Are solar panels on a new build worth it?

JJB51

Hello, So I have recently moved into a small 3 bed new build. Going through the EPC it has a B rating at 83. There are 3 of us in the house and i work opposite shifts to my wife so someone is generally always home.


As my previous home was electric only I can't really do any comparrisons to the new property. As it was an old building and the electric panel heaters cost a fortune to run.



The only recomendation is solar panels at 2.5kwh with "typical savings" of £287 per year which would take the rating up to A 95. The house has a south facing roof that has no shaded areas.


If the savings are correct then the system would just about break even after 25 years, however I don't think this factors in the price increase of electricty going forward.



I am just skeptical if these savings actually add up given the house is already quite efficent? I have just joined Eon and noticed on their website they offer solar panel and battery packages.


I was thinking it may be worth purchasing the system with a battery pack given the export tarrifs are not very good now. The system cost is around £7000 for a 2.44kw system with battery storage or just over £4k without the battery. Doesnt state exactly what battery storage is but I will obviously check going forward.



Just mainly want peoples oppinions. Is it worth it? Should I get a bigger system? Is the battery pointless? Hold off?

Any feedback is appreciated

1961Nick

For £7000 you should be looking at a 4kWp system with around 7.5kWh of battery storage.

GreatApe

I'd say the primary questions is how important is money to you. I don't mean to sound like an !!! but for perhaps 20% of households money isn't really an issue.

So if you are a household where £5k isn't going to change you life then just get solar panels and don't worry or even calculate the returns

In the same way you might get nice carpets or a nice washing machine when in fact much cheaper versions exist. You don't do a financial calculation should I get a nice rug or a cheaper rug you just get the nice one because well why not

So if you are reasonably well off get solar panels
If money is tight then they probably aren't worth it on a pure economics measure
Especially because I suspect before their 30 year life is up we will get two cheap rate electricity periods. One for midnight to about 5am, and the second for summer months 3h either side of solar noon.

Hexane

Jbennett51 wrote: »

Hello, So I have recently moved into a small 3 bed new build. Going through the EPC it has a B rating at 83.

This is an excellent rating, I think my property is still a C despite carrying out just about every single possible sensible energy saving measure. Very large numbers of properties are D, E, F etc.

Jbennett51 wrote: »

There are 3 of us in the house and i work opposite shifts to my wife so someone is generally always home.

This is an ideal situation for installing solar PV.

Jbennett51 wrote: »

If the savings are correct then the system would just about break even after 25 years, however I don't think this factors in the price increase of electricty going forward.

Be cautious with the idea of factoring in future price rises, because this idea has often been used by unscrupulous solar PV salesmen to push overpriced systems.

Jbennett51 wrote: »

I was thinking it may be worth purchasing the system with a battery pack given the export tarrifs are not very good now. The system cost is around £7000 for a 2.44kw system with battery storage or just over £4k without the battery.

This is not a good price; you should be able to get a 4kWp solar PV system (no battery) for under £4000.

At https://batterystorage.edfenergy.com/powervault/powervault-with-grid-services/ you can currently get a 4.1kWh battery (no solar panels) for £3,299.00 by agreeing to let the grid use the battery occasionally.

Jbennett51 wrote: »

Is it worth it? Should I get a bigger system? Is the battery pointless? Hold off?

It is worth it, or at least it is a lot of fun. Batteries are not pointless, but are expensive (read some of the other threads in this forum about batteries). Should you get a bigger system - well, I and some others on this forum did (see signature below). There's an argument for buying the panels now but buying the battery storage later, but if you can afford it then there's equally an argument for getting it all sorted as one system.

Martyn1981

Hi jb.

The maths/economics probably improve dramatically if you get a better quote.

These days with more efficient panels (more generation from the same space), you should really be aiming for around 5kWp.

Prices will vary ..... massively ..... but somewhere around £1k/kWp would be nice.

Regarding leccy savings, this is very tricky. I save around £180 pa from my system (see autosig) which with generation of around 4,500kWh pa equates to a decent 4.5kWp south facing system.

There's also the sale of excess which is about 5p/kWh.

You can use more with a battery, but costs and savings might be close to breakeven at the moment.

You might save a bit more slow charging an EV in the future, if it's home when it's sunny.

Also, you might find that running a small ASHP (one room aircon unit) gives you a cool place in the house during heatwaves, and enough heating when it's marginal, like now(ish) and Mch/Apr, the shoulder months.

Lots to think about, but worth chatting.

Reed_Richards

Between 1st April 2010 and 31st March 2019 the Government ran a subsidy scheme known as the Feed-In Tariff. Under this scheme you got a payment for the electricity you generated and another payment for the electricity you exported (or were deemed to have exported). There are plans to replace this scheme with a Smart Export Guarantee which will, I believe, guarantee a minimum payment for electricity you actually do export. But at the moment we are in a sort of limbo when only one electricity company, Octopus, will pay you for the spare electricity you export. Until this is resolved it's impossible to calculate the economics of purchasing solar panels.

Exiled_Tyke

Top tips:

1. Whatever Martyn says goes. He knows the most, researches the most and give the best advice.
2. Get a few quotes to get a feel for the local market.
3. Name the names. Sometimes people here will be familiar with installers. They often know who the bad guys are.
4. Put up here the quotes, the size of the system orientation and the estimated generation. If you also tell us where you are people will check whether they are sound estimates or not.
5. Take savings estimates from installers with a pinch of salt. Again people here may be able to give you a good idea of how much is reasonable. If you are in the house during the middle of the day and can also set appliances (the big ones are washing machines and dishwashers) to run at peak times you will save more. If you use an immersion heating for hot water thats another possibility.
6. It isn't reasonably to assume any price rises for electricity. At best price rises may compensate for the lost interest in the money you could have invested instead of buying you system.
7. NEVER EVER combine installation with a loan arrangement set up by the installer. I've never come across one that's been a good deal and I'm pretty sure everyone else here will say the same.

That's all I can think of for now! Good luck with doing more research: It's interesting stuff.

Martyn1981

Exiled_Tyke wrote: »

Top tips:

6. It isn't reasonably to assume any price rises for electricity. At best price rises may compensate for the lost interest in the money you could have invested instead of buying you system.

Carbon tax will probably push up the gas bit, but RE is getting cheaper than the average so down a bit, but storage costs in the long term will add a bit, but RE and storage getting really cheap in the longer term ......... not a flippin clue!!!!!!

Best guess, where we are plus inflation. Really sticking my neck out there, call me daredevil Mart from now on.


PS, 50 limit?

Solarchaser

I'd say it's worth it, but at the right price point as others have said.
I'd personally look at the size of your south facing roof and fill it with as many panels will fit.
300w panels seem to be the norm these days, whereas a few years ago it was 250w panels, you can get even 400w panels, but the price increase from the 300w panels makes them bot worth the extra imo.
2.5kw will be around £3k, whereas 4kw will be around £4k, so maybe 6kw would be £5.5k for a decent priced install.

Batteries are in many ways still in their infancy, and when you have people at home all day, perhaps not as useful as it would be for those who are out all day.
Combining a solar diversion immersion should help to sup up the extra electric... assuming you have room for a thermal store.

If you do decide you want batteries there are many options out there, I'd personally be expecting around 6kwh of useable storage for a little over £3k.

JKenH

You might want to have a look at this thread as well.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6041354/solar-panels-are-they-worth-it

Solar Panels - are they worth it?

mmmmikey

At the risk of confusing things, could I float a slightly different idea? Buy the battery first......

The established view on batteries is that they're something you buy to store spare energy from your solar panels, but that you can also use to store cheap off-rate electrcity if you're on an E7 tarriff. It's quite natural that the thinking on this forum is skewed towards that way of thinking because many of the folk here have solar panels already.

I am progressively reinforcing my view that it will become the norm to look at this very differently in the near future for new installations (i.e. where you don't already have panels).

My theory (expectation?) is that as smart meters get over their undoubtedly shaky start, more and more time of use tariffs will become available, and for many people buying a battery system to store electricity bought when it's cheap for use when it's expensive will be a winner, even without solar panels.

So if I moved to a house without solar panels or battery storage today, I'd probably either be looking to buy the battery system before the panels, using the Octopus Agile tariff (and keeping my fingers crossed that more similar tariffs follow suit and increase the competiton) or I'd hang on for a year and see what happens to tariffs.

I've posted this view here and there a couple of times and nobody has shot me down, but having said that I do recognise that it may be a bit too speculative for many.