Should Liz Truss have offered free solar panels as well?

uk1

Dolor said:

uk1 said:

We have just been asked to join a local authority initiative under Solar Together that promises the benefits of going out to auction for Solar PV systems.  I wonder whether this is actually providing any real benefit …….

Do your own calculations. A 4kWp array may cost £5000 and output about 4000kWh/year. Realistically, most homes can only use somewhere between 25% to 50% of the electricity generated: the rest goes to the Grid.

If you can use 2000kWh/year from the panels which saves 2000kWh/year of energy from the Grid, then the saving is £1000 per year (50p/kWh) plus export payments of about £150/year.

Thanks.

I am currently on a two year fix from August 2021 and this would likely be installed at some time in early 2023 ie a few months in front of my “unlock”.   We use around 6300 kwh/per year and they have an indicative full market price without these discounts of around £10k’ish and just under 6kwh generated with around 16 panels. Currently, 7300 households in our county have registered interest - increasing hourly …. but of course a percentage will proceed.

 I’m just in the early stages of getting to grips with it all and trying to understand it.  The auction is at the end of this month and we will get a quote in November.  My instinct is to buy in.

Krakkkers

Energy security and supply is now part of our defence against Russia and China, maybe we should look it that way.

sienew

wrf12345 said:

Net metering of the output (so the household gets full credit for any energy produced) and a couple of megafactories in the UK producing the latest spec panels at much lower prices might make solar more popular, and even on winter days there will be small but useful output (on bright winter days you might get max output as the panels lose efficiency if they get too hot). There will be more on alternative energy from the govn so who knws...

Even if we did get these megafactories going the solar panels - especially if govt funded - would be far better at a solar farm or on the largest commercial buildings.  Installing solar farms is much much cheaper than individual houses. It also would benefit everyone rather than just those who own houses that are suitable for solar.

FreeBear

Krakkkers said: Lots of well off people were paid £2500 a month to do nothing while those on benefits didn't. Life isn't fair.

Not all of us got to sit at home twiddling thumbs, scratching [body parts], or watching Corrie. I got branded as an "essential worker", so was denied furlough payments.

chris_n

[Deleted User] said:

It is not that simple. The Grid managers could not cope with millions of small solar generators going from 800W to 5kW as clouds come and go (as is happening at the moment). We need a mix of renewables to provide security of supply. 

Surely as the cloud moves so one set of panels ramps up another will be getting covered 🤔

[Deleted User]

chris_n said:

[Deleted User] said:

It is not that simple. The Grid managers could not cope with millions of small solar generators going from 800W to 5kW as clouds come and go (as is happening at the moment). We need a mix of renewables to provide security of supply. 

Surely as the cloud moves so one set of panels ramps up another will be getting covered 🤔

Clouds are normally bigger than houses.

chris_n

[Deleted User] said:

chris_n said:

[Deleted User] said:

It is not that simple. The Grid managers could not cope with millions of small solar generators going from 800W to 5kW as clouds come and go (as is happening at the moment). We need a mix of renewables to provide security of supply. 

Surely as the cloud moves so one set of panels ramps up another will be getting covered 🤔

Clouds are normally bigger than houses.

Houses don't move but clouds do, if a cloud is shading a couple of hundred houses as it moves some will be covered and some uncovered. There would be no sudden massive change in generation. Even at the edge of a built up area the cloud wouldn't suddenly disappear and max everyone's system at the same time.

Krakkkers

On a similar theme, i have had my panels 7 years now and can look at the sky and think...hmmm  thats a 1.5kw sky and am generally within 100w.

[Deleted User]

There might be a reason why solar panels are built in China:  the average monthly salary of a qualified solar engineer is £1540 per month. Moreover, as reported to BEIS in Jun, ‘the UK has virtually no onshore semiconductor manufacturing capability’.

If there was money to be made from having a UK production facility for solar panels, then someone would have have already made the investment.

sienew

[Deleted User] said:

There might be a reason why solar panels are built in China:  the average monthly salary of a qualified solar engineer is £1540 per month. Moreover, as reported to BEIS in Jun, ‘the UK has virtually no onshore semiconductor manufacturing capability’.

If there was money to be made from having a UK production facility for solar panels, then someone would have have already made the investment.

I think most people who suggest production in the UK are doing so from a national security standpoint rather than solely based on price.