Solar panels - do they worth it?

javixeneize

Hi
i have always been interested in installing solar panels at home, but I read that you will need around 20 years to make it profitable.

In September, the government will launch this new green home grant initiative. Would it be a good opportunity to install solar panels? 

Thanks

Gerry1

Might be better in the Green & Ethical MoneySaving forum.

javixeneize

I didn’t know this forum. Can this be transferred?

ic

No - the grant will only pay towards heating and insulating your home.  Solar thermal is covered, but not solar panels for generating electricity. https://www.simpleenergyadvice.org.uk/pages/green-homes-grant

Gerry1

javixeneize said:

I didn’t know this forum. Can this be transferred?

Just post it again, or ask the mods to move it.

ronrapp

Hi
Has anyone done any financial analysis on Solar Panel payback when combined with operating an electric vehicle (EV)? Seems to me if you can essentially charge your car for free off your solar panels then the payback may be quicker at the 20+ years. Especially if you are replacing a fossil fuel car. Might not make sense for everyone but as a retired person using your EV for all your local or short journeys make sense. Can't imagine that this government isn't seriously looking to give incentives for this especially with Boris claiming he wants the UK to lead by example in the post Covid green regeneration. Local generation and consumption makes sense given the amount of power required to charge EVs am I the only one thinking this way?

couriervanman

I still cant see the 2035 date being the cutoff deadline for petrol/diesel/hybrid cars

tim_p

Solar PV will contribute to the charging of an EV yes, but in general the time when you will be able to actually charge the car is probably the time you would want to be using it.  You won’t come close to fully charging it in the months between, say, Oct and Feb/ Mar (with a typical 4KW south facing system) 
There are some interesting threads over on the Green and Ethical forum, worth a read.
On a decent sunny spring / summer day the typical system will generate around 30kWh, isn’t that only the max capacity of a smaller EV?  So, it will help but conversely the approx cost of a system at around £4K will but a lot of miles of unleaded and even more diesel miles. 

ronrapp

Hi I guess being retired means I can leave my car to charge during daylight. Certainly most people can't afford the luxury of a car to drive and one to charge although many people do have two cars. So I'm looking for government incentives to cushion the blow and certainly the standard 4kw system won't be way enough as that is based on the current energy consumption minus charging BEVs at home. Even the government confessed the grid feeds into homes cannot entertain the large BEVs of the future which even means expensive grid upgrades or facilitating residential power generation. And there's some really interesting tech round the corner certainly lower cost and higher efficiency PV panels. Cheaper and better battery technology and whatever happens the cheapest place to charge your BEV will be your home assuming that you choose the right supplier and tariff. I'd expect public charging venues to charge a premium so to speak. Maybe some car makers will even develop easy  removable batteries so you can cycle two sets. In the meantime I think I'll crunch the math on swapping my small diesel car including servicing, road tax and running costs against a leased BEV (no running costs) and a large (~10kw) solar PV system and see where the cross over point is in anticipation of appropriate Government incentives so at least I'll be ready to make the switch.