Solar PV...Still worth it?

EricMears

albyota wrote: »

just found it http://www.schueco.com/intersolar_2011/en/produkthighlights#energymanager

Amazingly (unless of course you realise what sort of battery power would be needed and how much that would cost !) it makes no mention of how much energy the device might store or of how much they're likely to charge for it.

merryperson51

Dear God am I stupid!! Can't seem to post this and link with Mart's post. Of, well, Mart I hope you see this.

Thank you SO much for such a helpful post!!! Now all we have to do is sell our house and find somewhere in the perfect location to have panels installed. Meanwhile I'll try to get my head around all of the niceties!

Cardew

merryperson51 wrote: »

Dear God am I stupid!! Can't seem to post this and link with Mart's post.

To reply to a post(and include the post in quotes) you click the 'quote' button at the bottom of the relevant post.

Then type your reply after the quote.

Numbnuts

albyota wrote: »

Saw the 4 - 10kW prototype unit at Ecobuild on the Schucco stand I think, about the size of a tall fridgefreezer, not sure when it will be available to UK market though.

edit.....just found it http://www.schueco.com/intersolar_2011/en/produkthighlights#energymanager

No it was not Schueco version !!! I forgot now !!! whoops when I remember I will post link:eek:

kwilkinson99

silvercar wrote: »

We are still deliberating.

OHs feeling is that the summer house may not last as long as the PVs! and he is reluctant to chop down the oak tree.

I'm not sure I can live with PVs on the front roof of my house.

But those are soft decisions that we need to make ourselves.

Hard decisions that you guys may be able to help with:

3kw system against 4kw: obviously the FiTs would be lower, but would it be fair to say that we would use more of the generated electric ourselves, therefore the cost difference overall is not a simple 3:4 ratio? ie can I assume that we would use a higher proportion of the generated electric and so save nearly the same amount on our electric bill.

So I'm thinking that I'm generating 75% of a 4kW system and using say 90% of the 4kW system?

The costs were £7k for the 3kW and for the 4kW it was £9k + assumed £1.3k for tree removal = 10.3k.

Does the aesthetic implications of installing a solar PV system on your roof bother people that much?

I may be biased because I work in the industry, but it doesn't look any worse than a satellite dish in my opinion.

silvercar

kwilkinson99 wrote: »

Does the aesthetic implications of installing a solar PV system on your roof bother people that much?

It does. Anyway someone else on our road has now stuck solar panels on the front of their house, so not being the first to go for it makes it less awkward to do.

silvercar

silvercar said:

We are still deliberating.

OHs feeling is that the summer house may not last as long as the PVs! and he is reluctant to chop down the oak tree.

I'm not sure I can live with PVs on the front roof of my house.

But those are soft decisions that we need to make ourselves.

Hard decisions that you guys may be able to help with:

3kw system against 4kw: obviously the FiTs would be lower, but would it be fair to say that we would use more of the generated electric ourselves, therefore the cost difference overall is not a simple 3:4 ratio? ie can I assume that we would use a higher proportion of the generated electric and so save nearly the same amount on our electric bill.

So I'm thinking that I'm generating 75% of a 4kW system and using say 90% of the 4kW system?

The costs were £7k for the 3kW and for the 4kW it was £9k + assumed £1.3k for tree removal = 10.3k.

and I return to this thread 8.5 years later.

In the intervening time, the offending tree has been pruned right back and the summer house has gone. We now have a concrete base approx 12m x 5m at the bottom of the 200ft garden. No shade, so effectively south facing. Hertfordshire.  Any reason we can't have solar panels sitting on it?  

I thought with price increases coming soon, it would make PVs attractive, but some of the threads here suggest the boat has sailed. We are getting an EV in the next few months, if that makes a difference.

QrizB

silvercar said:

silvercar said:

We are still deliberating.

OHs feeling is that the summer house may not last as long as the PVs! and he is reluctant to chop down the oak tree.

I'm not sure I can live with PVs on the front roof of my house.

But those are soft decisions that we need to make ourselves.

Hard decisions that you guys may be able to help with:

3kw system against 4kw: obviously the FiTs would be lower, but would it be fair to say that we would use more of the generated electric ourselves, therefore the cost difference overall is not a simple 3:4 ratio? ie can I assume that we would use a higher proportion of the generated electric and so save nearly the same amount on our electric bill.

So I'm thinking that I'm generating 75% of a 4kW system and using say 90% of the 4kW system?

The costs were £7k for the 3kW and for the 4kW it was £9k + assumed £1.3k for tree removal = 10.3k.

and I return to this thread 8.5 years later.
In the intervening time, the offending tree has been pruned right back and the summer house has gone. We now have a concrete base approx 12m x 5m at the bottom of the 200ft garden. No shade, so effectively south facing. Hertfordshire.  Any reason we can't have solar panels sitting on it?  
I thought with price increases coming soon, it would make PVs attractive, but some of the threads here suggest the boat has sailed. We are getting an EV in the next few months, if that makes a difference.

Great to see this thread back after all this time! And thanks for unlocking it, I was wondering how to reply ...

I think you'll need planning permission for a ground-mounted array on the slab. But put a shed on it (and the PV on that) and you won't

You should be able to get a 4kWp system for under £5k. Earnings are around £400/yr and payback is around 10-12 years. FITs are long gone but the SEG means you'll get export payments of around 5p/kWh (quite a lot more at present if you're with Octopus and choose Outgoing Agile).

And the economics of larger arrays are also good, although you'll need DNO permission. 12m x 5m could get you and 8kWp array or so.

arty688

It will all depend on using as much as the generated electricity as possible in the April to September window in the day light hours. If you are a low user of electric in this period the numbers become less attractive. 

Say 4000KWH annual production.

All exported@5p = £200

All used @20p = £800

30% used and 70% exported = £380 is probably realistic.

If you wanted to put yourself off the idea you could include inverter replacement or investing the money in your pension or otherwise.

If you wanted to convince yourself then you could include energy price inflation and the green aspect of it.

No right or wrong answer. 

Evade

Hello. I’m just starting to think about the logistics and benefits of putting some panels on our large south facing roof. We’re unlikely to move out of this house for ten years or so. We have an electric car. We’re considering electric underfloor heating. I can’t even contemplate how to do the maths, but if we can reduce gas heating to just a couple of hours a day during winter for example, given that we both work from home, and power the car, feels like it would make sense. How do I go about working this out? Thanks