Solar Panel Guide Discussion

mdolan

I'll happily recommend the people who installed mine. PM for more details, but you can see the performance of my array in the link above. Cost was roughly £12k for 16x235 panels.

I have zero connection to the company apart from being a satisfied customer.

Cheers,
Mike

mpn226

oxters wrote: »

Many thanks Fred. I may pm you in a couple of days. I was not too impressed with my salesman (sorry Area Sales Manager) tonight but I don't really like salesmen anyway. The Company was Solar Energy Savings but the installers are PV Solar UK. Anyone know anything about either? Must do some Googling.
That's the last page but they all make interesting reading

Getting some figures tomorrow.

Can you please tell me Fred, what did your system cost to instal?

hi just had a quote for another 16 panel system 12K am adding to what ive got.:cool:

oxters

I've just had my quote from Solar Energy Savings/PVSolarUK
For a 6 panel 1.47kw output the quote is £19,800 (reduced through a "Be Green" scheme - only 25 schemes available for this area? to £13,800 + 2 free panels)
For a 10 panel system (2.45kw output) quote is £23,582 (Be Green reduction to £16,677)

I think that is expensive compared to MPN226 above. Anyone wish to comment?

The quoted savings (hand written on a sheet of paper) on the 6 panel system are £636 + £191 bill reduction in 1st year

The quoted savings on the 10 panel system are £1060 + £318

Over 25 years the projected quotes are £21,802 + £6565 for the 1.47 and £36437 + £10931 for the two systems. Allegedly the probability is that more energy would be produced but figures must be based on a lower figure?

Hmmmm. More research and another quote or two called for I think.

Sharp Panels and Energy 1 or Power 1 ? Inverter (No moving parts - no fan needed to cool. Should not require replacement?) Using the large (240? I think) panels.

I'd be interested to hear opinions on above figures. Thank you.

keith_r59

oxters wrote: »

I've just had my quote from Solar Energy Savings/PVSolarUK
For a 6 panel 1.47kw output the quote is £19,800 (reduced through a "Be Green" scheme - only 25 schemes available for this area? to £13,800 + 2 free panels)
For a 10 panel system (2.45kw output) quote is £23,582 (Be Green reduction to £16,677)

I think that is expensive compared to MPN226 above. Anyone wish to comment?

The quoted savings (hand written on a sheet of paper) on the 6 panel system are £636 + £191 bill reduction in 1st year

The quoted savings on the 10 panel system are £1060 + £318

Over 25 years the projected quotes are £21,802 + £6565 for the 1.47 and £36437 + £10931 for the two systems. Allegedly the probability is that more energy would be produced but figures must be based on a lower figure?

Hmmmm. More research and another quote or two called for I think.

Sharp Panels and Energy 1 or Power 1 ? Inverter (No moving parts - no fan needed to cool. Should not require replacement?) Using the large (240? I think) panels.

I'd be interested to hear opinions on above figures. Thank you.

They are ridiculously overpriced!

digitaltoast

oxters wrote: »

I've just had my quote from Solar Energy Savings/PVSolarUK
For a 6 panel 1.47kw output the quote is £19,800 (reduced through a "Be Green" scheme - only 25 schemes available for this area? to £13,800 + 2 free panels)

Sales pitch carrot. Unless he actually mentioned which scheme this was?

oxters wrote: »

For a 10 panel system (2.45kw output) quote is £23,582 (Be Green reduction to £16,677)

I think that is expensive compared to MPN226 above. Anyone wish to comment?

The quoted savings (hand written on a sheet of paper) on the 6 panel system are £636 + £191 bill reduction in 1st year

The quoted savings on the 10 panel system are £1060 + £318

OK, I'm not so much interested in the figures, as how they are arrived at. What's your current electricity bill and what tariff are you on? Are you at home all day? What questions did he ask you to arrive at these assumptions?

How is he arriving at the figure of £191 savings in the first year, when this article points out that you're likely to be doing well if you can save £70 a year.

oxters wrote: »

Sharp Panels and Energy 1 or Power 1 ? Inverter (No moving parts - no fan needed to cool. Should not require replacement?)

Is that what they told you?
http://solarcost.org/solar-inverter.html

Depending on its type, the lifespan of a solar inverter may vary from 5 years to 15 years. Consult with the solar company you are dealing with in case you are in doubt. While home solar system are said to have a long lifespan people sometimes forget that the only one part of the solar kits that may reach 20 more years lifespan is the photovoltaic panels.

oxters wrote: »

I'd be interested to hear opinions on above figures. More research and another quote or two called for I think.

Many more quotes - at least 4 or 5! What's MOST important is that you fully understand your current usage, the FiTs in depth (read this thread/forum/the guide here), and the basics of electricity.
You need to be able to plug ALL your figures into a spreadsheet and make it work out for you. You need to be able to understand the difference between and kilowatt and a kilowatt hour. You need to know how much your appliances use to properly calculate savings. For example, I've heard of someone being told they can save "£10 a week" on their washing machine bills. A washing machine cycle is between 8 and 16p. In order to save £10 a week someone would need to be doing 83 loads of washing a week, and ONLY when the sun was shining (no better time to do washing though!).

oxters

Many thanks Digital Toast for your detailed comment. I did give some figures for electricity consumption over a year (and also gas - although I can't think why that would be relevant?)
I am pretty sure the "Be Green" scheme is a sales pitch/carrot to encourage a quick sign up.

I am on EDF Energy Fixed Price 2015 tariff 900KWH -PA @21.71p (Band A) and 11.96p Band B

Last year I consumed Electricity 5424 KWH
And Gas 21438 KWH (If that is of any relevance?)
According to my most recent bill.

Annual Statement for period: 11/07/2011 - 16/07/2012

Last 12 months
Consumption^
Next 12 months
value^^

Gas 21,438 kWh £793.77

Electricity 5,424 kWh £701.59

Discounts - includes £89.73 Direct Debit discount £97.75 cr

VAT £69.88

Total 26,862 kWh £1,467.49

Doc_N

keith_r59 wrote: »

They are ridiculously overpriced!

Absolutely - by thousands!

mdolan

Just remember that the majority of the return is actually from the FIT payments (approx 43p per unit generated by the Solar PV). The electrical saving is much lower - 1.5p per unit exported to the grid (which is equivalent to the 3p/50% deemed export).

As an aside, I have a perfect advert which shows how companies are taking the mickey. Sidey advert claims that over 25 years a 4kWh system can earn you £81,604.00.

Exaggerated claims like that should be shot down and gives the decent companies (and Solar PV) a very bad name.

Cheers,
Mike

Cardew

digitaltoast wrote: »

A washing machine cycle is between 8 and 16p.

Nice post!

My only reservation is the washing machine costs are a little on the high side IMO. On my old machine virtually all the washing cycles are 0.4kWh or 0.6kWh - so 4p or 6p.

The other point is that the consumption during the washing cycle is far from linear. The majority of the consumption is a short burst to heat the water. The heater is usually 3kW which even the biggest PV systems will rarely achieve. This means that in most situations, although the overall consumption is not high, solar PV will not cover that consumption much of the time.

The same is true of a dishwasher.

digitaltoast

oxters wrote: »

Last year I consumed Electricity 5424 KWH
And Gas 21438 KWH (If that is of any relevance?)
Total 26,862 kWh £1,467.49

Hmm, I did wonder if you were on the wrong plan, that's quite a high "first units" rate, but I can't actually find a better "fixed" plan.
But I can't see how you can possibly save £191 on that electricity spend using solar PV!

Cardew wrote: »

My only reservation is the washing machine costs are a little on the high side IMO. On my old machine virtually all the washing cycles are 0.4kWh or 0.6kWh - so 4p or 6p.

The other point is that the consumption during the washing cycle is far from linear. The majority of the consumption is a short burst to heat the water. The heater is usually 3kW which even the biggest PV systems will rarely achieve. This means that in most situations, although the overall consumption is not high, solar PV will not cover that consumption much of the time.

The same is true of a dishwasher.

Yes, good point. And in fact, I was thinking of dishwasher, not washing machine! Even at 12p, for all the faff of making sure you only run it when the sun shines, AND making sure it's shining during the heating cycle, is it all worth it as far as the electricity savings go?