Solar Panels

tonycooling

Hi Guys,

I will be moving into my new house in a couple of weeks. It has a south facing roof and I was thinking of installing solar panels.

I've heard there is currently a government grant which means they are completly free.

Has anyone had them installed?

Any pro's - con's???

WHo does the maintenance on them should they fail and who pays for it?
How do you stand if they become damaged due to the wind?
Is there any increase on insurance premiums?

Regards
Tony

BISHI

I had mine done by IDAEL HOME GROUP, get them to give you a quote, get a couple more quotes from other companies and don' agree to the first price they offer you. You shouldn't pay much more than 5k per kilowatt installed. There are no grants for PV cells but you do get the ffed in tarrif that will pay you 45 p per kilowatt generated, 3p per kilowatt exported and save you 15p per kilowatt off your bill for every kw you use whilst they are generating. You will fet this agreement for 25 years so you should double your investment money overthat time at least and get cheaper electricity bills. I think they are guaranteed for 10 years against damage and I don't believe it affects your insurance bils

the-demi-god

Hi,
Can anyone give me the pros and cons of solar panels. I am interested, but I heard a small part of a radio show by Jeremy Vine who was saying that they are not all that they are cracked up to be.
Most of the info arround comes from the folk who want to install them so they are not going to tell you the problems you can encounter.

Thanks

IronGiant

Ours have generated 700kW since they were installed on 23rd June.  It's a 3kW installation.  Relatively painless "free" installation, they get the tariffs, we get to use the electricity.

the-demi-god

That sounds great it also sounds quite a large installation about 10 panels? I think I read that was the number you needed to generate a reasonable amount of electricity.

I heard Jeremy Vine say that it took all the electricity generated to boil the kettle and that did not sound reasonable, but the trouble with only hearing a small part of something of course is that it can be unrepresentitive of what they are actually saying.

Were you tempted to try to raise the capital needed to have them installed so that the tarrif would come back to you, or when you weighed up the pros and cons was it not worth it? Sorry for all the questions but one last one how do you know if a panel is faulty and are they responsible for maintaining them.

Thanks

Confucius

Thing is a kettle is about 2kw. Whilst one boils a kettle it's going to use most of the electricity generated by a solar panel for the time it takes to boil.

A tumble dryer might use between 2kw and 3kw, a washing machine around 1kw.

Naturally if several appliances are used at once the panels aren't going to keep up, used one after the other - not always practical but do-able with a little forethought - they may be able to cope during the day.

Obviously one has to factor 'permanent' items like a fridge-freezer, for example, into the mix.

IronGiant

I wasn't as I have enough on my plate already.  Here all the risk is with them if the government do a dirty and pull the tariffs.

There is a monitoring station that communicates with the owners via a GSM modem and lets them know if there are any problems.  They are completely responsible for all maintenance for 25 years and then the panels become mine for free.  There are 18 180W SHARP panels by the way.  (3.24kW)

huwsparky

Forget weather it takes more than you are creating to boil the kettle, thats not the point. The point it the goverment pay you 43p for every unit you create weather you use that electricity or not is irrelevant to a point. Bearing in mind that you pay around 13p per unit it make the case for PV panels very worthwhile.

IronGiant

It's 41.3p and it's only relevant if the government is paying you the feedback tariff.  If you have a "free" installation and the installer gets the feedback tariff, it doesn't matter.  But it does matter what your appliances use so you can manage your usage to use as much of the free electricity while it is being generated.  If the panels are generating less than you are using it's just like usual, but they are protecting your bill from whatever they are generating.  If they are generating more than you are using it might be worth doing the laundry earlier than you planned.   The ideal as a homeowner not getting the feed in tariff is to ensure that you juggle your usage so they never feedback into the grid, without needlessly increasing your overall consumption.

I agree that if you are getting the feed in this doesn't matter...

the-demi-god

41.3p That is a lot and really tempting to try for putting the feed in for yourself ie so that the tarrif comes back to you, although it is pricy to put a fair no of panels in and hardly worth the cost unless you do.
I think most people could be more economical with fuel generally, with a bit of effort, that was not what concerned me, I had heard the arguments for solar panels but wanted to know the againsts which is obviously that you need to make a bit of effort to control when you use appliances, and unless you are prepared for a significant outlay and presumably upkeep then you are better letting the co take the risk you still get cheap or free electricity.
I looked to see if the government had any installation grants but they were all stopped, which in this economic climate is not surprising ... disappointing certainly but not surprising (well we are all looking for bargains)
Thank you all for your input, feel free to contribute if you think have missed anything.