Solar panels worth it?

QrizB

elvisfan21 said:

With the increases in the price of energy, has anyone's thoughts changed on solar panels? I'm thinking of adding a battery to my existing panels. Not sure if I should add a battery or more panels.

Do you have a FIT, or are you on SEG? Or neither?

shawry_99

The problem with adding a battery is the VAT.  I got a small battery (5.2kWh) as the 8.2kWh one I wanted was out of stock, and no forecast for coming back into stock. I have 10 x 390W panels.

Since June 1st my approximate savings are £275, with an additional £16 I have missed out on due to not being able to apply for SEG (4.1p/kWh)  due to waiting for paperwork to arrive (application now submitted)

Adding a new battery would cost about £4k which I dont think is cost effective for me as things stand as it would take just over 10 years to pay back as I used a friends winter generation to estimate mine, and I think not getting a larger battery will mean I pay about £400 a year extra.

Current Tariff is S/C 39.10p. Day Rate 37.97p, Night rate 4.5p

I plan to re-assess once I've had solar a year though so I can see my own figures.

Reed_Richards

QrizB said:
....you get more energy from an acre by making electricity than you do with eg. oilseed for biodiesel.

I've always thought it should not be an either/or choice.  The land around a field full of solar panels still gets plenty of light and should be capable of growing some crops.  There isn't room for a full-size tractor but something small and robotic should be able to manage if the panels were mounted suitably in the first place.     

gazapc

QrizB said:

Section62 said:

Given the situation with Ukraine/Russia and the impact that will have on food supplies (particularly seed oils) the subject of conversion of 280 acres of good farmland into a solar farm should engage a much wider thought process, well beyond any alleged NIMBYism. (along with all the other farmland being lost nationally to energy production and housing)

If you're looking at beneficial use of land, you could generate enough solar electricity to equal the UK's annual consumption by using less land than is currently occupied by golf courses.

This stat caught my eye. Google says there are 1256 sq km of golf courses in the UK, or 125,600 Hectares.

As a rule of thumb you can now get about 1 MW of solar per Hectare, and each MW installed will generate 1000 MWh in a year (less in Scotland). So the golf courses will now have 125 GW of solar (about 9 times existing  PV capacity) and generate 125 TWh of electricity per year.

UK annual electricity consumption is way higher at ~300 TWh. In addition, solar generation is weighted towards the summer so a significant proportion of the potential electricity would need to be curtailed during these months as - GB demand tops out at 40 GW in summer.

So a thought provoking exercise, but unfortunately not true.

QrizB

gazapc said:

QrizB said:

If you're looking at beneficial use of land, you could generate enough solar electricity to equal the UK's annual consumption by using less land than is currently occupied by golf courses.

This stat caught my eye. Google says there are 1256 sq km of golf courses in the UK, or 125,600 Hectares.

...

So a thought provoking exercise, but unfortunately not true.

270,000 hectares estimated by Inside Housing, which by your method would give 270TWh/yr - close enough to 300TWh/yr for the purposes of this thread.

MattMattMattUK

Or alternatively, if using nuclear around 9,000 hectares would be all the land needed to generate all of the capacity the UK is expected to need to need if electricity was the UK's only energy source (replacing gas, petrol and diesel). 

gazapc

QrizB said:

gazapc said:

QrizB said:

If you're looking at beneficial use of land, you could generate enough solar electricity to equal the UK's annual consumption by using less land than is currently occupied by golf courses.

This stat caught my eye. Google says there are 1256 sq km of golf courses in the UK, or 125,600 Hectares.

...

So a thought provoking exercise, but unfortunately not true.

270,000 hectares estimated by Inside Housing, which by your method would give 270TWh/yr - close enough to 300TWh/yr for the purposes of this thread.

Interesting! Although this FT article concludes the 270,000 Ha is likely a significant overestimate

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www.ft.com/content/79772697-54e4-32c9-96d7-5c1110270eb2



There are many very large solar PV projects on agricultural land being developed at the moment.  The scale is much bigger than the existing average site size. It wouldn't surprise me to see some pushback politically on this in the near future, although perhaps a Gas shortage will focus minds....

elvisfan21

shawry_99 said:

The problem with adding a battery is the VAT.  I got a small battery (5.2kWh) as the 8.2kWh one I wanted was out of stock, and no forecast for coming back into stock. I have 10 x 390W panels.

Since June 1st my approximate savings are £275, with an additional £16 I have missed out on due to not being able to apply for SEG (4.1p/kWh)  due to waiting for paperwork to arrive (application now submitted)

Adding a new battery would cost about £4k which I dont think is cost effective for me as things stand as it would take just over 10 years to pay back as I used a friends winter generation to estimate mine, and I think not getting a larger battery will mean I pay about £400 a year extra.

Current Tariff is S/C 39.10p. Day Rate 37.97p, Night rate 4.5p

I plan to re-assess once I've had solar a year though so I can see my own figures.

Would you be adding a battery on top of your existing battery?

How much did you pay for your smaller battery? 

Also I would be interested to know how much your average bill was before solar?

Jono217

Just about to have 12 x 390W panels with an inverter and battery fitted, south facing roof, unshaded, gets the sun all day. We'll see how it goes. Can't do any harm the way the prices are headed. Every little helps.

Alnat1

@Jono217 I'm sure you'll be really happy you went for it. You have missed the best months of generation this year but if prices keep rising as predicted, next spring as the days get longer, your smile will get bigger.