Beat My Quote....Solar Panels...Loan

Martyn1981

Towser wrote: »

Thanks Mart

You get paid / make savings of £760 per year for the next 20 years (will be more as the FIT increases with inflation and electricity costs rise each year) so a system costing £5450 pays for itself in 7 years. The remaining 13 years are profit.

Basically ... yes.

You can complicate it a little further (and perhaps fairly) by including cost of capital, even if it's your cash you are using. If you were getting 2% interest on the £5k, then in year one you could/should(?) deduct another 2% from the gross return, but then you also have to consider the interest earned in year 2 on the monies received (£600 - £750) in year 1. So things get messy fast.

I think cost of capital is important, but with such low savings rates, and index linking to balance it out (slowly), it might be easier not to worry too much about.

Regarding actual income, as I've given you a very broad range, if you take a look at PVGIS (see section 5 of the PV FAQs for a walkthrough) you'll get a very, very accurate guesstimate of annual generation (in 4 years I've been between 99 and 108% of annual target). From there you can narrow the income range a bit. Happy to do this for you if you give roof orientation and approx location (nothing too personal, nearest city perhaps).

Back to your OP, my earlier comments, and Andy's last post, those reasonably attractive returns quickly disappear in a puff of logic once you start to add loan interest. Whilst they may just survive a cheap mortgage rate, I can't see it working on personal loan rates.

Mart.

robatwork

Slightly OT. This amazing feat of engineering

http://www.genexe.com/uploads/2007/09/ps10.jpg

produces only enough electricity to power 5500 homes. Cost over £25 million.

So even in Seville the maths doesn't add up. Doubt it does in Bromsgrove.

jackieblack

robatwork wrote: »

produces only enough electricity to power 5500 homes. Cost over £25 million.

Or about £4500 per home
Over the next 50 years, about £90 per year per home.....
:huh:

MysteryMe

Towser wrote: »

Thank-you people



I think the answer is NO even if I save up not needing to take a loan.

I don't understand why people have them then? Am I missing something somewhere?

The original FIT was something like 40p, now it's about 16p so those who got in early are doing OK.

Unfortunately a lot of people have been missold and whilst there are genuine suppliers there are also a load of con men.

Martyn1981

MysteryMe wrote: »

The original FIT was something like 40p, now it's about 16p so those who got in early are doing OK.

Unfortunately a lot of people have been missold and whilst there are genuine suppliers there are also a load of con men.

Too many con men. Especially the cold callers now selling PV on the basis that the income will pay for the finance. Then they sell overpriced systems having confused the hell out of the punter.

Regarding returns, nothing much has changed. The total annual income is about 1/3 what it would be on the original top FiT, but at the same time the cost has fallen to about 1/3 (£5k v's £15k).

Prices fell so fast in 2011 and 2012 that the planned degression in 2012 to 39.6p actually became 16p (Aug 2012), taking it below the 10 year planned figure of 18.8p in 2021. Also in 2012 the term was cut from 25yrs to 20 yrs.

The subsidy is currently 13.88p, with the next degression on 1/4/15 taking it down to 13.39p.

Mart.

matt-comparison

Martyn amazing information man. Top notch.

Just one random rule of thumb man, if it's too good to be true, it ain't.