Solar Panels

minorman

Benny2020 said:

What does The energy saving trust calculator say?

Depending how you "load " the settings, for a 4 KW peak system on a west facing roof only and only effectively being home in the evening where we use most electricity we could save up to £295 per annum. To benefit from the electricity produced we would have to rearrange completely how we work and cook plus washing machines, dishwasher etc  .I  don't know what a typical price would be for a 4 kW peak solar system as the last time I looked at "online quotes" I had a salesman ringing me up before I had even finished filling in answers to all the questions !  Assuming £6000 it would take me 20.3333 etc years to get my investment back.

QrizB

minorman said:

I  don't know what a typical price would be for a 4 kW peak solar system ...

Last year, before the supply chain crunch, it would've been about £4000. I expect it will be again, in a year or two.

Your estimate of £295/yr seems low.

4kWp on a well-oriented roof in the southern half of the UK will generate around 4000kWh/yr, which can be sold to the grid for 7.5p/kWh even if you're out of the house all day from dawn to dusk don't use any of it yourself. That would earn £300/yr.

If instead you manage to use a quarter of it (1000kWh/yr) you'll be saving £280/yr and earning £225/yr, a total return of £505/yr.

Benny2020

So that is assuming you will actually use about 1000kw of the generation.
Don't forget that prices will likely continue to rise and you can sell what you don't use for 7.5p? per kwh.
If you get a diverter you will likely use another 1500 kwh of generation on hot water assuming you have a hot water tank.

Tula100

I worked out it could take me up to 20 years to recoup the cost of solar panels.  And then they have to be replaced, so the asset is not permanent.  If I invest £6000 in shares and get 4% it is as much as I would save with the solar panels, and at the end of 20 years I still have my investment!

[Deleted User]

christineessam said:

We have both solar panels and photovoltaic panels.  Over the summer months we don’t use gas or electricity but we still have to pay the, now enormous, standing charges!  This doesn’t encourage people to ‘go green’, the savings are drastically reduced because of the standing charge.  Is there anyway to reduce this?

I hate to tell you this but Ofgem has indicated that it may consult on charging PV solar owners a Grid distribution cost. As a generator you are making use of the Grid to export your excess solar.

gefnew

Tula100 Why would you have to replace anything in twenty years time as they will still be working and generating.
You may have to replace the invertor but you can get 25 year warranty for that and also the panels.
Try this forum for a more informed opinion.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/green-ethical-moneysaving

markin

Tula100 said:

I worked out it could take me up to 20 years to recoup the cost of solar panels.  And then they have to be replaced, so the asset is not permanent.  If I invest £6000 in shares and get 4% it is as much as I would save with the solar panels, and at the end of 20 years I still have my investment!

The average pay back is 9-15 years, and they should still work at 30 years old, The price for a 4kw system  currently start around £5,500

Benny2020

A 4kw system should produce 4000 kwh a year, if you use half then thats £560 a year so 10 years payback before you factor in using more with a diverter, future energy rises and SEG payments. 

Petriix

Benny2020 said:

A 4kw system should produce 4000 kwh a year, if you use half then thats £560 a year so 10 years payback before you factor in using more with a diverter, future energy rises and SEG payments. 

Using half is wildly optimistic unless you have a battery or an EV. It's often possible for people to waste some of their excess to help pretend the savings are better, but it's not the real story.

We have an EV and work from home and manage to use about 60% of the ~ 3500kWh we generate from our 3.42kWp system. But the ~ 1000kWh which goes to the car and probably 500kWh of home load is only really 'saving' the 5p per kWh overnight rate on Octopus Go; with only ~ 600kWh of genuinely unavoidable peak usage (at 25p per kWh). So, current savings are arguably only £225 on my existing fix.

At current Go rates that increases to £322.50, but that's with a decent commitment to optimising self consumption. With a battery I could likely self consume another 1000kWh and load shift yet another 1000kWh to the 5p rate (at 80% efficiency) saving another £437.50 on my fix, or ~ £600 at current Go rates.

Obviously with higher usage you'd be able to save a bit more. While a £560 annual saving from solar alone is unlikely, a £1000 saving is easily possible with a battery and an EV. 

Benny2020

I was being pessimistic with 50%, I generated 17 kwh today and used 15.