Current PV panel prices

zeupater

jetski690 wrote: »

Am I right in saying that people who are already on the 43.3p fit tariff that it is guaranteed for the 25 years and it cant be taken away by the government at anytime ?

Hi

That's the idea, however governments do have a track record of changing or replacing legislation ..... it's just a matter of whether you personally believe that they will withdraw the FiT system without incorporating the payments into a successor scheme with all of the political ramifications and carbon target issues which would arise from not doing so.

HTH
Z

goldenspiral

zeupater wrote: »

...I would look at the possibility of having a roofing contractor in to fix the roof, possibly even fitting roof hooks for the panels as part of the contract, then get the installer to fit the panels whilst the scaffolding is still in place ..... might save quite a few pounds & improve the payback on the system, so it's worth considering.

HTH
Z

Definitely. That's the first thing we did and the contractors were happy to leave up the scaffolding until the PV Solar was installed. They would come back and make sure everything is waterproof and no damage to the roof too.

thenudeone

thescouselander wrote: »

Yes but if you were an energy company with a requirement to generate energy from renewable means and you had a choice would you:
a) Generate the energy from a large scale wind farm at a cost per unit near the market rate
or
b) pay a load of people 4 x over the odds for the same commodity

But the whole point is that option a) is simply nowhere near possible with the current cost of solar panels and equipment (Neither is nuclear energy for that matter but successive governments have still bankrolled it because without it, the lights would go out).
Domestic solar PV has the benefit over commercial solar farms that no land and no extra infrastructure is required.
Only by significantly increasing demand for solar PV equipment will the development take place to improve efficiencies and reduce the cost in the same way that happened in the computer chip market.
If oil and gas continues to increase in price as it has recently, the point at which solar PV becomes viable without support gets closer and closer.

Cardew

thenudeone wrote: »

But the whole point is that option a) is simply nowhere near possible with the current cost of solar panels and equipment (Neither is nuclear energy for that matter but successive governments have still bankrolled it because without it, the lights would go out).
Domestic solar PV has the benefit over commercial solar farms that no land and no extra infrastructure is required.
Only by significantly increasing demand for solar PV equipment will the development take place to improve efficiencies and reduce the cost in the same way that happened in the computer chip market.
If oil and gas continues to increase in price as it has recently, the point at which solar PV becomes viable without support gets closer and closer.

Solar farms could be situated on factory/warehouse/supermarket roofs in South West England - the area that gives the highest solar output.

There is masses of scrub land that is no good for farming.

When not on a private house roof it is easy to have the panels tracking the sun to ensure maximum output.

Surely you cannot seriously suggest that thousands of 'tiny' system on the roofs of houses all over UK is efficient? - Scaffolding, inverters, labour, accounting etc.

zeupater

Cardew wrote: »

..... Surely you cannot seriously suggest that thousands of 'tiny' system on the roofs of houses all over UK is efficient? - Scaffolding, inverters, labour, accounting etc.

Hi

..... Maybe inefficient in terms of installing generating capacity in pure cost terms, but it is more efficient at delivering energy to point of use .......

There's obviously a crossover point where the transmission losses over distance would be greater than the loss of generation incurred by locating generating plant in areas with lower average insolation but closer to point of use, but that opens up a very complex can of worms .... .

:eek:
Z

Cardew

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

..... Maybe inefficient in terms of installing generating capacity in pure cost terms, but it is more efficient at delivering energy to point of use .......

There's obviously a crossover point where the transmission losses over distance would be greater than the loss of generation incurred by locating generating plant in areas with lower average insolation but closer to point of use, but that opens up a very complex can of worms .... .

:eek:
Z

Mmmm.

The logic of that statement is we should all have our own generator for each house to reduce transmission losses;)

thenudeone

Cardew wrote: »

Mmmm.
The logic of that statement is we should all have our own generator for each house to reduce transmission losses;)

In a way - that is exactly what the solar PV support achieves, to a certain extent.

The difference between solar PV and other generating technologies is that the smallest domestic panel gives roughly the same energy per square metre as a panel on a large solar farm. Every other power generating technology is much less efficient on a small scale, which is why we have gas and electricity grids to make use of the highest efficiency production capacity.

N9eav

keith_r59 wrote: »

As I said, Feed in Tariffs will be reduced from April 2012 for new installations however small Solar PV systems installed up until then will attract the current rate of 43.3p index linked for 25 years.

Nothing I have seen coming from this Government indicates that this is likely to change therefore saying anything else is just pure speculation.

Like my pension which was guaranteed! Not

I had a quote from Solatricty. Looks like good equipment, but a 2kw system on a good day in a good generating area like Cornwall, could only produce enough to pay back the investment in about 14 years. Not sure that is good enough for me....

mickyduck

N9eav wrote: »

Like my pension which was guaranteed! Not

I had a quote from Solatricty. Looks like good equipment, but a 2kw system on a good day in a good generating area like Cornwall, could only produce enough to pay back the investment in about 14 years. Not sure that is good enough for me....

Solatricitys quote was double yes DOUBLE the quote I went with in the end. There were less expensive quotes than that as well.

bjohnson

keith_r59 wrote: »

As I said, Feed in Tariffs will be reduced from April 2012 for new installations however small Solar PV systems installed up until then will attract the current rate of 43.3p index linked for 25 years.

Nothing I have seen coming from this Government indicates that this is likely to change therefore saying anything else is just pure speculation.

And surely we have a contract, the FIT agreement, between ourselves and the relevant power company. The Government has nothing to do with it. Presumably if the power company renege on the contract we could sue them, although I must admit that the agreement is so long that it would take a bit of time to read it. There may well be a get-out clause. Also of course what happens if the power company goes broke? Anything could happen in 25 years.