Over a gigawatt of solar now installed in the UK.

rogerblack

Since the government failed in their initial court hearing about the FIT dropping, there has been a period when quite a lot of people have hoped to get their panels installed to benefit from the possible 43p/kWh tariff if the government loses.

This window has now closed, with about 50000 people installing a total of 225MW on their properties. (mostly domestic)

This takes the total installed and getting FIT to a hair over 1GW.

The rate has dropped back from 21000 installs a week to 1000.

1GW of panels will generate about 900GWh of electricity each year, with FITs paying out about 360 million pounds.
Adding around 16 pounds a year onto every households bills.

(Assuming that non-domestic users pass on the price they are charged to the consumer.)

http://www.decc.gov.uk/publications/basket.aspx?filetype=4&filepath=11%2fstats%2fenergy%2fenergy-source%2f3803-weekly-solar-pv-installation-and-capacity-.xls&minwidth=true#basket

SallyKing

Roger, could you show how you came to the figure of £16 a year?

Thanks!

EricMears

SallyKing wrote: »

Roger, could you show how you came to the figure of £16 a year?
Thanks!

He ought to have looked at this page
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-demography/families-and-households/2011/stb-families-households.html
(or a similar one) to find

There were 26.3 million households in the UK in 2011.

Actually, £360m divided by 26.3m households only comes to £13.69. Number of households has probably changed a bit since then - I'd hate to guess whether upwards or downwards but doubt it's a large change.

I wouldn't call the difference between 16 & 13.69 a huge error.

rogerblack

EricMears wrote: »

Actually, £360m divided by 26.3m households only comes to £13.69. Number of households has probably changed a bit since then

I should have woken up properly before posting.
I was using an outdated number of 22m.

The other issue I missed was that the figure of 360m assumes all the panels are oriented due south.
Knocking off some for poorly oriented sites may take it to more like 280m.

In addition, if the government wins their appeal, and no panels after Dec 12 qualify, this goes down to about 245m.
So, at most between approximately 9.40 and 10.40 per household.

EricMears

rogerblack wrote: »

I should have woken up properly before posting.
I was using an outdated number of 22m.

It's not really that significant; either result shows that people complaining about other consumers 'suffering' for our profits isn't something about which we need feel too guilty.

And there's another figure to take into consideration: without this sort of scheme in place, the UK Government might face a 'fine' of hundreds of millions (nobody seems able to give a more exact figure) from the EU. I'm sure the downtrodden poor would rather see us getting the cash than it ending up in the euro-coffers.

Ben84

EricMears wrote: »

It's not really that significant; either result shows that people complaining about other consumers 'suffering' for our profits isn't something about which we need feel too guilty.

And there's another figure to take into consideration: without this sort of scheme in place, the UK Government might face a 'fine' of hundreds of millions (nobody seems able to give a more exact figure) from the EU. I'm sure the downtrodden poor would rather see us getting the cash than it ending up in the euro-coffers.

The concern for me is that I believe the same money spent on glass wool for lofts or on improving power plant efficiency would have result in greater pollution cuts than the solar panels provide - and will probably outlast the solar panels.

EricMears

Ben84 wrote: »

The concern for me is that I believe the same money spent on glass wool for lofts or on improving power plant efficiency would have result in greater pollution cuts than the solar panels provide - and will probably outlast the solar panels.

That may or may not be true - but you need to lobby your MEP on the subject.

SallyKing

rogerblack wrote: »

I should have woken up properly before posting.
I was using an outdated number of 22m.

The other issue I missed was that the figure of 360m assumes all the panels are oriented due south.
Knocking off some for poorly oriented sites may take it to more like 280m.

In addition, if the government wins their appeal, and no panels after Dec 12 qualify, this goes down to about 245m.
So, at most between approximately 9.40 and 10.40 per household.

Did you also account for industrial and commercial users? They will also pick up part of the tab.

Did you also account the systems over 4kWp that get the lower rate?

Not trying to picky, just something I have an interest in so would like to know what the accurate figure is.

EricMears

SallyKing wrote: »

Did you also account for industrial and commercial users? They will also pick up part of the tab.

He included "Assuming that non-domestic users pass on the price they are charged to the consumer" in his original post.

Kernel_Sanders

Ben84 wrote: »

The concern for me is that I believe the same money spent on glass wool for lofts or on improving power plant efficiency would have result in greater pollution cuts than the solar panels provide - and will probably outlast the solar panels.

Loft insulation has already been massively subsidised. Of course, any sort of insulation will outlast a solar panel eventually, but is hardly a reason for spurning the latter!

SallyKing

EricMears wrote: »

He included "Assuming that non-domestic users pass on the price they are charged to the consumer" in his original post.

You could also assume that the cost to consumers is £0

Assuming that the energy companies dont pass the costs on, there is nothing to say that they HAVE to pass on the costs. They could take the cost out of their profits if they wanted.

Of course, we all know that they will pass on the costs, they have to continue to keep the share holders happy with those big profits!