Solar Panel Guide Discussion

rondurrans

Help with MSc Thesis please……..
I am a mature student - 46 years old - and I am currently studying for MSc Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies run through the Centre for Alternative Technology.
I have nearly concluded discussions with my tutor RE: Thesis and agreed that it will be related to incentives associated with micro-generation and more specifically the Feed in Tariff (FiT) introduced in April 2010. It was also agreed in order to keep the dissertation manageable I should focus in on one of the technologies and therefore photovoltaic (PV) was chosen.
The main hypothesis/suggestion is related to the amount of return on investment (ROI) small investors like me are gaining in the first year of installation – for example July 16th 2010 to July 15th 2011 = 3,511 kWh and an approximate return of £1,750/£15,500 = 11.3% (reduction required for whole life costs such as replacing the inverter ‘say’ every 10 years).
To ensure this study is factual and robust I am hoping to find likeminded people to supply me with their 12-month ROI (confidentially) to ensure I can build up an accurate primary data sample based on ‘actual’ generation details and installation cost and not just assumed cost of installation with forecast generation.
If you have a PV installation that is 12-months old or will be by the 31st March 2012 I would really appreciate your help with this study.
Information required:-
1. Size of system and installation cost
2. 12-months generation please

Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Ron Durrans
[EMAIL="rondurrans@aol.com"]rondurrans@aol.com[/EMAIL]

ll123_2

any landlords in this discussion who use pv solar panels?
interested to hear what you guys have to say?
does it work? what do your tenants think of it??

KevinG

mickyduck wrote: »

Similar experience also with Aviva told it would be treated as part of the fabric of the building for insurance purposes therefore covered by existing buildings insurance (I have my own panels not rent a roof) . No change to my premium so happy :j

My policy (LV) specifically lists Solar Panels as being included, so I have felt no need to tell them about it.

Hungerdunger

KevinG wrote: »

My policy (LV) specifically lists Solar Panels as being included, so I have felt no need to tell them about it.

But just bear in mind that your property is currently insured for £n thousand pounds. If you have installed solar panels with a value of £10k, then you should think about increasing the sum insured to £n thousand + £10k or there's a risk you won't be fully covered.

zeupater

Hungerdunger wrote: »

But just bear in mind that your property is currently insured for £n thousand pounds. If you have installed solar panels with a value of £10k, then you should think about increasing the sum insured to £n thousand + £10k or there's a risk you won't be fully covered.

Exactly ..... Our insurers increased the insured value by the cost of the panels and I have raised this before ..... if you are underinsured by the value of your panels then your panels and probably everything else which you think are insured are only partially insured and any claim will be scaled back.

If £15k worth of pv sat on a property rebuild already tightly valued at £100k it would make quite a difference on what would be paid out ... however if the £15k was on a generously valued £500k property it probably wouldn't. Anyone who doesn't take this concept onboard and isn't already considerably overinsured is really just kidding themselves about their panels being insured, as they also are for the whole of their property .... :eek:

HTH
Z

KevinG

Hungerdunger wrote: »

But just bear in mind that your property is currently insured for £n thousand pounds. If you have installed solar panels with a value of £10k, then you should think about increasing the sum insured to £n thousand + £10k or there's a risk you won't be fully covered.

It's OK, buildings cover is £1,000,000 as standard, so not a problem, but needs to be checked, as you say.

wasifali79

Has anyone had any dealings with PV Solar UK ltd based in Scotland and if so what were your experiences?

Doc_N

KevinG wrote: »

It's OK, buildings cover is £1,000,000 as standard, so not a problem, but needs to be checked, as you say.

It may be standard with LV, but it's not with many policies. It depends whether your policy is rated on the number of bedrooms (LV) or a sum insured based on the estimated rebuilding cost.

As you say, it needs to be checked.

Caerhendy

Hello, I am thinking of having a solar PV system installed and I have a few questions for you boffins out there before I get some quotes. My roof faces directly South at about 35⁰ slope and I think there is an area of 18m² with zero shading.
1. Is this large enough to be worth pursuing?
2. When I get my quotes will the kWp figure for the system normally take into account the losses due to Temperature, Angular Reflectance, Cable, Inverter etc?
3. Panel manufacturers give a guarantee of 80% after 25 years so is the drop in performance linear over that period?
4. If the system is producing 2kW output I assume anything running up to that load will be supplied by it. What happens if total power demand exceeds the output from the system? Is the demand shared or does the Inverter shut down? Or?

Thanks for any advice,
Rob

TrickyDicky101

1. Yes - many panels are in the region of 1.7m tall by 1m wide which would suggest you can fit 10 of these panels. At say 250 kWP this would suggest a possible max of 2.5kWP. Not a massive system but still worth it. Certain panels eg Sanyos are significantly smaller and you may be able to fit more of these and thus have a bigger total kWP. The flip side is Sanyos are the most expensive panels (aka the Rolls Royce of the solar market). Depends on other factors ie roof obstructions and proximity to roof edging too.

2. You will get a quote based on the SAP methodology which takes into account at least some of those factors.

3. no idea

4. The solar array will meet your requirements up to whatever its generational capabilities are. Beyond this the grid will provide the balance. I believe the frequency of the solar array electricity is slightly higher than the grid to ensure it is used preferentially (I've read this somewhere and I'm not an electrician so I may have got the details wrong but this should be what happens).