Current PV panel prices

Cardew

ecofreaks wrote: »

3432 divide by 2 (50% Electricity Produced and used ) = 1716 x 13p = £223.08 (Assume paying 13p per kilo watt from supplier)

.

Of course the EST now say that 25% is a more realistic average figure for electricity produced and used.

Also 13p/kWh is way above what most people will pay for Tier 2 electricity.

13p/kWh is the figure taking the costs of both Tier1 and tier 2 prices for average consumption. Any savings should be costed at Tier 2 level which is around 10p

Gizmosmum_2

mark88man wrote: »

So my house (SE england) is aligned North South, with the roof facing east and west (have a large detached house). No shading. The east roof obviously get shine from sunrise and the west roof gets shine till dusk, in summer both rooves are sunlit between 10 and 6

The roof is 12m long and (I guess 4.5 metres) from gutter to rooftop. I also have a double garage (same alignment) which is 6m wide and about 7m from gutter to rooftop

Can you help with what power system I should be looking at (2.x or 3.99 or even higher), and whether the alignment will significantly reduce the output.

Thanks in advance for helping out a PV newbie

You're better have 2kwp on the East & West and tie it in with an inverter that has 2 trackers that way you'll get the benefit of the sun all day. When you talk to an installer if they can't do this you've got the wrong installer, we're looking at this option for our house that we rent out and we're expecting thereduction for E/W orientation to be around 75 - 80%. We're going bottom end of the market to compensate for the reduction but that may not be the right decision for you. National installers (salesmen) couldn't do this but the local guys do it all the time.

Freepost

ecofreaks wrote: »

3432kWh returns £65,000.00 NOT SURE IF THEY STUCK TO THE RULES OF REAL SCHEME THERE!!!


3432 x 43.3p = £1486.05 PA
3432 divide by 2 (50% exported) = 1716 x 3.1p = £53.19
3432 divide by 2 (50% Electricity Produced and used ) = 1716 x 13p = £223.08 (Assume paying 13p per kilo watt from supplier)

TOTAL earned & saved per year = £1762.32 per year

£1762.32 x 25 years = £44,058.00


NOT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT OF INFLATION & RASING FUEL COST.

I'm having a little difficulty with the maths and have had to get my old 'O' Level maths book out to look up compounded interest, but it seems to me that if the principle (£14500.00) was invested for 25 years at say 4.6% the amount available after the 25 years would be £44,633.41.

Unless I'm doing something wrong in my calculations, this doesn't seem to be the gravy train I thought it was. Especially when you take into consideration maintenance costs and the fact that the generated power is not a constant, lots and lots of variables. Also, part of the return is calculated on you using at least 50% of what the system generates which again is not a certainty and according to recent figures more like 25%.

I really wanted to install a PV system, I've looked at the figures for the last week or so and people telling me that I get at least a 12% return on my investment, sounded great but I'm not too sure now!

My maths isn't so good, so if somebody can show me where my figures or assumption are wrong, I'd be very grateful. Of course, I recognise that the investment at 4.6% would be subjected to taxation and I haven't included that in my calculations.

F.

zeupater

Freepost wrote: »

I'm having a little difficulty with the maths and have had to get my old 'O' Level maths book out to look up compounded interest, but it seems to me that if the principle (£14500.00) was invested for 25 years at say 4.6% the amount available after the 25 years would be £44,633.41.

Unless I'm doing something wrong in my calculations, this doesn't seem to be the gravy train I thought it was. Especially when you take into consideration maintenance costs and the fact that the generated power is not a constant, lots and lots of variables. Also, part of the return is calculated on you using at least 50% of what the system generates which again is not a certainty and according to recent figures more like 25%.

I really wanted to install a PV system, I've looked at the figures for the last week or so and people telling me that I get at least a 12% return on my investment, sounded great but I'm not too sure now!

My maths isn't so good, so if somebody can show me where my figures or assumption are wrong, I'd be very grateful. Of course, I recognise that the investment at 4.6% would be subjected to taxation and I haven't included that in my calculations.

F.

Hi

What's missing is the effect of the index linking of the FiT ... take a guess what inflation will average over the 25 years and compound the FiT income - it makes quite a difference. Then there's the saving on electricity, that needs compounding too in order to compare with money in the bank ....

HTH
Z

Cardew

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

What's missing is the effect of the index linking of the FiT ... take a guess what inflation will average over the 25 years and compound the FiT income - it makes quite a difference. Then there's the saving on electricity, that needs compounding too in order to compare with money in the bank ....

HTH
Z

Also any income received each year(from FIT, exported electricity and reductions on your electricity bill) has to be invested at the same rate(4.6% in the case above).

At some point this invested income will equal the sum that you would have from investing the capital instead of buying a PV system.

thenudeone

Nu-LightLED wrote: »

ALL of the solar PV market is way over priced, we manufacture a 2.2kw system with German inverter that is MCS approved and retail it for less that £8,000 trade (Fitted). Ex Vat.

The avearge price of this system in the UK is around £12,000.

My 3.995kW system installed 5 weeks ago was only £12,250, and I think Tesco's are now even cheaper, so £8k+VAT = £8.4k for a 2.2kW system seems over-priced to me.

Thanks to KevinG for spotting the VAT error (now corrected above . I must be cracking up. That's the second incorrect post I've made this week:eek:)

KevinG

thenudeone wrote: »

My 3.995kW system installed 5 weeks ago was only £12,250, and I think Tesco's are now even cheaper, so £8k+VAT = £9.6k for a 2.2kW system seems over-priced to me.

£8.4K - the VAT is charged at 5%.

hudson41

Not sure if I'm on the correct thread, but here goes anyway.

I'm lucky enough to have a south facing unshaded roof at about 40 deg angle. So I'm considering a 3 kWp array. But having had several estimates (proper quotes will come later when I invite some installers for a site visit.)

Even for the same 3kWp system prices vary from £11,000 to £15,000.'s a realistic price? I'm confused as I don't know which bits to go for. Mono- or polycrystalline? What panels are best, from UK, Germany or Far East? Which inverters are good ones? Is it worth extending the warranty on them? How long should the labour warranty be? (Benn quoted for 2 to 10 years !) Is it better to go with a bigger firm or a small family one?

If there's anyone out there who's been through this decision making process, do you have any hints for me?

Regards,
Hudson41

zeupater

hudson41 wrote: »

Not sure if I'm on the correct thread, but here goes anyway.

I'm lucky enough to have a south facing unshaded roof at about 40 deg angle. So I'm considering a 3 kWp array. But having had several estimates (proper quotes will come later when I invite some installers for a site visit.)

Even for the same 3kWp system prices vary from £11,000 to £15,000.'s a realistic price? I'm confused as I don't know which bits to go for. Mono- or polycrystalline? What panels are best, from UK, Germany or Far East? Which inverters are good ones? Is it worth extending the warranty on them? How long should the labour warranty be? (Benn quoted for 2 to 10 years !) Is it better to go with a bigger firm or a small family one?

If there's anyone out there who's been through this decision making process, do you have any hints for me?

Regards,
Hudson41

Hi

Welcome to the forum ....

My thoughts .....

Mono, Makes with a reputation to defend, SMA/Fronius, No, 5 years minimum, Depends on how 'standard' your specific system requirements are but look for an installer with a local presence .....

Realistic price for a 4kWp system is usually between £12k to £13.5k, depending on specification and site specific requirements ....

HTH
Z

Gizmosmum_2

hudson41 wrote: »

Not sure if I'm on the correct thread, but here goes anyway.

I'm lucky enough to have a south facing unshaded roof at about 40 deg angle. So I'm considering a 3 kWp array. But having had several estimates (proper quotes will come later when I invite some installers for a site visit.)

Even for the same 3kWp system prices vary from £11,000 to £15,000.'s a realistic price? I'm confused as I don't know which bits to go for. Mono- or polycrystalline? What panels are best, from UK, Germany or Far East? Which inverters are good ones? Is it worth extending the warranty on them? How long should the labour warranty be? (Benn quoted for 2 to 10 years !) Is it better to go with a bigger firm or a small family one?

If there's anyone out there who's been through this decision making process, do you have any hints for me?

Regards,
Hudson41

My Mum's just got her system in, she went for the fronius inverter with a 20 yr warranty - they've got a special on at the minute ( nothing when I did mine!) cost an extra £200 but she thought it was worth it to know it was convered for 20 years.

Suntech panels, they were better than the Sharp ones that we had installed - although I have to say I'm still delighted with ours and she paid £12,500 for 4kwp (inlcuding the extended warranty). She went local, the same as we did but did have to wait 6 weeks because the installer was booked up so far in advance with jobs from firend/relations of previous customers. She could have gone for Sanyo panels which were loads more expensive but she didn't really think it was worth the extra.