Solar Panel Guide Discussion

grumpyoldsteve

Sam_Lewis wrote: »

Firstly for the 2 and 3 KWp systems 50% usage of the amount generated would be a fair assumption because these systems are obviously producing less as a whole. A 4kw system produces around 3300 kwh/ a year and if we assume that the average household uses around half of its electricity during the daytime then again assuming 50% usage of the amount generated would not be unfair. With regards to a 10 kw system these are few and far between and you would have to have a huge electric bill to achieve 50% saving anyway but obviously the feed in tariff payments would be substantially higher anyway.

I guess the only way that meaningful figures can be quoted for a system is to take into account the householders consumption for say a year, as well as all the factors about location and orientation etc. I wonder how many companies do actually ask about consumption before producing the figures for a prospective customer - ours didn't!
At the 43.3p FIT rate where the FIT is the big earner then I suppose it wasn't that important, so a meaningless average figure for savings on your bill would do. I guess when the FiT dropped to 21p then the savings on your bill is a bigger part of the total benefit so companies need to be more specific when producing a quote for a customer, but even then it will be difficult because how do you know how the householder will use that available power effectively, and their behaviour will no doubt change once they start generating their own power, ours has, and we are much more conscious of our consumption and have changed habits accordingly!

We have a 2.45 kWp system on a South facing roof and we are/were fairly heavy consumers using about 20 units a day (averaged over several years). The system was commissioned on the 21st Sept and the first 30 days saw our consumption drop 40% over that period. Since then we are steady at around 25% reduction in consumption averaged since commissioning and now at the shortest day of the year. It will be interesting to see how much more than the 40% savings seen in September we can achieve during the Spring and Summer and what that will average out to over the year.

http://powerfromsolarpv.blogspot.com/2011/12/first-quarter-stats.html

Perhaps if more people who already have systems start publishing the actual savings/generation figures for their system size then prospective solar converts can make a more informed decision without relying on the word of the salesmen and recognize when the exaggerations start to creep into the sales pitch.
Having said all that, our system is doing better than what the salesman said it would do, and at the time he told me that their estimates were deliberately conservative so that customers would be impressed and hopefully pass on recommendations. It will be interesting to see if they stay in business after the FiT cuts to reap the benefits of customer recommendations into the future.

John_Pierpoint

KevinG wrote: »

Wow. Total UK capacity more than doubled in just 6 weeks.

http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/decc_reveal_deadline_week_figures_2356/

812 registered in the week after 12 December.
I am finding it difficult to believe the figures for the week ending 11 December:
29,937 installations ?!?

Errata

My HA plan to instal PV panels to my property in January. They tell me they will benefit from the power suppliers tariff and so will I. As I'm not paying for the installation it really doesn't matter to me if I benefit from lower power bills or not. But it seems odd that they've told me any power I use during the day will be free.
Any thoughts?

furndire

Any power you produce you are able to use (which at this time of year is negligible) will be free, but not all the power you use during the day will be free.

Elainemary

Hello everyone.
This is to thank you for your help over the past few months.
I'd like to wish you all a VERY Happy Xmas and an even better New
Year. Have a wonderful time.:beer:

theonlytazman

Sorry 1st time poster (regular newsletter reader though) have had some panels fitted to our house plus my cousin got his done too & my friend. I recommended them all to the same company & negotiated a price to get the work done together to keep costs down for all of us. We are based in Slough (yes that neck of the woods) in berkshire (SE region) We were promised SMA inverters, Luxor 250w panels what we were fitted were 245w Suntech's & either Kaco or SMA inverters. Install completion was just before the 11th dec 2011 deadline Panels fitted & locations etc... Hse 1: Split roof. Kaco inverter. 10 panels South 6 panels west Hse 2: SMA inverter. 9 panels South Hse 3: SMA inverter. 7 panels west Hse 1 is averaging about 1kwh a day at the moment (current reading 34.38kwh) Hse 2 is averaging about 1khw a day at the moment (current reading 5.69kwh only switched on 22/12/11 - as the solar power company switched off after install as hadn't paid all monies yet) Hse 3 is averaging less than 0.5khw a day at the moment (current reading 1.9kwh only switched on 22/12/11 - as the solar power company switched off after install as hadn't paid all monies yet) The solar power company are saying this is normal and in-fact we're generating WAY more than we should be at this time of year these figures will quadruple if not more over spring/summer and we should all be getting the 1000's of KWH's we were promised. Hse 1 - they stated we should be getting 5kwh based upon the numbers generated so-far Hse 2 - again they feel should be getting over 3kwh Hse 3 - they feel should be over 1.5kwh each year What i'd like to know is this normal getting 1 kwh per day over this period. And is it even feasible we will get what we were all promised in terms of numbers. Also what recourse do we have after paying them the final installment Sorry to throw this out there but i don't know where else to turn. I need some guidance & help as i feel that the company we've used has cost us all a lot of money & we won't even be able to pay back our loans with the monies we'd all be getting via the FIT's. Final payment must be made this week so if anyone has any advice please please let me know, thanks again for you time!

furndire

You don't generate very much at this time of year. Sometimes nothing - I am further north than you.
If you have a look on this site at system No 4 details (its the nearest to you) you will get an idea of what some others are getting.
http://www.uksolarcasestudy.co.uk/income In my first year of having panels June 2010- June 2011, I got around £1400 back in FiT payments on 3.98 kw system.
As to the ethics of having had different inverters and panels there will be someone on shortly to comment, but look on the bright side, at least you got your system installed to get the full fit payment.
No doubt the installers were desparate to get your panels up & running before the cut off date of 12/12
A lot depends on what size system you have, & what they have actually stated you should get.

I am finding your post quite difficult to read, can you split it up into paragraphs a bit - no offence meant.

KevinG

theonlytazman wrote: »

Hse 3 is averaging less than 0.5khw a day at the moment (current reading 1.9kwh only switched on 22/12/11 - as the solar power company switched off after install as hadn't paid all monies yet) The solar power company are saying this is normal and in-fact we're generating WAY more than we should be at this time of year these figures will quadruple if not more over spring/summer

It really does depend on how much sunshine you get. 22nd December was nice and sunny round here and 24th was fairly good, so I got a few kWh, but on cloudy days you will indeed get just a few hundred watt hours at this time of year if you are lucky. It should much more than quadruple in the summer.

mickyduck

Highest in a day 7.62 kWh lowest 0.49kWh in Farnham so not far away.... if its dull and dark nothing if sunny and bright its OK..... Obvious?

Blossom2528

So is it still worth investing now, or should we wait a little longer to see what happens with prices? Only wondering generally at the moment. I guess that's not much to go on.