PV solar

[williamwright]

Comments please, from anyone who has had panels on the roof for a number of years. Pros and cons? Pitfalls? Economics?

Bill

[The Other John]

I've had them since late 2011. They were more expensive then than now, my installation cost £11,500, but the F.I.T. was higher than now and remains higher than for later installations. To date I've received £20k+ in F.I.T. and before the usual moaners complain don't forget I pay 'green taxes' too, so I'm getting my own back and a bit more. The only expense I've had was when pidgeons started nesting between the panels and the tiles and the soggy nest material caused one panel to develop a low resistance which stopped the inverter starting up at sunrise. I got the installer in and after checking the system he said the duff panel needed replacing and that needed £600 worth of scaffolding. When they replaced the panel I had them install wire mesh round the outside of the array to stop birds getting in. The total bill was £2k+, so I'm still in profit. Another plus is that I import less leccy in daylight so there's a saving there as well.

[John Rumm]

From the point of view of energy saving or revenue generation? Also with or without storage?

[alan_m]

FITs payments are around 5p/kWh for new installations so cannot be compared with those paid (and still paid) to those with older installations.

[williamwright]

Just to save money. Batteries a possibility.

Bill

[RJH]

Environmental impact, practicality (planning, aspect etc.), value of home, aesthetics, reliability and maintenance . . .

[Clive Page]

We've had ~4kW of panels on our roof from just before the FIT payments were reduced, maybe 8 years ago. It has generated slightly more than the predicted amount of power averaged over the year every year, despite slight shading by a tree during winter months, and has been completely trouble-free so far. It paid for the installation a year or two back. FIT payments much lower now, but so are the costs of solar panels. Whether it's still economical: you have to do the calculations.

The only downside is getting junk mail and phone calls from time to time from dodgy firms who have got our address from somewhere and want to sell us maintenance/cleaning/new inverter etc.

[williamwright]

They look on Google maps for solar panels.

Bill

[Chris J Dixon]

I think it is easier than that, they simply (mis)use the national database of installations.

My 2010 installation is 3.64 kWp, performs slightly better than the predictions, and has generated over 40 MWh. The original cost was around £14.5k, and currently I am over £9k in profit.

No problems to date.

Chris

[ajh]

From my limited experience since last October I would say the battery is what makes PV worthwhile in the absence of subsidies.

I have not imported electricity since March 5th ( not quite true as there is always a 1/3 unit imported because of the way the PV and battery are not quick enough to compare currents) and my consumption is about 7-8kWh/day so the battery is a major contributor to a £2.4/day saving and I expect that to be true for 8 or 9 months of the year.

Most days I can enjoy a hot bath heated by the immersion so have saved a further amount on gas too.

Prices and demand have increased since my battery was installed but the PV and battery could be had then for £8k, so a payback of around 13 years currently but is likely to get better, the panels should be good for 20 and the battery is warranted for 10 IIRC.

[alan_m]

I assume that you got high FITs payments for all the electricity you generated (and used yourself). This type and amount of FITs payment cannot be factored into a new installation in the same way.

[Paul]

What kind of battery capacity is that ?

I'm curious as to what ratio of panels to battery you set up.

Paul

[Chris J Dixon]

You are correct. I was simply responding to the OP's question:

Chris

[Reentrant]

Don't bother if there's any chance you will move in the next 20 - 25 years. We found they added very little to the value of the property (even with a reasonably generous, transferrable 2013 FIT).

[ajh]

It's a Growatt 6kWh and after a minor teething problem is working well. Programming doesn't seem that straightforward but as I do not have a cheap offpeak tariff to charge it by yet, I'll have to cross that bridge...

In the mean time it just works and even on a cloudy day like now I am receiving 0.5kW and the battery sits at 60% by mid morning, it only discharges to 10% then would draw from the grid but started today at 40%.

In mid December I am lucky to even get 1kWh from the panels but even so most days the battery contributes into the early evening.

I had wanted to replace my Potterton Suprima 50 with a Baxi Ecogen but they are no longer available, may have had problems, and at over £10k installed possibly not a sensible investment for the 3-4 months it would be needed even when last available in 2016, I'd like to know how people got on with them.

Doubling the battery capacity (and price) simply does not make sense in my case but it may if you have an EV.

I agree that this is for the long haul and not likely to add value to a house sale plus I shall probably not live long enough to see a payback.

It's a gamble that has done well for me so far.

[ajh]

I forgot to say it is a 4kW peak array and I cannot remember seeing more than 3kW produced. It is far from ideally oriented as WSW and averages

3MWh annually.

[Andrew]

Do you have a private well, or are you on a water meter ?

[Andrew]

If you had bought £14.5K of shares in Scottish Mortgage IT then you would now have about £94K in investments even at todays much-corrected nasdaq valuations.

If you had sold them last October you would have about £160K in the bank :-(

[alan_m]

So how much did you make on these shares :)

[Theo]

Or you could have roughly £0, had they tanked (hello Equitable Life, Arch Cru and Woodford Equity Income). Meanwhile the FIT deal was guaranteed by the government. Different risks, different rewards.

Theo