Solar Power Help Please

rogerblack

You get (at the moment) about 41p/unit of solar-generated electricity, if you buy the panels.
You get - if you have free panels fitted - 'free' electricity while the sun is shining - which is worth say 14p/unit.
But most of this is wasted as you don't use it, so 3p/unit may be more realistic.

This means your earnings in the case of the 'free' solar panels may not much around a hundred pounds a year, whereas with purchased panels, they can be well over a thousand.
Note however that the panels need to be installed, with all their paperwork by Dec 12.

NewStudent

My supplier has said I need only pay after I have the MSC certificate, which he said will definitely be with me well before 12th December.

Freepost

NewStudent wrote: »

The quote came through this evening at £7200. For that I will get 9x Sharp 250 PV Panels and 1xSunnyboy 2100 TL Inverter sited internally in the roof space. All associated wiring and controls will also be provided. A Sunny Beam monitor can be supplied for an extra £210. A standard maintenance contract which involves a site visit will cost an extra £120 and is renewed anually. All panels and the inverter have a five year guarantee.

The installation will be 2.25 Kw.
Net present value is £17,545 and payback period is 8.3 years. Electricity production costs are 0.17£/kWh.

Opinions please. Thanks x

£7200 is perhaps a little high! I had a quote for a 4kwp system using 16xSharp NU250 at £11,700 but installation couldn't be guaranteed before 6 December, too close to the cut of date but nevertheless the price/kWp would equate to £6581 for a 2.25kWp system.

What's this refer to

Net present value is £17,545

NewStudent

Shame I haven't got a scanner as I would have put all the information up. I'm not too sure what it means, but it is some sort of Economic Efficiency calculation.

thenudeone

I suggest that anyone signing up for panels now and expecting delivery gets a written confirmation of the date the MCS certificate will be supplied (leaving enough time to post it to the FIT supplier) and do everything they can to agree with the supplier a level of liquidated damages for failure to comply.

If your supplier objects, then they probably don't have much faith in being able to beat the December cut-off.

Some FIT providers will accept MCS certificates by email (eg: Good Energy) which could save some time. You could always move FIT supplier later.

Remember that any installation above 3.68kW (16A) should be approved by the DNO, who (in summary) have the right to disconnect any system which they believe the local grid can't handle:eek: although my understanding is that this is rarely a problem.

BornAtTheRightTime

Roughly speaking, Net Present Value is a financial method of calculating the worth in today's money of an investment that pays back over time. Think of it as saying "your £7200 invested in this manner is equal to having £17,545 today instead but with no option of investing it further." Hope that makes sense. Anyway, in essence if the NPV is greater than the investment cost, it's a winner financially - assuming whoever did the calculation included replacement inverter costs, interest payments on the loan etc etc.

More simply, spending £7200 today and getting back £866pa index-linked for the next 25 years is a good investment, as long as you aren't unduly unlucky with panels breaking, multiple inverters failing, excessively poor weather or having to move house in that time. I can't comment on whether £7200 itself is high, low or average for your system however I have noticed that Tesco has just put prices back up, presumably because of the sudden rush to get in before Dec 12th.