Solar Power Help Please

NewStudent

I'm thinking of having solar panels put up on my house in order to generate electricity for personal use and also to sell any extra to the grid. I've read up several articles but am none the wiser as to cost and how it works. I have not got a clue what a reasonable price would be. I'm in Birmingham in a 3 bedroomed average sized house. I think my roof is south facing. Can anyone suggest how I would go about it and what I should expect to pay/receive back. Also if there are any good companies in Birmingham. Thanks very much x

wymondham

I was too thinking of this, but an announcement this coming Monday will probably half the amount you get back when selling back to the grid - in my case this will be a deciding factor in not going ahead if its true...

Yut_Man

There are a lot of opinions on the exact payment you can expect from a system but the general opinion seems to be 8% return on a typical £10,000 system. Much better than a bank. However if the proposed changes happen this will greatly effect the money you recieve back. It sounds like they are going to make some sort of statement on monday. so it would be worth waiting until then to see what about to happen. If the 50% reducion is going to happen in december then its unlikely to be worth your while, however if it not going to happen until april then it will be.

This will give you some idea what type of generation you can get from your roof. but there typical system price is a bit high. http://www.solarguide.co.uk/solar-pv-calculator#bestresult Hope this helps.

jaks111

not to sure if this is any help depending what part of birmingham you are in i noticed in solihull there is a property ( bungalow ) which is just having it done at the moment i noticed as i have drove past recently lode lane solihull will get details of the company if you are interested

NewStudent

I had a local company come out to me this morning. They said my roof was about 16sq metres and that I would need about 9 panels. The man said they would supply and fit Thermosol panels (IIRC) and it would cost about £8000, but he would give me an exact price later. He said it would take about 10.6 years to get my money back and I would get about £750 from the FIT and about a £60 saving on my electricity. Does anyone know if that is reasonable. He also said if I had them installed before 8th December I would get the 43p tariff for the next twenty five years.

BornAtTheRightTime

What will be the total max output (kWp) of the installation?

TrickyDicky101

Only go ahead if you can have the install completed and your documents sent to your supplier before 12th December - any later and it is uneconomic at current prices.

NewStudent

BornAtTheRightTime wrote: »

What will be the total max output (kWp) of the installation?

IIRC it was 2kWp, but I might be wrong as they are going to email me all the details later today. Thanks.

BornAtTheRightTime

The figures he gave you sound about right, based on getting installed and FITS registered before 12th Dec (obviously I can't know how much shading or what roof orientation you have). Tesco prices are a useful benchmark.

NewStudent

How long does registration take please, and will it be me that registers them or the supplier? Thanks.

NewStudent

The roof was 128 degrees and South West facing. Actually I think it was 2.25 Kwp. Thanks.