getting solar pannels

jimjames

hosay299 said:

@QrizB we have South facing no trees do have a chimney but us in middle of us and next door so not really in the way

South facing, no shade this is the generation from 3kWp panels

http://solar-panels-review.321web.co.uk/index.php/yearly-comparison-of-solar-pv

markin

Generally just solar alone will pay back in 9 to 15 years as long as you don't pay silly money or move as people will not usually pay a premium for Solar, Calculations for a solar diverter for a hot water tank, or a battery system need to be done separately and don't seem to be worth it at the moment unless you DIY them.

Or you could just invest in a Ripple wind farm instead.

paul991

i do not  understand how a immersion diverter can  be said  not  to pay .admittedly i  am a electrician and fitted by own takes 1 hour max. i fitted mine 7 years ago and  have free hot water over 300 days  a year and then like today the second supply has fed a 1.5 kw convector heater in my lounge from 11 to 1630, saving  my  gas heating
the life of the device is not known but can see no reason for it  not to keep going for another 10 years.
i do agree it is probably  better to invest £1000 in ripple than buy batteries at the moment unless you want to get involved in reselling back to  the grid

QrizB

paul991 said:

i do not understand how a immersion diverter can be said not to pay

Imagine you have a choice of how you heat your water. You can heat it using gas in a 90% efficient boiler paying (7.5/0.9) 8.3p/kWh or you can heat it with solar electricity that you could sell to Octopus for 7.5p/kWh.

In effect, you are only saving 0.8p/kWh for each kWh you divert.

Now imagine that, over a typical year, you divert 2000kWh (50% of the output of a typical rooftop array). Your total saving for the year is £16.

If you spent £200 on the diverter, your payback time is 12.5 years. If you spent £400, it's 25 years.

Now imagine that, instead of Octopus Outgoing Fixed, you choose Octopus Outgoing Agile. Currently that's paying around 20p/kWh so each kWh you divert *costs you* 11.7p/kWh. Divert 2000kWh and you're £234 worse off than you would've been if you'd used gas instead.

hosay299

@paul991 what heater is that and where from and it heats the room for the time window u said???

paul991

i just  got  a  cheap 2 position convector 750 watts  or and 1250 watts argos  do one called the challenge but ive seen the same heater sold with different  names on else where,as i get the fit  payment its in my interest to use as much as possible.this supply also  fires up my heated towel radiators when not  using gas

Benny2020

I have had a 4kwh system (16 panels) for over 6 years so i get 17p ( soon 18.4p) per kwh for generating which changes the economics but i can say that on average they have produced 4100 kwh per year since install.
I get a tank of hot water for free between february and november. January and december are difficult as only around 100 kwh are generated in those months and 600 kwh in may, june,july.

hosay299

@paul991 OK so we could get a heater and get free power or use the free power supply for other thing so solar panels are best thing to get either way??

markin

hosay299 said:

@paul991 OK so we could get a heater and get free power or use the free power supply for other thing so solar panels are best thing to get either way??

Not free if you could sell that power on a sunny day when you don't really need the heat, and Gas heating could be cheaper.

Exiled_Tyke

markin said:

hosay299 said:

@paul991 OK so we could get a heater and get free power or use the free power supply for other thing so solar panels are best thing to get either way??

Not free if you could sell that power on a sunny day when you don't really need the heat, and Gas heating could be cheaper.

small amounts of heating from PV is likely to be a good strategy. When I'm working at home on a sunny day I have an electric radiator which I can set at 400,600 or 1000 watts.  In my small office 400 is usually fine.  This is substantially cheaper than heating the whole house with the gas central heating.   

As markin suggests if you can sell leccy at a price no matter how low, then do that rather than use it unnecessary.  

As for gas prices in the future? Who knows.  I'm guessing as more electricity comes in from renewable sources the difference between gas and electricity may well narrow which will point towards using more PV generation for heating.