Solar Panels

Cluelessabouttax

My partner and I are deep into the conveyancing process of buying a house which is an older property but not listed. We got a level 3 survey which showed that the roofing tiles on the oldest part of the house were on their last legs and that the boiler although functional was 20 years old, inefficient and should be replaced. Depending on a few factors (chiefly if the vendors will agree to our reducing our offer to match the cost of the major works required within a year) we will still proceed with buying the house. 

The above combined with the surveyors remarks that the government is keen to phase out gas boilers and the rising price of gas has got me thinking that if we proceed with the purchase and get the roof repaired we should seriously consider having solar panels installed and the hot water and electrical systems converted to solar power. A large section of the roofing on the house is south facing and there should be more than sufficient square meterage available. While we both work outside of the home our ours and days can be highly variable so I think we would be at home enough to make solar energy worthwhile 

What are others experiences of using solar power and selling energy back to the grid etc? How is the installation, maintenance and how long did it take for the panels to pay off their initial outlay? Also thinking further towards the future do solar panels generate sufficient electricity for electrical vehicle charging? 

Thanks in advance. 

gefnew

I would post on this forum as it is full of solar experts.
Green & Ethical MoneySaving — MoneySavingExpert Forum

QrizB

The big problem you'll face is that solar PV works well in the long sunny summer months but in the winter, when you want space heating, it's dark for 16 hrs of the day and frequently overcast for the rest.

I worked out in this post that, in my moderately-sized 50s three-bed semi, I'd need a 70kWp solar array to see me through the winter on solar only. That's 25x as much solar as will fit on my roof and would cost around £80k to install.

I'd suggest you stick with gas for heating unless you don't mind spending the extra for a heat pump.

gefnew said:

I would post on this forum as it is full of solar experts.
Green & Ethical MoneySaving — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Yes, if you want to discuss this in detail that's a much better forum for it.

markin

I wouldn't expect much if any discount, The boiler could go on for another 10 years or break tomorrow, That's what home ownership is about, And the roof that is on their last legs could also be fine for 10-20 years unless its obvious the is 100's of broken tiles and needs doing 'urgently', Its still a sellers market, isn't it, depending on the area.

Benny2020

The only months that are a real problem are December and January where i only average around 100 kwh each month.
From February through November there is more than enough power to cover base load and give me a tank of hot water.
This time of the year you could do all that and still put 15 - 20 kwh in an EV.

[Deleted User]

Benny2020 said:

The only months that are a real problem are December and January where i only average around 100 kwh each month.
From February through November there is more than enough power to cover base load and give me a tank of hot water.
This time of the year you could do all that and still put 15 - 20 kwh in an EV.

Surely, that depends on the size of the array. I have a 6.5kWp array and my worst day in December was 350Wh. Hardly enough to cover the baseload for a couple of hours. 

Benny2020

I said month. I have 4kWp and would not be without it.
22 kwh generated today.
You get bad days and you get good days.

markin

With the best SEG of 7p and you selling 60% the payback time could be heading to 10 - 11 years Vs 8 years if you can self consume 60%

Benny2020

Depends on future prices as well.

Ally_E.

Based on April price hike, MSE was saying it would take 13 years to break even if one installed solar now. That's a long time to wait. Obviously with the October hike that number will go down, but still a long time. Will you be in the same house still to see the break even point?

Benny2020

Depends how much solar you have installed, how much you pay for it, what future gas and electric prices are and how you use the generated power. 
Your choice.