solar panel power generation

2nd_time_buyer

Effician said:

Happy_Sloth said:

Hey all we've been pricing up a solar panel array. 

 we'd be using the last of my husband inheritance to pay for it at a time we don't have tons of cash laying about, so im looking to figure out if this would be a good use of that money?

At a price of around £11k? 

Maybe a good time to go back to your debt free wannabe thread as i'm sure the experts on there could find far better ways of making use of the £11k you've just found.

Sorry, but I am not a big fan of these kind of comments. People come to the forums for advice and knowledge.  

Happy_Sloth

QrizB said:

Effician said:

Happy_Sloth said:

Hey all we've been pricing up a solar panel array. 

 we'd be using the last of my husband inheritance to pay for it at a time we don't have tons of cash laying about, so im looking to figure out if this would be a good use of that money?

At a price of around £11k?

Maybe a good time to go back to your debt free wannabe thread as i'm sure the experts on there could find far better ways of making use of the £11k you've just found.

Good point.

Clearing the kitechen loan (5.2%) and car loan (4.5%) would be a much better ROI than solar, and would reduce the OP's outgoings by £325/month.

I realise it seems counter initiative.. 

The money we have is not to be used for debt,  my father in law was very specific on what the money was for.   Ideally he wanted us to use it for holiday's,  or at a push he accepted home improvements.  But was very clear the money wasn't to be used for debt or bills. 

We have just been trying to see if we can figure out the best use of it, without going against his wishes. Hoping to find a way that would benefit our financial situation as well as still doing what he wanted. 

It looks like solar isn't going to improve our financial situation enough to be the loophole i was looking for … so we need to go back to the drawing boards.  

Verdigris

I'm spending a large amount of my inheritance on renewables and a heat pump to try to mitigate the environmental damage my mother did going on countless cruises.

Happy_Sloth

Verdigris said:

I'm spending a large amount of my inheritance on renewables and a heat pump to try to mitigate the environmental damage my mother did going on countless cruises.

My father in law would have approved a cruise as a good use of the money haha....   sadly i just can't justify it myself right now.  Given everything in the world and our financial situation.  

Just trying to find a way of spending it that i can convince the OH is something his dad would approve of AND will help our finances long term...  it's proving to be tricky.  

Verdigris

I'm sure my mother would approve of me going on cruises, too. However, I have a responsibility to her grandchildren and great grandchildren to leave an inhabitable planet. I think it is perfectly ethical to ignore the wishes of somebody, who perhaps hasn't given enough thought to the future, to mitigate the damage done by their generation.

2nd_time_buyer

My take from the above posts is not that solar is a bad choice but that you have had a bad quote. The general consensus is that a solar only system (without battery) can have a reasonable payback period. Generally, it is more financially viable for bigger systems and there is a high household energy consumption. You have a high energy consumption but I would be inclined to look at getting quotes which maximize the number of panels you can fit on your roof.

Happy_Sloth

2nd_time_buyer said:

My take from the above posts is not that solar is a bad choice but that you have had a bad quote. The general consensus is that a solar only system (without battery) can have a reasonable payback period. Generally, it is more financially viable for bigger systems and there is a high household energy consumption. You have a high energy consumption but I would be inclined to look at getting quotes which maximize the number of panels you can fit on your roof.

We have another quote, which im hoping might be better.... 

19 x 395watt  panels totalling a 7.5KW system.  this company have said there is no point getting a battery on day 1 as chances are given our high daytime usage we wouldn't fill it. They suggested, it's better to monitor usage and export over the first year and adding a battery later if we find we are exporting a lot.  

Given our location in the north west of England, they suggest this will generate around 6480 KWH a year but noted that we wouldn't keep/use all we generated in the summer so we should expect our "energy saving" to be around 3888 kWH leaving us to still pay for around 5000dkWH per year mostly during the winter months and we've been expected to export around 2500 KHW mostly during May/July.  

I've done the math... i think it would bring the energy bill down by about £70 per month, granted taking 11 years to get ROI  (At todays prices 21p per unit)  

The whole situation is tricky,  we where left money by my OH's dad when he passed away,  OH did not deal well with his dads passing still isn't working 18 months later. (Not all due to his dads passing but it contributes to his poor mental health).   

We spent some of the money on rendering/windows to resolve some heat/damp problems in the house. The remaining money was supposed to go on a holiday as per his dads wish's.  OH is very set on keeping the remaining money for something nice! his preference still is a holiday.  

Given our financial state is a little rough.. and a holiday will do nothing to improve it.. i'm trying to find a better way of spending it.  Getting OH to part with the last bit of the money is a sensitive matter it's been sitting in an account for 18 months and he has categorically ruled out debt repayment. 

I will grant Solar is a fantastical idea... but i figured there is no harm looking at the numbers... looking at the numbers costs nothing,  as it's always been on our long term plan.    

Although not the best use,  if we bought Solar outright it would reduce the houses monthly outgoings.  The saving could then be directed towards the debt in the short term without my husband feeling like we used the money on debt.

I have never suggested it's the most sensible way of doing it's not.  But it's not my money and i'm just looking at every option at present.   

2nd_time_buyer

... obviously the key bit of information missing from the above post is the cost.

Everything else seems realistic at first glance

If it is in the region of £8000 then that would be about right.

Solar could be seen as a jam tomorrow type investment i.e. you could use savings for holidays once your financial situation permits. 

One of the key requisites is that you have no plans on moving.

QrizB

Happy_Sloth said:

19 x 395watt  panels totalling a 7.5KW system.  this company have said there is no point getting a battery on day 1 as chances are given our high daytime usage we wouldn't fill it. They suggested, it's better to monitor usage and export over the first year and adding a battery later if we find we are exporting a lot. 

That's a good-sized system and better advice re. battery.

I've done the math... i think it would bring the energy bill down by about £70 per month, granted taking 11 years to get ROI  (At todays prices 21p per unit) 

This suggests a price of around £9k for the system, perhaps a little more?

hosay299

QrizB said:

Happy_Sloth said:

19 x 395watt  panels totalling a 7.5KW system.  this company have said there is no point getting a battery on day 1 as chances are given our high daytime usage we wouldn't fill it. They suggested, it's better to monitor usage and export over the first year and adding a battery later if we find we are exporting a lot. 

That's a good-sized system and better advice re. battery.

I've done the math... i think it would bring the energy bill down by about £70 per month, granted taking 11 years to get ROI  (At todays prices 21p per unit) 

This suggests a price of around £9k for the system, perhaps a little more?

whats the cost for just the normal system with out the Battery