MSE news: Government solar panel plans legally flawed

jimjames

Slightly off topic but here goes.

The number of panels isn't important - it is their rated capacity that matters. 12 panel could be anything between 185W and 250W each which makes quite a difference.

Does your roof have any shading at all?

Our is virtually south facing and is 14 panels @ 215W each, in December we generated 105kWh of electricity.

http://uk-solarpanels.blogspot.com/

Martyn1981

supamart wrote: »

As everyone here (well most peeps) seem experts with the solar industry.

Could I ask a question.

I have had a twelve panel system for four weeks now on my south facing roof in the Midlands.

To date my total power achieved is 40 kW.

Does this sound correct ?

Supamart (nice name by the way), can you give a few more system specs?

Assuming at 12 panels, your system is somewhere between 2.5 and 3kWp, then absolute, off the top of head maths, that sounds like you're near the bottom end of ok.

Try this site, give me a PM if anything doesn't make sense;

http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php#

Click show graphs and calculate at the bottom.

It'll only give you an average for December, and Dec probably varies about the most, so you might see -50% to +100%, especially if shading is an issue. Plus don't underestimate local weather, 2 systems just 10 miles apart could have quite different figures.

It's all probably fine, but post back with an update as that does seem a bit low and might be worth checking out more.

Mart.

energysavingexp

my 3.92kwh system south facing in dec produced 45kw

jimjames

energysavingexp wrote: »

my 3.92kwh system south facing in dec produced 45kw

What I have noticed really matters and by matters I mean a huge amount, is whether the day is sunny or cloudy. It might seem obvious but some salesmen state that it doesn't matter if it is sunny or not that the solar panels will generate as long as there is daylight. This is true to a point but what they don't tell you is the difference in the generation between a sunny day and a cloudy day.

Yesterday was cloudy all day, rainy most of the day and pretty dark. We generated a grand total of 0.5 kWh for the whole day.

Today has been bright sunshine all day. We exceeded the 0.5kWh generated for the whole of yesterday before 10am today and went on to get a total for today of 8.3kWh.

Thats 7.8kWh more today with sunshine than cloud yesterday so if your location was particularly cloudy during the month then your output would be affected and potentially lost a lot compared to a sunny location.

[These figures are all for a 3kWp system with SMA 3000HF inverter]

Thifty_Fred

I'm not clear on this - is there effectively an extension of the 12/12 deadline for the full rate?

Cardew

Thifty_Fred wrote: »

I'm not clear on this - is there effectively an extension of the 12/12 deadline for the full rate?

Join the rest of us.

All the judge has ruled is that it there are grounds for Judicial Review because the Government imposed a cut in FIT to come into force on 12th Dec during a consultation(NOT negotiation) period which was to end on 23 Dec.

The implications of that decision, even assuming the appeal fails, have not been announced

colinicky

Hi all
Been lurking around this area of the forums for a while now. we started to consider solar & then 2 days later the government cut the rates ! we have carried on looking at it & then yesterday evening I had an email from one of the reps (Solar Essence) with a link to this :-
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/fits_jan12upd/fits_jan12upd.aspx


So my understanding at present is that anybody who has it installed before the 3rd of March will stay on the 43p guaranteed , UNLESS the government wins its's appeal & then tough luck it's back to the original December deadline !
Even more uncertainty now Or have I got it wrong

Cardew

colinicky wrote: »

Even more uncertainty now Or have I got it wrong

Situation is as you state.

I wouldn't say more uncertainty; the point of the Government announcement was to bring it down to two possibilities; until now there was speculation on several options.

Anyone who intended installing a system, even at the reduced rate of FIT, at least has a chance of getting the old rate if it is in place before 03 March.

Let us hope the Government wins the appeal and saves all of us some money.

HalloweenJack

actually this is a very very clever tactic - the use of uncertainty

RAR companies wont restart the feeding frenzy - with the `IF` they lose the appeal - ... so IF the governemnt lose the appeal , you have a month to 6 weeks to ramp up the installs - whats the betting the hearing gets adjourned till middle feb