Solar panels - are they still worth it? New MSE guide

silverwhistle

I had mine installed on Thursday so thought I might comment here. I'm in the south so yields are likely to be better than for many people, although my installed cost was a bit higher than in Sheffield, but so is everything here!

I've had an expensive week as I also bought a (second-hand) car, having recently returned from abroad without one. Potentially I could have spent far more on the car and foregone the PV, but whilst the former will depreciate rapidly the panels will give a good yield. Compared with the yield from the little cash ISA that I used and that was simply deflating away there is really no comparison, but others may be in a different position on financing.

As a result I'm not quite so hung-up on the payback period. The kitchen also needs refurbishing and there's an absence of flooring (some tenants...:mad:), but I started at the top of the building! A lot more people could afford it, but often it's a question of their priorities.

Anyway, the sun has just come out and I'm going to switch tabs to check my monitor. In the last two days I've only bought a total of 3kwh off the leccy board, and that's including the day of install. Nice hot bath out of it too!

skyeblue

question that I have not seen mentioned in any of the threads (though have not had time to read every one of them).
I remember seeing, probably in an advert, that properties had to be a certain distance from the coast. No reason was given, I can think that salt spray may cause corrosion, or high winds may dislodge the panels, for example.
Is this true? We have a property 20 meters from the north coast of Scotland that would be ideal for panels, but I don't want to get my hopes up.....

Cardew

There was some correspondence on MSE about Rent-a- Roof systems needing to be a certain distance from the coast; IIRC on the South coast.

As you say this is probably because of the salt spray drying on the panels and thus requiring frequent cleaning - not to mention corrosion problems.

However if you are paying for the panels they would doubtless errect them in a basement!

myusernamehasgone_2

We have just been offered a free system by Rolec . they fit them for free you get free electric in the day any over that you don't use goes to paying for the panels. Once they are paid for they pay you the cash - Any thoughts?

Caerhendy

Hi,
apologies if I'm in the wrong forum.
I'm in S Wales with a South facing roof and I had a free nine panel system fitted in April (9x 250W).
They haven't worked since June 3rd and after many phone calls to the supplier / installer I have failed to get the system repaired.
They 'think' it's a connecter up on the roof.
I think maybe the cost of scaffolding is putting them off.

Please can someone tell me who to write to (other than sup / inst) to 'persuade' them to pull their finger out and carry out the repairs?

Also, approximately how many kWh savings will I have lost since June?

Thanks for any advice.

Ecodave

Hi Caerhandy,

As your system is a free one, then the rent-a-roof company is the main loser, so it is surprising that they haven't been out to fix the problem. It is impossible to tell you how much you have failed to save off of your electricity bill as your profile of electricity consumption will be different to mine. If my panels had not been working since June then I would probably have had to pay for an extra 400 kW/h at about 12p, so approaching £50.

happenstance

sheffield_lad wrote: »

There are more variables involved like does your meter have a backstop? If the answer is no you will save a lot more.

Typical saving on the lecci bill I come across are around £120-£150 ish but most folk these days are having the 4kw systems installed.

BTW had a quote recently for 4kw £5k all in inc scaffolding so cheaper than the article suggests.

Meter backstop? For running it backwards?

John_Pierpoint

If you do have a meter that runs backwards plus gas heating & cooking on a 4kWp system, you will have trouble disguising the fact.
Then you are likely to face a convoluted punch up with the supplier; "Which?" suggests that the supplier only has the right to go back 2 years, but I could not vouch for this exception the the statute of limitations (6 years South of the border and 5 years North.).

This is what can happen, when the boot is on the other foot and the electricity company has set up the meter to trap people trying to steal electricity by switching over the "tails" so that the electricity would go "backwards" through the meter, [The meter adds it up which ever way it is going].

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3191844

happenstance

But if your meter can run backwards and the counter decreases with a solar install is that wrong?

How would it be hard to disguise? Just don't let the meter reader in to check over the summer

John_Pierpoint

It will be hard to disguise because you will end up with a negative electricity bill.
The panels can save a modest consumption of electricity worth lets say £150.
The rest of your return is from your Feed in Tariff customer, who pays a premiun for every Kilo Watt hour of energy produced plus a more modest sum for what has been deemed to have been exported. Your FiT customer does not have to be the same as your electricity supplier, so the supplier of your electricity would regard a backwards running meter as theft.
What will eventually happen, when the FiT deal runs out, will be "net metering", where the meter would run backwards and you settle up quarterly, this would already be self financing in the South of Italy and Spain, where there is more sun and the electrity is expensive.