Solar Panel Guide Discussion

Sirlaughalot

Hi everyone! Had a free service say that our property was not suitable for solar panels without any kind of inspection, even though a similar property metres away has them fitted.
Less than a week later a paid for sp installation company came out and said our property was ok and the cost would be around £7000.
Can anyone explain the reasons behind the two different outcomes?

zeupater

Sirlaughalot wrote: »

Hi everyone! Had a free service say that our property was not suitable for solar panels without any kind of inspection, even though a similar property metres away has them fitted.
Less than a week later a paid for sp installation company came out and said our property was ok and the cost would be around £7000.
Can anyone explain the reasons behind the two different outcomes?

Hi

I'd guess that your roof orientation is not optimal or has some shading issues and therefore doesn't comply with the RaR company's requirement to maximise return on investment so they'll be investing on an alternative roof elsewhere, whereas a system paid for by yourself may not be subject to such a strict optimisation requirement seeing that it's the only roof you have ....

Just a guess ...

HTH
Z

John_Pierpoint

Post up two pictures.

One showing what your roof sees looking due south from gutter level.
The other showing the roof looking due north from as far away as you can get, without obstructions blocking the view.

Then we could make a few comments.

John

PS the sun is due south at 13:00 at this time of year, you could draw the line of the shadow on the window sill and let us know the number of degrees off due south, if you need to get technical.

Here is an example from another thread - note chimney and particularly the tree
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4Bd...JRQ0V1bFU/edit
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4Bd...it?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4B...WdEQzhKOEFSQW8

There are companies such as "Solar Edge" which can minimise the effects of shading, but they are more expensive.

what_the_...._2

Hi,
Has anyone any experience of conergy pv solar panels and Hyundai solar panels, the reason I ask is that there is a two grand difference in price, the salesman for the conergy ones said they will generate 3400kwh and not to touch Chinese or Korean ones because the EU will come back looking for import tax, can this be right ?. the chap selling the Hyundai ones said no panels in our area will generate more than 3100kwh maybe 3200kwh on a good year. what do you guys and gals think ?.( area is southern Scotland)

Martyn1981

what_the_.... wrote: »

Hi,
Has anyone any experience of conergy pv solar panels and Hyundai solar panels, the reason I ask is that there is a two grand difference in price, the salesman for the conergy ones said they will generate 3400kwh and not to touch Chinese or Korean ones because the EU will come back looking for import tax, can this be right ?

Hiya WT - no it's not right, but like all the best stories it is based around 1% fact. The EU has decided to go to war with China over PV dumping (selling at, or below cost). They have just introduced a 11.8% import tax, which will rise to 47% in August. Ouch!

The 'come looking for' bit is based on a clever move by the EU back in March, where before they settled on the 11.8%, they threatened to apply 'the as yet undecided tax rate' retrospectively to sales from March onwards. Only the importer would be expected to pay, so either they charged an unknown extra to the retailer/installer just in case, or they swallowed the loss as and when and if, it happened. Since the rate was expected to be 30%+ they simply stopped importing. Quite a clever/sneaky move by the EU, as they effectively stopped imports without actually applying any tax at that time.

So if you get a quote from an installer, that should be the price you'll have to pay, since the duty is now in force and any price will have to include it (well ..... the quote will encompass the panels, which will cost the installer x£'s).

Regarding Conergy panels, not sure if this will answer your questions, but there was a recent thread mentioning them:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4293951

what_the_.... wrote: »

Hi,
the chap selling the Hyundai ones said no panels in our area will generate more than 3100kwh maybe 3200kwh on a good year. what do you guys and gals think ?.( area is southern Scotland)

This will depend on several factors including roof orientation, shading and to a lesser degree roof pitch (and assuming a 4kWp install size). But the main issue is your exact location. 3,100 doesn't sound unreasonable especially if your roof is not 'ideal'.

For instance I've just tried some test locations in S Scotland and for a 4kWp install, south facing, 35d roof pitch got mixed results:
Dumfries - 3,572kWh pa
Langholm - 3,328
further north Glasgow - 3,344
Dunfermline - 3,664
so it varies. In fact exact position is very important, as I also got 3,368 and 3,700 sticking pins around Dunfermline, so zero right on down to your street if possible.

You can try yourself by using the site and instructions detailed here in post 1 section 5:

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

If you have any problems let me know, and I'll help out.

Mart.

what_the_...._2

Thanks for that reply Martyn1981, very well explained.

orrery

what_the_.... wrote: »

Hi,
Has anyone any experience of conergy pv solar panels and Hyundai solar panels...

Hyundai - yes. I've had them 18 months. Fine. I figured that they know what they are doing, being as they make computer chips to ships, and most things in between.

Sirlaughalot

Hi all,

I have just spent some time on the energy saving trust website and got figures of £9500 earnings from an investment of £7050 over the life time of the panels. We are located in the West Midlands with a 30% pitch and west facing roof. Having surveyed our local estate the take up rate for solar panels i would say is 3 on well over 500 houses.
Am i missing something as i cant see how under any circumstances this venture makes any kind of financial sense at all!

EricMears

Sirlaughalot wrote: »

Am i missing something as i cant see how under any circumstances this venture makes any kind of financial sense at all!

Scheme isn't perhaps quite as attractive as it would have been a couple of years ago.

However it is still considered worthwhile by most. Have you factored in the inevitable rise in cost of the electricity you'd otherwise have to buy and of course the inflation linking of FIT payments ?

Sirlaughalot

EricMears wrote: »

Scheme isn't perhaps quite as attractive as it would have been a couple of years ago.

However it is still considered worthwhile by most. Have you factored in the inevitable rise in cost of the electricity you'd otherwise have to buy and of course the inflation linking of FIT payments ?

Thanks Eric,

These are the figures quoted by the energy saving trust on their website so i think some kind of inflation index must be factored in.
£7000 over 25 years in a basic fixed rate savings (3%) account returns well over £12500 that`s after tax.