Free solar panels - decrease property value?

antrobus

Toby1990 wrote: »

... if it comes out you could save £800 a year with solar thermal, it's costs about £4k to fit, but people still think electrics better.

A 20% return on a solar thermal installation?

Perhaps not - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/greenproperty/7760365/Green-property-solar-thermal-systems.html

poppysarah

Toby1990 wrote: »

We are near the bottom in Europe for renewables. When I'm in Austria some times, there are solar thermal panels everywhere! Goverment can't be that bothered about being green if we're behind most of Europe.
.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/04/renewable_fail/

The UK's headlong rush into renewable energy – one ignored by the rest of the world – will hit British jobs and then general incomes, an economic study finds.


Sweden and Iceland are aiming to be oil free ASAP.

Don't think about the carbon footprint, just think about the oil prices.

john_white

For a 'Free System' surely the most you could save is your current electricity bill + price rises. And that assumes you can switch to using all electric during the day.

If there was a way to store the electricity then I would consider it.

As for resale, any savvy buyer will ask what system it is and then say they were looking at the other, I.e. have a free install, they would say they would have preferred to buy a system and generate an income, and vice versa. IMO.

Mallotum_X

Looking at it as a potential purchaser it would put me off, free install means leasing out your roof. So if i need to do anything with the roof, then it will cost me more. If I wanted a loft conversion then no easy to sort out.

These things look ugly and would save me very little, i wouldnt want to buy a house with such a system on the roof.

brokenick

For the record:

The FIT scheme is a government guaranteed scheme that promises (at today's FIT) 43.3pence per kWh index linked and tax free for 25 years.

That's right: tax free and index linked. A 4kw system facing roughly south could reasonably be expected to generate over 3000kWh per year. That would generate £1300 under the FIT. Then you might get a couple of hundred more by electricity savings and the export tariff - currently 3p per kWh and calculated at 50% of the electricity generated - so half of 3000 x 3p = £90 yr (again index linked and tax free). I myself have a friend who had an installation put on in Oct last year (approx 3.6kW) and it's generated already over 2700kWh (with 2 months left to go before end of first year). So they are on target for over £1300 FIT earnings plus whatever they've saved and exported to the grid. More recentlt manufactured panels are more efficient than his, so a 4kW array should produce easily £1500 - and with systems costing around the £12K mark that gives a conservative payback of 8 years or under.

Now, as it's a government-backed scheme, if the government (or any future government) were to renege then I think there'd be one hell of a class action suit. No, the worse that could happen is that the scheme for FUTURE applicants could be withdrawn or changed.

As regards selling your house; the FIT can be transferred to future occupiers.

Solar pv is the most easily recoverable investments (in monetary terms) of the green energies. Solar thermal has too long a pay-back, wind is way too expensive - and doesn't work in towns, micro CHP boilers (even with the FIT) have a payback of over 16 years and anyway aren't as efficient as normal condensing boilers.

No, solar pv on a good south facing large roof IS the way to go.

daisbuys

brokenick wrote: »

For the record:

The FIT scheme is a government guaranteed scheme that promises (at today's FIT) 43.3pence per kWh index linked and tax free for 25 years.

That's right: tax free and index linked. A 4kw system facing roughly south could reasonably be expected to generate over 3000kWh per year. That would generate £1300 under the FIT. Then you might get a couple of hundred more by electricity savings and the export tariff - currently 3p per kWh and calculated at 50% of the electricity generated - so half of 3000 x 3p = £90 yr (again index linked and tax free). I myself have a friend who had an installation put on in Oct last year (approx 3.6kW) and it's generated already over 2700kWh (with 2 months left to go before end of first year). So they are on target for over £1300 FIT earnings plus whatever they've saved and exported to the grid. More recentlt manufactured panels are more efficient than his, so a 4kW array should produce easily £1500 - and with systems costing around the £12K mark that gives a conservative payback of 8 years or under.

Now, as it's a government-backed scheme, if the government (or any future government) were to renege then I think there'd be one hell of a class action suit. No, the worse that could happen is that the scheme for FUTURE applicants could be withdrawn or changed.

As regards selling your house; the FIT can be transferred to future occupiers.

Solar pv is the most easily recoverable investments (in monetary terms) of the green energies. Solar thermal has too long a pay-back, wind is way too expensive - and doesn't work in towns, micro CHP boilers (even with the FIT) have a payback of over 16 years and anyway aren't as efficient as normal condensing boilers.

No, solar pv on a good south facing large roof IS the way to go.

But with regards to selling your house with a free installation on would you think it would be a positive or a negative? As you will not be entitled to the FIT payment then

wastedtalent

I would only consider it if the FIT was coming to me, not an external company.

DTDfanBoy

I would consider a free installation a negative, it limits what you are able to do with your own property, prohibits you from adding your own system in the future, and provides you with very minimal compensation for those restrictions.

Sugared-frog

I wouldn't want to buy a house with free solar panels installed whilst I wouldn't be put off buying one with the owner installed panels as long as it looked ok (not sure if you would need to get any additional survey to check the installation at the point of sale).

timmyt

don't. unsightly, puts buyers off, many companies will rip you off, lenders may object ... oh the list goes on. Wait a few more years until teething is solved.