Is Solar PV still worth it?

Therooster100

Solarchaser said:

Therooster100 said:

Solarchaser said:

I'd suggest you would get a better return with more panels, as this will serve you better in the winter months when you will use more electricity for heating.
10Mwh is alot,  and so I'd say you have a good chance of using all of your electric.
Assuming you have a hot water tank, then a solar diverter would be advantageous to use the excess solar once the batteries are filled.

And moving to octopus go would also help use your battery and heat the hot water for 5ppkwh instead of 15ppkwh in the winter

Thanks. I cant get more pannnels on my roof unfortunately the maximum is 12 as we have dormer style windows which take up space! 

Ahh yeah thats a good reason, what about a west facing roof?
It won't give you as good a return as south facing, but is very good for later summer sun and some winter sun when it's low in the sky

My whole roof at the back of the house is south facing so it gets the sun all day. Unfortunately the other side (front of the house) is north facing so no sun at all! I would love more pannnels but I can't think of a solution 

Mickey666

Therooster100 said:

Mickey666 said:

When I moved to my current house, I was full of enthusiasm for 'going green' (solar PV & thermal, GSHP etc) but the more I investigated the options the less financially viable they seemed to be.  A 15-20 year payback time seemed just too speculative, especially with PV panels being rated for around 25 years. 

So I invested in having mains gas connected to the house instead, which cost about £500 in total.  Having mains gas then immediately kicked out any form of heat pump being financially viable as it would need to be around 400% efficient just to have the same running cost as a condensing gas boiler.  

I expect to revisit things in about 5-6 years time when my car might need replacement and I'll throw and EV into the mix, which might change the financial viability of solar PV, plus mains gas prices might also have increased relative to electricity.  So, I'm certainly not against PV but I just can't see it as a sensible financial option at the present time.

I'm still thinking about solar thermal though and deliberately specified a spare coil in my thermal store to make it an easy addition if necessary.  But mains gas is a tough competitor when it comes to cheap energy.

I did ask how much ir was to get connected to the mains gas and it was just over 1 million! So unfortunately that's not a starter! 

Ha!   Yes, that would certainly have changed my calculations! 
Some interesting comparative energy costs here.  https://nottenergy.com/resources/energy-cost-comparison/
Seems that mains gas is really the PV-killer but if that's not available then even the next cheapest option of heating oil is around twice the price of grid electricity.

It will be interesting to see if government really does stick to its stated goal of banning new-build gas boilers by 2025.  I think the trend towards electric-everything is fairly clear though I'm not convinced about such an aggressive timescale, mainly because of the economics meaning higher energy costs and the consequent political ramifications.
It's going to be an interesting decade that's for sure.

Solarchaser

Therooster100 said:

Solarchaser said:

Therooster100 said:

Solarchaser said:

I'd suggest you would get a better return with more panels, as this will serve you better in the winter months when you will use more electricity for heating.
10Mwh is alot,  and so I'd say you have a good chance of using all of your electric.
Assuming you have a hot water tank, then a solar diverter would be advantageous to use the excess solar once the batteries are filled.

And moving to octopus go would also help use your battery and heat the hot water for 5ppkwh instead of 15ppkwh in the winter

Thanks. I cant get more pannnels on my roof unfortunately the maximum is 12 as we have dormer style windows which take up space! 

Ahh yeah thats a good reason, what about a west facing roof?
It won't give you as good a return as south facing, but is very good for later summer sun and some winter sun when it's low in the sky

My whole roof at the back of the house is south facing so it gets the sun all day. Unfortunately the other side (front of the house) is north facing so no sun at all! I would love more pannnels but I can't think of a solution 

Do you have a garage? That's where I have my East and west panels.

Or is there room for a ground mount of some description,  or maybe a wind turbine?

I mean, I'm guessing not as I'm sure you would have considered this already.
I feel for you and that hefty leccy bill.

Therooster100

Solarchaser said:

Therooster100 said:

Solarchaser said:

Therooster100 said:

Solarchaser said:

I'd suggest you would get a better return with more panels, as this will serve you better in the winter months when you will use more electricity for heating.
10Mwh is alot,  and so I'd say you have a good chance of using all of your electric.
Assuming you have a hot water tank, then a solar diverter would be advantageous to use the excess solar once the batteries are filled.

And moving to octopus go would also help use your battery and heat the hot water for 5ppkwh instead of 15ppkwh in the winter

Thanks. I cant get more pannnels on my roof unfortunately the maximum is 12 as we have dormer style windows which take up space! 

Ahh yeah thats a good reason, what about a west facing roof?
It won't give you as good a return as south facing, but is very good for later summer sun and some winter sun when it's low in the sky

My whole roof at the back of the house is south facing so it gets the sun all day. Unfortunately the other side (front of the house) is north facing so no sun at all! I would love more pannnels but I can't think of a solution 

Do you have a garage? That's where I have my East and west panels.

Or is there room for a ground mount of some description,  or maybe a wind turbine?

I mean, I'm guessing not as I'm sure you would have considered this already.
I feel for you and that hefty leccy bill.

I do have a garage but it doesn't get the sun is blocked by the house! 
I wish there was space for a wind turbine but the garden is on the small side which is strange as it's a 5 bedroom house! 
The only options I can think of are the ASHP which we are getting installed soon & Solar PV? 

Therooster100

The red circle is the house & behind where the white car is the garage! 

Solarchaser

Ahh yeah, nothing much you can do there. 
You do have a case for getting the highest wattage panels as you can since you don't have the largest area for them

ABrass

You might be able to squeeze some in mounted on your walls, it isn't a look most people enjoy but it does get you more panels and they complement other angles.

Martyn1981

ABrass said:

You might be able to squeeze some in mounted on your walls, it isn't a look most people enjoy but it does get you more panels and they complement other angles.

LOL, I was thinking that too. Only concern though is that you may need planning permission for wall mounted PV as I don't think it's covered by the permitted development rules for roof mounted.
There's also that lovely field for a ground mount, but I 'trespassing' and 'illegal erections' spring to mind.

Therooster100

Martyn1981 said:

ABrass said:

You might be able to squeeze some in mounted on your walls, it isn't a look most people enjoy but it does get you more panels and they complement other angles.

LOL, I was thinking that too. Only concern though is that you may need planning permission for wall mounted PV as I don't think it's covered by the permitted development rules for roof mounted.
There's also that lovely field for a ground mount, but I 'trespassing' and 'illegal erections' spring to mind.

Now that would be ideal all the pannnels in the field but alas I don't think it will be allowed! 

Screwdriva

I have a thread on this very subject with detailed actual numbers from 2020. Summarized, without substantially increased electricity tariffs and a higher SEG tariff, solar is no longer financially attractive, essentially impossible to achieve a payback in < 15 years.