We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

Solar panels

Old_Git
Old_Git Posts: 4,751 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Cashback Cashier
Has anyone recently installed solar panels . 
What is the break even time . 
Are they worth it . 
"Do not regret growing older, it's a privilege denied to many"

Comments

  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 9,074 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Installed today so I'll let you know.  They told me 10 years but believe it will be under 8.  I suppose that a lot will depend on where the prices go in the next few years.  I do use a lot of electricity though & have 18 panels & 2 batteries.  I have to say that I would not have considered a system without those batteries.  This is a whole new learning curve, but the optics are fun.  Even late afternoon watching "power" from the solar being used, charging up the new batteries & then for a brief while actually exporting.  That on a day with drizzle & after the installation, so after 2pm.
    On a personal note, I would not have considered this at my age if DS was not in residence, although I plan on living to 100, so 12 years in profit (definitely need a smiley here).  For further info my electricity on new July prices was due to be around £2.5k a year
  • guiriman
    guiriman Posts: 536 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    A lot will come down to individual circumstances and electricity usage. Certainly if you're not usually at home during the day then batteries are a must, although they add to the cost and I'd expect to the installation time (a year ago there was 3-6 month lead time for batteries). I've looked at in the past but without a south facing roof I don't think we'd get enough back out of it.
  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 9,074 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    My panels are on both sides of the roof & they were available in less than a month, so one side as the sun rises and the other as the sun goes round.  Currently almost 3 & 1.5 & exporting over 1 & still to be set up for being paid for that.  According to the meter reading usage for yesterday zero, normal usage 20 per day.  Just waiting to see what happens when the shower is used.  Daily lonnnnnnnng shower normal cost over £1.  And just gone down to total 2 & exporting a tiny bit & house usage unchanged.  I am sure that eventually I will get bored watching this, but for now it is fascinating.  I certainly wouldn't have a system without a battery although the co who did it said they wouldn't normaly fit a system without at least one battery.  If anyone is interested I will be back.
  • Old_Git
    Old_Git Posts: 4,751 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Cashback Cashier
    My electric useage at the moment is low £40 a month . Next door have 13 panels . 
    And idea of cost and feedback sums . 
    "Do not regret growing older, it's a privilege denied to many"
  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 9,074 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I am using over 4 times that in a low month & that doesn't include the standing charge or VAT.  I suspect with the cost of installation & that low a usage your payback time may just be too long.  But don't quote me.
    I was mostly concerned about power cuts & having very bad night sight so I don't like the dark at all.  Of course the higher prices did help make up my mind.
  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 9,074 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Well we have had a few sunny days & some not so much.  The good news is that in the whole week I have used from the grid, mostly at night, the same as I would have used in just one day.  When my kettle dies though I am going back to a 2 kWh one & as both the dishwasher & tumbledryer are reaching end of life I am looking for something which uses less at any given moment even if for longer.  If it uses more then there is more chance that it is using from the grid than the solar.  So if the solar is producing 2kWh & the machine is using 3kWh then 1kWh is either coming from the battery or the grid.  The aim is to have the battery at 100% when it goes dark.  The shorter days are going to be interesting.
    This is like a mixture between watching paint dry & being a young kid opening its birthday presents.  Along with the "I wish I was getting the payments for export" feeling.
  • 69bertie
    69bertie Posts: 20 Forumite
    10 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    I'm electric for cooking but use oil for heating and hot water..I would say we are medium (4000kWh a year).when it comes to usage - especially as the boy has gone off to Uni now. I've got solar East West configuration. 12 panels and originally had 4 batteries but having used it for a year, I recently installed another 2 batteries - no VAT. :smile: Giving me 300Ah capacity. I do have an economy 7 meter fitted. 99% of my import is used to charge the batteries. Currently, I charge for 30 mins at 3am just in case its an overcast day. Cost is less than £1 a day. The solar currently gives me around 20-24kWh with about half of that going to export. Given the batteries, we tend to use the washing machine etc at any time of the day.

    Reason for the increase in battery capacity was the winter months. Currently, the batteries go down to 60-70% by the time we all go to sleep. Winter, with only 4 batteries, I was going down to less than 20% (Christmas Day we actually started importing around 3pm) simply because there wasn't enough power produced by the solar arrays when it was raining or even overcast. Yes, in winter I do tend to increase the charging times (very easy with the LuxPower app) to 2 hours a day, so that it is 100% at the 7.30am cutoff for the cheap rate. Doing that, we tend to limit our peak usage to literally pennies each day - usually that occurs when cooking in the evenings. I could get another Lux Squirrel pod but I couldn't justify spending another £1000 to save a few pennies each evening. Currently, my electricity bills average around £40 a month including the standing charge. While Octopus do the import, Scottish Power currently pay for the export.

    They reckoned I will have a payback time of around 8-9 years. Tbh, I haven't even done the maths. If you don't like power cuts, you'd have to get your setup to cope with power cuts and the like. It would cost more.

    And no, I will not be getting a heat pump. One thing I did find interesting was to learn that you get the max output / cost from oil. A heat pump would cost me another £280 more a year to run, not including the heavy installation costs.
    Best avoided.

Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 240.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.6K Life & Family
  • 254K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.