Solar Panels

marsman802

Hi All

I'm buying a house that has 5 solar panel on the roof - it's south facing in the South West London area.
The panels are under guarantee until 2018 but are owned outright.

Does anyone have any real life examples of what kind of money I can save with this setup?
I'm not aware of any feed in rates on this property.

thanks

teddysmum

Why not ask the vendor ?

marsman802

I have and, oddly, they don't appear to know...

lstar337

Ask here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100

They will know.

marsman802

Thanks! Didn't spot that board - much appreciated

System

marsman802 wrote: »

Hi All

I'm buying a house that has 5 solar panel on the roof - it's south facing in the South West London area.
The panels are under guarantee until 2018 but are owned outright.

Does anyone have any real life examples of what kind of money I can save with this setup?
I'm not aware of any feed in rates on this property.

thanks

Surely this is information that your solicitor's searches should reveal. All the documentation relating to my solar panels sits with the House Title Deeds, Why would you buy a property with panels and allow the previous owner to retain the FiT payments?

ajbell

5 panels is probably only 1.25 kwp so only a very small system.
Would probably generate around 1000kw a year and depending on when they were installed earn £150 - £500 a year?.

Cardew

All the posts above seem to assume that they are solar PV panels. Could they be solar thermal panels? i.e. provide hot water, not generate electricity!

lstar337

Cardew wrote: »

All the posts above seem to assume that they are solar PV panels. Could they be solar thermal panels? i.e. provide hot water, not generate electricity!

5 Panels would be odd for a solar thermal system (though the same could be said for photo voltaic), they are mostly 2 banks from what I have seen.

marsman802

Hi All - the surveyor has come back to me on this.
Apparently the hot water is provided by the boiler and stored in the storage cylinder (it does has an immersion heater as a backup).
And then....the solar panels are supplementing the hot water system.

So its nothing to do with the elec but purely to help heat the water in the Summer months I guess.

lstar337

marsman802 wrote: »

And then....the solar panels are supplementing the hot water system.

Well that doesn't mean much by itself. It could be solar thermal, or it could be photo voltaics diverted through the immersion. If that is all the surveyor has said, then I don't think they fully know what the system is.

marsman802 wrote: »

So its nothing to do with the elec but purely to help heat the water in the Summer months I guess.

Possibly. 5 panels is a lot for a normal home though, how much water is it heating??

Unless they are very small panels?

Have you physically seen them?

Do they look like tubes like this:

Or are they like this: