Solar PV is it worth it?

themaverick1953

I was one of the first in my part of Yorkshire to get spv and got something like 53p per unit, cost was £14k. We left 6 years ago and I get regular grief from the other half about it 2/3 times a year.

Is it worth getting now? We have several different rooves facing SSE ESE and WNW.

Reed_Richards

How long is a piece of string?  Worth it depends on how much electricity you use, when you use it, whether you are able and prepared to shift your usage times, how much you get charged for the installation, whether you have to borrow to fund it, interest rates etc.  I think it does work out for most people and they get their money back well within the 25 years you might expect to be the life of your panels.

Mikeyboy01443

Its different for eveyone... people always talk about payback rates, i dont see how that matters, what other big purchases pay for themselves? 
On the other side of the coin think how much you will have to spend on bills come winter time - what if electricity prices go up even more next year? And the year after that? 
If you get solar then you are protected from any future price hikes.
What else could you have spent that money on that would have paid for itself, even leaving it in the bank to cover the bills it would be nearly gone 😁

70sbudgie

Before I got PV installed, I did the financial calcs for my other half. It worked out as a 16 year pay back, which didn't seem that great, because we didn't know whether we would be in the house that long. However, that also reflected about a 6% annual return. Which was clearly much better than it was doing sitting in the bank. 

I repeated the calcs with actual data after the first year and it was pretty much on track. Within a month of that my export and import rates went up. So I am expecting this year to be an improvement and therefore reduce the payback. Though what to will depend on what happens in October. 

I have E-W panels and live south east of Manchester.

Screwdriva

Short answer: Yes
Long answer: Absolutely. Not a shadow of doubt. I don't see electricity prices coming down. 

NoobSolar

Especially if you have an iboost too. We have 6.4 kW solar and in February we only failed to heat our hot water (240 litre tank) for free from the sun on about 5 days. With a log burner downstairs I will only need to heat the upstairs this winter.