So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

thenudeone

My first PC had a hard disc that's bigger then a current hard disc but had just 30MB of storage. Now a card a quarter the size of a postage stamp can hold 16GB!
We were also told that the maximum data that could technically travel though copper phone lines was 2400 b/s. Now 8GB/s is common.

In decades to come, I expect that we will all look back fondly on times when solar panels were only 14% efficient and cost hundreds of pounds each!

jackieblack

teachergirl wrote: »

We managed a 28kWh day yesterday and today they have had their much needed wash:T I am glad because the garden really needed it.
On another note my next door neighbour is looking into solar panels and he has been told that they have to change his meter first if it is an old style meter.

Mine have had a good wash today too!:D
15kWh for us yesterday, which broadly corresponds to your 28kWh (your system being half a big again as mine, roughly)
It's even been sunny between the showers so hopefully we'll still generate a few kWh between the cloudbursts

celerity

I'm 17% above predicted generation for May, and have had one 28kWh day and three 27kWh days since installation in mid-April.
I find it interesting that lots of us on here are generating more than the predicted amount. It suggests that installation companies have been doing a good job of giving realistic estimates when selling their systems.

It's early days yet, but I'm looking at an eight year payback period if I ignored the compound interest my initial outlay would generate over 25 years, and a twelve year payback assuming I was getting 3% interest over 25 years. That is assuming I save £200 (linked to inflation) per year on electricity, in addition to my FiT and export payments. I'm also factoring in a 0.8% panel degradation every year for 25 years.
Time will tell if it works out anywhere near what I hope...

/\dam

furndire

teachergirl wrote: »

On another note my next door neighbour is looking into solar panels and he has been told that they have to change his meter first if it is an old style meter.

I wonder if its a Siemans one like mine

keith_r59

celerity wrote: »

I find it interesting that lots of us on here are generating more than the predicted amount. It suggests that installation companies have been doing a good job of giving realistic estimates when selling their systems

It's probably down to the fact that we have seen above average sunshine this Spring. Let's hope it continues.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/anomacts/

zeupater

keith_r59 wrote: »

It's probably down to the fact that we have seen above average sunshine this Spring. Let's hope it continues.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/anomacts/

Hi

You'll find that there will be quite a range of colours on the anomaly map for May. Where I am the first couple of days were good, but as noncom posted earlier, it been mainly overcast since ...... having regularly checked satellite visible cloud images I'd guess that anything North of a line drawn from Bristol to the Wash will be at or below average, whilst anything South of the line will have done well.

Z

mysterons

I'm north of the wash......just (Skeggy) and I'm at 120% of pvgis prediction already with still 4 days of the month left.

jackieblack

My panels have had another good wash again today - it's like waiting for a bus isn't it....... you wait for ages and then two come along at once!

celerity

celerity wrote: »

I'm 17% above predicted generation for May, and have had one 28kWh day and three 27kWh days since installation in mid-April.
[...]
It's early days yet, but I'm looking at an eight year payback period if I ignored the compound interest my initial outlay would generate over 25 years, and a twelve year payback assuming I was getting 3% interest over 25 years.

My stats were off for May - now that I have the full month of data jsunnyreports shows that we generated 602kWh - 36% above predicted! (the expectation was an average of 14kWh/day and we managed 19kWh/day)

Also, my payback calcs for compounded interest were off, as I forgot to factor in I will also get interest on the FiT payments. This doesn't make much difference but brings my best guess payback period down to eleven years.

Interestingly, if I change the interest rate from 3% to 4% (after tax) the payback climbs to 13 years. So, if interest rates rocket over the next 25 years, and my calcs are correct, that would make investment in solar PV less attractive, even factoring in the same increase in FiT payments.

/\dam

John_Pierpoint

Surely the real calculation is the rate of inflation to which your FiT payments will (in theory) be linked for 25 years?
To get rid of the debt, our government needs to debase the currency. The market will do its best to push up interest rates; but will it manage to keep them ahead of inflation? I doubt it.