Solar Panel Guide Discussion

John_Pierpoint

When did you get the planning permission passed?

Sounds like you have managed to avoid "The Merton Principle"???

However it cannot be self-installed and get the FIT. In August the level of subsidy drops.

Someone on "Homes under the Hammer" was boasting that instead of paying say £7K they had managed to fit solar-PV on the new house they built on the plot they had bought. They got it "certified" via the old pals network; I think?? Strictly illegal of course. The spark certifying the other persons work was taking a risk.

I could come round and fit a standard 3.6 kW (I understand that the regulations are a little different for the larger sizes.) having watched a "qualified person" installing mine and making a mistake. It really isn't rocket science.

What does it require to get issue 17 of the wiring regulations wrong?
Two and a half electricians and a salesman!

New build gets a lower FiT than retrofit (pun intended) - this thread is mainly about retrofit as "self build" is comparatively rare in the UK.

EricMears

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

New build gets a lower FiT than retrofit (pun intended) - this thread is mainly about retrofit as "self build" is comparatively rare in the UK.

Not that rare - ours was a self build.

However, solar panels weren't viable when we started building (payback period would have been something like four hundred years !) although for sound environmental reasons we made sure that we had a large area of roof facing true South. Our solar panels were retro-fitted last year.

If you can delay fitting SPs until build completion, you might get a better FIT rate - although rate might fall whilst waiting. Otherwise, it's worth considering solar tiles rather than conventional tiles plus solar panels above them.

lostunsunghero

Hi,

So ive been nocked back by pretty much every "free solar panel" company, citing too small a roof size. I dont know how they came to this conclusion because on the websites they stated minimums of between 19-26m^2. I calculated my roof size to be at least 31.4m^2.

I've given up on this route and im now looking to buy, and fairly quickly before the govnt drop their rate next month. The other month i was reading the mirror and there was an ad that said they would offer "2 years interest free" on solar panel installations. However i cant for the life of me remember the name of the company.

I was hoping maybe someone here came across it, or if not, are there other companies that offer interest free or low interest (im looking at a max of about 4% interest i can afford on a £10000 system).

Thanks

Martyn1981

lostunsunghero wrote: »

Hi,

So ive been nocked back by pretty much every "free solar panel" company, citing too small a roof size. I dont know how they came to this conclusion because on the websites they stated minimums of between 19-26m^2. I calculated my roof size to be at least 31.4m^2.

I've given up on this route and im now looking to buy, and fairly quickly before the govnt drop their rate next month. The other month i was reading the mirror and there was an ad that said they would offer "2 years interest free" on solar panel installations. However i cant for the life of me remember the name of the company.

I was hoping maybe someone here came across it, or if not, are there other companies that offer interest free or low interest (im looking at a max of about 4% interest i can afford on a £10000 system).

Thanks

Going through each bit quickly.

Free panels, last resort, read these threads for all the possible downsides.

Roof size, for a 4kWp system (the max sensibly) you'd need approx room for 16 panels at about 1.7m by 1m each so 16 times 1.7m2 = 27m2.

Will depend on your roof shape and how they can be fitted, there are also other sizes available. Remember to deduct approx 200 to 300mm from all 4 sides of your roof (wind lift, safe attachment, planning rules etc).

No idea about interest free, but make sure that the price isn't higher to make up for it.

Current prices, probably £8k or lower now. Try some recent threads for discussions on prices and actual quotes:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3972049

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3971497

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3970761

Loads of people here that can give advice and thoughts on prices etc. Bit of crowd thinking!

General advice on PV here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3872445

Best of luck.

Mart.

EricMears

lostunsunghero wrote: »

are there other companies that offer interest free or low interest (im looking at a max of about 4% interest i can afford on a £10000 system).

Thanks

If you haven't got a spare 7 or 8 grand tucked away in your piggy bank, by far the best way of borrowing it would be to ask mortgage company for an 'additional advance'.

lostunsunghero

Thanks for the replies guys.

Unfortunatley i dont have enough money lying around to be able to put it into green energy which is why i was looking into the free option. While i know i would be better off buying my own system in the long run, i simply cant afford it.

I will check out the links you provided and hopefully get something sorted early next week.

lostunsunghero

EricMears wrote: »

If you haven't got a spare 7 or 8 grand tucked away in your piggy bank, by far the best way of borrowing it would be to ask mortgage company for an 'additional advance'.

Ah really good advice, i just checked out what the interest rate on a mortgage advance would be from my current provider (halifax) and they offer 4.5% on a loan worth 5k-7.5k which is brilliant. I cant see a problem with them lending me the money either because i always keep up payments and have been a customer with them for over 20 years.

What sort of installation can i expect from £7500? i was hoping to get a 4kW system.

Martyn1981

lostunsunghero wrote: »

What sort of installation can i expect from £7500? i was hoping to get a 4kW system.

Gonna stick my neck out a bit here, and say that you'll probably find most or all quotes (unless they are silly salesmen) for a 4kWp system will come inside that £7.5k target now.

Things seem to have been happening over the last month, maybe business is just too tight now for companies to quote higher and hope the customer doesn't just buy from elsewhere.

Reading some of the recent posts, you'll see a simple way to haggle without having to try too hard, is simply to say that you've had a better offer from company B.

Next tariff rate drop is 1st August, so no need to rush at all, but probably not wise to dither either.

Just a thought, any idea what the EPC rating for your property is, since you'll need to achieve a D (including PV) to get the 21p rate?

Mart.

Martyn1981

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I think the rate goes down again in about 5 weeks time? (July the something or other?)
The procedure is slightly more complex for a 4kW system than for a 3.6kW system. So probably better to meet the deadline with 3.6 rather than try to cram a 4.0 system on your roof?

John, hopefully any installer worth their salt, will have good links with their DNO by now. Also the DNO staff should have a better understanding too, so as long as the inverter is G83/1 compliant limiting output to 16A (or some now, limiting to an actual 3,680W regardless of grid voltage), then permission for upto 4kWp should be simple - famous last words!

Mart.

zeupater

Cardew wrote: »

... but the savings if you have gas a very small - and mostly in summer.

.... but the savings in summer can be better than many calculate because an averaged gas cost of ~3p-4p/kWh is usually used, whereas the majority of summer usage will be at tier1 pricing which would more likely be somewhere around ~9p-10p/kWh which makes a substantial difference ... also, a well specified system will provide the majority (/almost all) of hot water requirements for spring & autumn too, also providing a little benefit throughout the winter as long as there's the odd 'bright' day ....

HTH
Z