Solar Panels

jouster

Sunniest day yet today. 11.4.

jouster

best day so far has been 17kw  and think since November 27th I am now up to 450KW   so working out very well so far

baldrick

Does anybody run similar schemes for wind turbines? Surely that would be a better investment as the wind blows 24 hours a day!?!?

Philly112

Yes there is a similar scheme for wind turbines. And no, the wind doesn't blow 24 hours a day - it is capable of blowing 24 hours a day.
But there is absolutely nothing stopping you putting in a wind turbine; with the FIT they are a better investment than solar power.
But... a large kW system, is, well, large. You wouldn't want one in your average garden. There is noise to consider, and there is more maintenance than for solar panels.
So for most people, they just aren't practical as they don't have a large enough garden to make it worthwhile. But you can get a 1kW roof mounted system for a couple of grand.
Phil

KoThreads

No surprise to discover that the bloke who tried to sell me kit earlier in this thread popped in on Sunday and mentioned that his out of a job as the company pulled the plug on solar pannels due to no interest from the public. The bigger problem being they are seriously looking at disolving the company. So where will that leave peoples warranties.

IronGiant

Interesting if a bit depressing.

the-demi-god

I suppose like anything else you buy the warranty is only worth having while the company is trading but I am sure I heard somewhere that you could insure them and it was not too expensive because they have a good life span and breakdowns are not common.
I am not surprised that co who only do solar panels are in trouble too many people just don't have the money to spend I think they are good value and a decent investment in the long term but if you are just making ends meet..... and with the public sector cutbacks it is not going to get better any time soon.
Ain't life depressing!!

robin1989

i must admit i am not surprised that the free installers are falling back as that model of business was never going to be sustainable - one of the reasons i didn't want a free system when we were been offered them. at least the cost of panels is coming down as you can pick up a 4kw system for under £7k now which we went for compared to £14k last year before the first drop in FIT. maybe the cost of panels will go down even further after the FIT cut on 1st august.

jouster

True that the cost of installs is now coming down. But with FITs rates dropping again and again if you got the original 43 odd pence per KwH you will always be better off in the long run

I earned £800 from start of December 2011 to start of June 2012.

After the next upcoming cut you are going to earn a quarter of that.

As cuts continue it will only be worth doing it to save money on your bills.

smithsaiden

Hi there are so many pros of solar pannel, few of them i explain
Solar pannel produce electricity very quietly and has an ability to harness electricity in remote locations that are not linked to a national grid.
One more great pro of solar pannel is it's cost, as the initial investment of solar pannel may be high, but once installed they provide a free source of electricity.