understand. In my case, for peace of mind, I rang building control to discuss the proposed installation and type of roof construction and was given reassurance.

moneydad25

I believe in England (don't know Welsh regs so always worth checking if they're different!) Solar panels no longer require planning permission as long as they will not stand out from the roof line more than a certain distance. I'm sorry but I've forgotten the number of mm they quote. I know when a relative of mine was looking at it, she rang her local authority and they quoted this to her, she checked with the supplier/fitter and the panels she was having installed were well within the regulartory limits. Still always best to make that quick call just to be certain eh!

green_lad

Hi Guys,

Just read all your comments whilst browsing the site....

I had a system installed by solar PVE in Tweksbury, a 3960 KW. It cost me £15k after some haggling and I must be honest it is doing me proud. I used this company as their sister company supplies all the Solar panels down the side of the motorways and figured their kit must be good. They also supply all the gadget stuff for caravans and boats, the sales rep was ok... but who likes salesmen anyway!

Make sure you use MCS installers else you wont get the feed in bonuses....

I got a 10yr Inverter warranty and 25yrs on the panels..

My payback is 9-10yrs with the feed in tariffs and I have seen a reduction in my elec bill...

If anyone is interested I can dig out the details of the company.

Hope this helps a little?

I am thinking of now doing a hot water system has anyone got any knowledge on this?

Equaliser123

Gone ahead with my order. 14 panels will be configured in an in-line array so as to avoid looking like a big lump of panels. Will report back with how things progress.

Kontiki

Looks like I am in a similar situation, I live in North Wales & have a WSW facing roof. I had 5 quotes ranging from £13.2k to £16k (EON quoted around £15k for a smaller system) they were for 3.7 to 3.96 Kw. In the end went for a 3.9 Kw using 21 x 185w (Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA inc. AS-5M-185W) with the Sunny Boy SMA SB 3800 for just under £13k (I had 3 of the installers all willing to drop to around this figure) this is the predicted output & savings.

'This system will produce 2,927KWh’s per annum and save 1,662kg of CO2 emmissions annually on a 70 degree off South facing roof at 25 degrees and unshaded. This system will give an Annual income of £1,209.00 from FIT’s Revenue and may save £322.00 from your annual electricity bills'
The other quotes had broadly the same figures. I have paid the deposit & the installation is due on the 16/17th this month. One of deciding factors was that he had done a similar installation on a local councilors house who lives on our estate (he was more than pleased to talk about his system & recommend the company)

Just waiting to see now if it all performs as expected :think: the money isn't doing much in the bank & according to all the data I should be in profit in 8-10 years time.

Not sure if people are aware that you are paid the FIT of 41.3p per kw for generating the electricity, you can use as much as you like in your home up to the rate the panels are producing without any charge. The export tariff is a further 3p per kw, to get this you need an export meter which they charge for fitting. If you don't have a meter EON informed me that they assume I am using half of what I generate so they pay me the 3p on the other half. (Might stick a plug on the outside of the wall & see if the neighbors want to buy some cheap leccy :rotfl:;) :whistle:


I posted on a thread in another part of the forum regarding using some sort of storage heaters to help save on the gas central heating. My idea would be to have them heat up during the daytime when the panels are producing then use the heat to save gas during the night :think:. Currently I believe they are designed to use cheap electric at night, surely there must be an opportunity to have a system that could heat them up when it senses there is enough power produced form the panels?

Equaliser123

Well not sure what will happen now as Rok were the installers of the system and have now gone into administration. Hmmm.

Interestingly, Rok were also the installers for Tesco and (soon) M&S as well as Green Project. I wonder what effect this will now have on a) prices and b) capacity of installers. I can only see prices heading up.

munchkin88

Hi there,

all installations will be taking place, but will be carried out by another installer, details are currently being finalised.

Quotes sent to customers are vaild for 30 days from date produced, after the 30 days, if the customer is still interested, then a re-quote will be produced.

with regards to building regs, installations can go ahead as normal unless you live in a listed property, area of outstanding natural beauty or conservation area, and in these cases, planning permission is required from the local council.

Hope this helps

jetski690

Hi I've just got into reading about the solar panel fit stuff and wonder if someone could answer a couple of questions please,
1. My bungalow has a loft conversion and in the summer upstairs is always mega hot would by having solar panels on the roof attract even more heat upstairs or could they work the otherway and actually defuse the heat away slightly ?
2. Do people think it might be worth waiting say untill the later part of next year to do an install where the latest technology may have moved on a little and the prices may have come down a tad or are prices likely to stay up or even rise ?