Solar panels - Deborah Meaden

anselld

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Yes BUT you must be clear about your assumptions. .... By the end of 25 years the panels are starting to look like a rational investment, without the FiT.

Yes, that is why I said it depends on assumptions, but a very wide range of RPI and energy cost assumptions will still lead you to conclude it is a good investment over 25 years. (in fact 15% IRR is conservative).

The main assumption is that government will not renage on the FIT contract (though it is actually a contract with the electricity company). Without the FIT it would be a barking-mad investment even over 25years.

John_Pierpoint

I agree it is a barking mad investment for us as a country at the moment BUT our government has signed up to de carbonising our grid and our economy within 25 years so we are all being taxed to do it. In 25 years time panels may well be able to stand on their own feet financially without the subsidy - perhaps technological investment can out run the pressures of global climate change and rising population.:eek::eek:

This topic has been thrashed to death:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3325628
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2244389

Baalmaiden

Well, I am going for it. Having done the figures it should be an excellent investment for us. If you get your panels installed before April 2012 you get paid 43p for every KWH (unit) you produce guaranteed for 25 years and linked to RPI. IN ADDITION any of those units you use in your home are free electric, and 50% of what you produced is assumed to be exported and you get 3p per unit for those - yes you are being paid twice! It depends on which panels you go for, some are more expensive but more efficient, but my quotes (and my own calcs) give a payback time of 8 to 9 years. The panels are guaranteed for 25 years and the inverter for 10 (so you may have to get a new one of them for at most £1000. After that what you produce is pure income. My house is SSE facing in Cornwall.
I am waiting for my fourth survey/quote on monday. By the way - Unlike in the article I was not impressed with Evo energy. Local installers were much better - they actually came to my house first off.
I am planning to monitor my electric production and post the figures on the web when all is up and running.
I am not connected to the industry so have no axe to grind but my sister had panels put in when the government was giving grants out and they are delighted with their panels.

ChiefGrasscutter

Current typical price of a grid tie inverter for a 3.5KW system is around £1700 to £2500 inc the VAT ex works.

anselld

Baalmaiden wrote: »

IN ADDITION any of those units you use in your home are free electric

All of those units if you have an old-style meter which can ... ahem ... run backwards.

Hungerdunger

anselld wrote: »

All of those units if you have an old-style meter which can ... ahem ... run backwards.

As someone who is waiting for their panels to be installed, I've heard different things about this. One person told me that the wheel runs backwards, but not the numbers in the display; someone else told me that the numbers run backwards as well - can you clarify?

If the latter is true, then as we are planning a 9 kW installation, presumable most of the electricity we use at night will be "credited" the next day as the system produces more electricity than we consume.

jimjames

Baalmaiden wrote: »

IN ADDITION any of those units you use in your home are free electric, and 50% of what you produced is assumed to be exported and you get 3p per unit for those - yes you are being paid twice!

I'm also looking at getting panels installed before April.
I think you need to check the figures again. As far as I am aware you only get paid for the actual electricity exported, the 50% is purely an illustration not the set amount. You are right about being paid twice though although the export amount is tiny in comparison to both the savings and the FIT amounts.

thenudeone

Hungerdunger wrote: »

As someone who is waiting for their panels to be installed, I've heard different things about this. One person told me that the wheel runs backwards, but not the numbers in the display; someone else told me that the numbers run backwards as well - can you clarify?

If the latter is true, then as we are planning a 9 kW installation, presumable most of the electricity we use at night will be "credited" the next day as the system produces more electricity than we consume.

The system assumes that everyone has a digital meter which will never go backwards (as an anti-fraud measure). So they assume that 50% of your generation has gone backwards through the meter but not changed the meter readings. So you will get a credit (c 3.1p) for 50% of your generation ON TOP of the c.44p FIT payment for 100%.
If you manage your usage through the day to use more than 50% you will be better off because you will still get the estimated 50% export payment.

If you have an old meter with a wheel it will probably go backwards so you're making at least twice the gain (because your normal electricity bill will be reduced by the actual units you export, AS WELL AS getting the export tariff income for the estimated units); but the meter will probably be replaced because the FIT suppliers should inform electricity companies.

Recent studies have suggested that the average installation only uses 25% of generation at the time.

With a 9kW installation it's very unlikely that a domestic dwelling will use anywhere near half of the generation. You may better off getting a new import / export meter to replace your standard meter, so that the actual export units are credited (which will probably be a much higher percentage than 50%)

thenudeone

jimjames wrote: »

As far as I am aware you only get paid for the actual electricity exported, the 50% is purely an illustration not the set amount.

No. see my post above. 50% is used to calculate the actual payment because unless you have a meter that measures the actual amount exported (few people have), there is absolutely no way to know.

thenudeone

Can I just remind user that all of the questions regarding the calculation of savings, feed-in tariff, and export payments, have already been covered in this forum:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100