Staggeringly inexpensive solar upgrade :-)

mmmmikey

Just enjoying a real money-saving coup of the type that doesn't happen very often so I thought I'd share it hear on the off chance anyone is considering an upgrade to their solar system....

The background to this is that I'm currently ordering the materials to put a new roof on my shed/workshop/garden building which I want to do before having an upgraded electrical supply run there. I was considering making provision for putting a couple of secondhand solar panels from a previous campervan on the roof, and one thing lead to another and I discovered how cheap solar panels are at the moment.

To cut a long story short, I've just ordered six 410W panels at a total cost of £306.38 delievered - a real bargain in itself.

But to make things even better, I can use them for covering the workshop roof. Instead of an EPDM membrane (£197.99) on top of plywood (£135.00) I'll cover the roof with solar panels (£306.38) on top of cheapo roofing felt (£57.00). I have an existing hybrid off-grid inverter and 3kWh battery which will need to be relocated but because of the wiring to be done to the workshop anyway, the cost of that should be minimal - no more the £50 at most.

So net cost to me a staggeringly low £80 or so for a 2.46kWp array.

The system is off-grid and will generate a bit more than I can use in the summer months (although rather than waste any spare I'll probably use it for air conditioning in the conservatory). I estimate the panels will generate about 1200kWh per year, if I use 800kWh of it, that represents a cost saving to me of £120 per annum

So a solar upgrade project which should pay for itself in less than a year - wow! Sounds too good to be true, I'll let you know the catch if/when I find it

pramsay13

No catch, you've just discovered the difference between buying equipment and doing it yourself, versus paying a professional to do the work for you. 

Netexporter

I don't understand why developers don't use solar panels as original roofing material on new houses. They're miles cheaper than slates or tiles.

I run a small dehumidifier (desiccant type - works at low temperatures) in my big shed. I shall probably solar and battery that up, at some point. Too busy solaring, batterying and heat-pumping the house, at the moment.

badmemory

With the cost of housing at present I do not think they should be allowed to build houses without solar & batteries.  It should also be possible for them to be ready to go from the date of house purchase rather than the lengthy wait when installing on an older property.

FreeBear

Netexporter said:

I don't understand why developers don't use solar panels as original roofing material on new houses. They're miles cheaper than slates or tiles.

https://gb-sol.co.uk/products/pv-slate/ - I suspect cost might be a driving factor. Developers want to maximise profit margins, so energy saving stuff gets pushed out unless the planning department make it a condition of the development.

badmemory

FreeBear said:

Netexporter said:

I don't understand why developers don't use solar panels as original roofing material on new houses. They're miles cheaper than slates or tiles.

https://gb-sol.co.uk/products/pv-slate/ - I suspect cost might be a driving factor. Developers want to maximise profit margins, so energy saving stuff gets pushed out unless the planning department make it a condition of the development.

Then we should insist that planning departments do make it a requirement.

Netexporter

I'm not talking about PVslates/tiles. I know they are expensive. I mean fitting "in-roof" solar as standard, thus obviating the need for most of the roof covering. Some builders do put a few token in-roof panels in but why not design the whole roof around standard panels?

I think you'd need micro-inverters, though, as a string set-up would be a nightmare if a single panel failed. You can just abandon the duds and there wouldn't be any problems with trying to match old panels with new.

wrf12345

It's not a bad idea to use solar panels with some kinda channel between them to keep the rain out for a "cheap" roof but there are airflow and heat dissipation considerations that may limit success on an actual house roof. Agree new builds should have solar panels and you could even mandate that their roof should be south facing (with optimum slant and just one-sided to max out the space for the panels, which would force redesigns on the structures). I'd also like to see very small off-grid houses rated as zero council tax, a huge incentive for older people to move out of large houses, especially if in-fill properties were allowed on existing land. 

Just to add you can match up a 410W solar panel with a charge controller off aliexpress, cheap enough to do one per panel and also get a half decent inverter from the same source and maybe a 120ah deep cycle leisure battery from amazon, if you want to DIY - all in four panel system for under £500. I will probably spend the winter fuel allowance on that rather than luxuriating in excess central heating and it should cover my 1-1.5kw per day electric usage in the house. Not a fantastic payback as the sums involved are not huge but it will be on a separate circuit to the grid so a nice backup if the actual grid goes down as well. I realise winter day output will be low but they will be angled to optimise the solar gain at that time of year and even at ten percent it would still charge the battery up.

prowla

I'm pretty sure that it will become a requirement for new builds before long; hopefully under this government.

A side-effect could be that the price of solar fittings could come down over time.

(OTOH, it could go up due to supply vs. demand.)

BarelySentientAI

prowla said:

I'm pretty sure that it will become a requirement for new builds before long; hopefully under this government.

A side-effect could be that the price of solar fittings could come down over time.

(OTOH, it could go up due to supply vs. demand.)

It was a getting close to being a requirement 10 years ago - does anyone else remember the Code for Sustainable Homes?

NedS

I agree that there should be a requirement for 3.6kWp of solar to be installed on all new build properties, and more on 4-bed and above. Whilst we are at it, why not extend that planning requirement to extensions too, whilst you have scaffolding on site. I also think it a great idea that planners could give consideration to the design of the roof aspect when granting planning permission to maximise any solar generation.