Is solar PV worth it?

The_Green_Man_2

spgsc531 wrote: »

As of Dec 2012 average annual electricity bill was £531 according to Ofgem.

Have a wild guess how much of that is for all Feed in Tariffs per year?

Are you suggesting that feed in tarrif payments are magicked out of thin air?

Or are you suggesting that only rich taxpayers are footing the bill for them?

spgsc531

The_Green_Man wrote: »

Are you suggesting that feed in tarrif payments are magicked out of thin air?

Or are you suggesting that only rich taxpayers are footing the bill for them?

I wasn't suggesting anything.

I was asking you to bother to do a small bit of research to discover that of an average £531 annual electricity bill (as of Dec 2012, according to Ofgem) £6 of that is attributed to FiT payments.

That's £6 a year, that's 50p a month, that's 1.6p per day.

That's for all FiT payments.

The_Green_Man_2

spgsc531 wrote: »

I wasn't suggesting anything.

I was asking you to bother to do a small bit of research to discover that of an average £531 annual electricity bill (as of Dec 2012, according to Ofgem) £6 of that is attributed to FiT payments.

That's £6 a year, that's 50p a month, that's 1.6p per day.

That's for all FiT payments.

So where does the other money come from to pay the few people who could afford to install PV?

Or don't you want to to talk about that?

spgsc531

The_Green_Man wrote: »

So where does the other money come from to pay the few people who could afford to install PV?

Or don't you want to to talk about that?

What are you on about? I've just told you where it comes from..

EricMears

tunnel wrote: »

If its the one i saw last year on the edge of a wood then its certainly a nice piece of kit,my parents have a massive garden and were considering panels on one of their garages but they're all E/W split. I suggested a floor mount but didn't realise that planning would be involved,very handy to know.

I've also mentioned to my dad about a wind turbine as one of his neighbours had one so couldn't see much objection to him having one too,not even looked into planning on them though.

If the OP is "on top of a hill" and would need planning it may be worth considering wind to solar(generate at night too)...just a thought.

You wouldn't have seen my neighbour's house from a main road - we both live inside a wooded estate about half a mile from nearest road.

I believe wind turbines always need planning permission although if one neighbour already has a WT & nobody's objecting to that then another nearby shouldn't be a great problem.

You don't need PP to put SPs on a shed roof. If PP for steerable arrays was refused then I see no reason why you can't build a new shed (almost always permitted development in a large garden) with a S facing roof then later (and I think next day is probably sufficient legal delay) fit SPs to the existing shed roof. And of course if our contractor was correct, one steerable array plus balance of panels on a shed roof would be PD.

The_Green_Man_2

spgsc531 wrote: »

What are you on about? I've just told you where it comes from..

Yes, from poor people. How do you sleep at night?

EricMears

The_Green_Man wrote: »

So where does the other money come from to pay the few people who could afford to install PV?

Or don't you want to to talk about that?

As explained above, the money to pay for FIT payments comes from a small levy on all electricity bills.

The money to pay for the deemed exports comes from the regional electricity companies out of their normal operating budget - and since they're effectively buying those units at less than 3p each it probably works out even cheaper for them than buying 'ordinary' electricty (be it coal, gas, nuclear or wind turbine) from non-SP sources. Of course the RECs then claim those costs from all consumers (just as they do for 'ordinary' electricity).

The money to buy & install solar panels in the first place comes from anyone who thinks that a good investment - be that a single householder with modest savings or a huge company running a rent-a-roof scheme.

I suppose that is a sort of 'magic' in the same sense that a bookmaker 'magically' manages to have enough money in his till to pay out on winning bets. But most people describe that 'magic' as economics.

The_Green_Man_2

EricMears wrote: »

I suppose that is a sort of 'magic' in the same sense that a bookmaker 'magically' manages to have enough money in his till to pay out on winning bets.

An interesting analogy. I guess you used it because you feel you have a winning bet with your FITS.

The difference is that winning bets at a bookies are paid by other gambler's losing bets, people who have chosen to gamble. Your winning bet of FITS payments are taken from everyone without their consent.

albyota

If you're worried about the £6/yr subsidies for FITs, try researching how much we are all going to be subsidising fracking shale gas....and frucking nuclear......:eek:

The_Green_Man_2

albyota wrote: »

If you're worried about the £6/yr subsidies for FITs, try researching how much we are all going to be subsidising fracking shale gas....and frucking nuclear......:eek:

At least everyone benefits apart from a few middle class people with solar panels on their roof.