Solar panels - yes or no??

Leif

Costs came down as more PV panel makers appeared, causing a glut in the market. I see quite a lot of panels locally.

I checked and the best FIT was about 16p per kWh, and a sample price on a Southern Electric tariff where I live is 12.5p per unit, a unit being 1 kWh, so solar cell owners are being subsidised. Basically a lot of wealthy people are sticking solar cells on their roofs as an investment, and they are being subsidised by all of us, including pensioners and those on a low wage.

This was done to comply with EU regulations whereby we need to reduce our CO2 emissions.

Furts

Leif wrote: »

Costs came down as more PV panel makers appeared, causing a glut in the market. I see quite a lot of panels locally.

I checked and the best FIT was about 16p per kWh, and a sample price on a Southern Electric tariff where I live is 12.5p per unit, a unit being 1 kWh, so solar cell owners are being subsidised. Basically a lot of wealthy people are sticking solar cells on their roofs as an investment, and they are being subsidised by all of us, including pensioners and those on a low wage.

This was done to comply with EU regulations whereby we need to reduce our CO2 emissions.

Definitely subsidised by all of us - though the rate for my electric is17.5p per unit.

The electric companies did not want people having pv panels. They want to supply the electric to control the market and maximise their profits. By setting the FIT the pv panel owners are happy and not going to rock the boat by demanding lower electric prices. After all, these people are likely to be more wealthy, articulate and educated than some poorer members of society.

The electric companies do not want the pv panels owners competing with the established supply and profit system. Hence they have to accept the owners generating and using their own electricity, but are happy to penalise them for exporting it to the grid. The provision to the grid being the domain of the electric companies!

dreaming

Furts wrote: »

Hi dreaming.
What panels and inverter did you decide on? I do not know the differences between them but I would be interested to know. Plus, prices change along with the FIT. Are you able to say what a 4kW array is costing today?

The 4kW I mentioned cost, IIRR, around £11500. Then a colleague had a 4kW last spring at, again IIRR, £7000 or £8000. (I cannot remember which!)

My system will be Canadian Solar panels (I think) and cannot remember Inverter make without digging the quote out. Cost is just over 6k. Could have got cheaper but am using local established company.

Old Fart Plumber - not too worried about the look of the roof. I tend not to spend too long looking at it. As for being a selling negative - well I don't intend to move from here until I go gaga - hopefully quite a few years from now.

Cashwise - I was unaware of the Fits part until I had already decided to have them fitted and started looking into it. It is being done to try to reduce my reliance on the elctric companies as I will be redundant in August and taking early retirement.

Winter_Phoenix

My experience is that, if you're flexible enough to change your habits re: electricity usage, solar panels are a boon. The key is to switch as much of your electricity usage as possible to when it's sunny, or at least to when there is plentiful light in the sky. A timer on my immersion heater switches it on twice during the daylight hours. All my washing machine usage is now done when the sun's shining. During the Autumn and the milder bits of Winter I didn't bother with the (gas) central heating in the daytime, but used a couple of oil-filled electric radiators instead.

The FITS payments are very welcome indeed, but the lower electricity and gas bills are the great thing.

solarpvman

dreaming wrote: »

Hi, I am hoping for some views so I can weigh up whether to have solar panels/photovoltaic panels fitted.
The gist of the story is that I am being made redundant this summer with a good pay-off. I am treating it as early retirement (I will be 58) and with the mortgage paid off I think my work pension will be enough for my monthly outgoings (if I am relatively careful). Knowing that fuel bills are likely to keep rising (do they ever come down?) I thought it might be a good idea to look into how I can ensure my monthly bills stay fairly stable over the next few years. So I thought I might have solar/pv panels fitted when I receive my severance pay. House is south west facing 2 bed bungalow with no big trees around so should get lots of sun, or light anyway. Not so worried about recouping cost (rough estimate is 5-8 thousand) - more about "future proofing" my bills. Currently pay £54per month gas and electric - live alone so light user.
Any thoughts, especially from anyone who may have had them fitted, would be welcomed. Thanks

the no brainer tariffs have gone away.
if you are going to be there for 20 years it's still probably an ok long term investment.
think it through tho. you will probably generate most energy in the daytime in the summer...ie when you DON'T need it.

well actually if you are retired or work from home then it will help a little. best investment would be for good insulation methinks....much of which you can probably get for free esp when retired

dreaming

solarpvman wrote: »

the no brainer tariffs have gone away.
if you are going to be there for 20 years it's still probably an ok long term investment.
think it through tho. you will probably generate most energy in the daytime in the summer...ie when you DON'T need it.

well actually if you are retired or work from home then it will help a little. best investment would be for good insulation methinks....much of which you can probably get for free esp when retired

Thank you for your input solarpvman but I had the system fitted at the beginning of April. Tomorrow I will be having my meter changed as it is going backwards but I have already gotten used to setting the washing machine and dishwasher to come on whilst I am at work. I seem to have struck lucky with the weather - the generation meter reads today - 449.92 for 26 days - so that equates to an average of 17.3 KwH per day. The import meter has gone down from 27561 to 27277 so I guess I am exporting quite a lot of that but never mind.
I agree about the insulation although I have had the loft done and cavity wall. Really noticed it this winter - have significantly reduced the gas bill. The only other insulation type things I could have now would be too disruptive (and costly) so I shall see how it goes next winter.