Solar power - anyone actually have a system installed?

michele-p

Hi all, I'm new to this area of the forum, sorry if this has been covered!

We have a 3 story south facing house, not shaded at all, so we are an ideal candidate for solar power, and we're seriously considering it at the moment.

We've been reading lots of different examples of feed in tariffs and how much electricity a system will produce, but they all seem to be produced by companies selling the systems, or with rose tinted glasses!

Does anyone actually have a solar system installed at home? if so we'd love to hear actual people's feedback, and figures on how much power they are generating, and selling back to the grid.

Any advice appreciated,
thanks
Michele

Cardew

There are literally thousands of posts in the Green and Moneysaving section on PV panels - with a lot of owners posting their experiences.

With your South facing unshaded roof, your output will depend where you live in UK - the further South the better - and to a lesser extent the pitch of your roof.

You can get an accurate estimate from several websites of output for your location. It varies from approx 750kWh pa for each kWp of panels in Northern Scotland to approx 1,000kWh pa in Cornwall.

The largest size system permitted for the highest rate of subsidy - called FIT(Feed in Tariff) is 4kWp, so that will give between 3,000kWh and 4,000kWh pa. Such a system will cost around £11,000 to £12,000 - although the Double Glazing salesmen of yesteryear have got in on the act and will charge what they feel the market will bear; as well as exagerate the likely income.

The current(sorry!) rate of FIT is 43.1p for each kWh generated so someone in middle England generating 3,500kWh from a 4kWp system would get £1508 per year, plus a further £54 for selling electricity. In addition you can use as much of the generated electricity as you are able in your house; on average this will be worth £70 a year.

michele-p

Thanks for pointing me to the right forum, off to read all the threads now.