Quote: Originally posted by minicamper2001 on 05/3/2013
I will probably wait until they are much neater and less conspicuous than present ugly, clunky ones. I believe they are developing solar "tiles" which will look better on the roof. I too have concerns about making the house unsaleable.
The tiles allready exist and i believe a british firm developed them 15plus years ago . Its just this country thats got no leadership . So good things pass us by . If our power industry worked for Us and not a load of faceless share holders . We may all have solar pannels but because we sold it off it serves french and german energy companys who then use our money to invest in there home countries power needs thays why Germany is looking at 60% home solar energy production
We have recently had a shade greener do ours, we are not planning on moving for the next 25 years as our house is in a great location with the space we need, will only be made even better when we get our extension done.
I must admit they don't exactly look attractive but who cares, should save me money on my electric so couldn't care less.
We was impressed with them, good service and hasn't cost us a penny, they did all the paperwork with the mortgage company, electric, land registry etc.
Our next dor neighbour paid a fortune for hers, will take the 20 years to get the money back minimum, what's worse is once the 25 year lease is up on ours we can keep them anyway. Seems a bit daft to pay for them if you can get them for free.
------------- Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
You have to do the maths working out your return on investment if buying.
Also one factor missing from all of above is likely rising costs of energy and factoring that in to the savings.
Definitely only worth it for long termers in their current homes though.
Insulating and insulating should be first port of call for everyone and switching to low energy products so we all use less rather than pay less for same.
LED light bulbs have a much much shorter pay back period than solar panels
The thing is with the free fitting companies, they will only consider due south facing roofs, with a large enough area to make it worth their while.
20 years to get the money back seems a long time. Suppose it depends on original cost and size of installation. Also the FIT they get. Luckily I got ours fitted before the government changed the tariff, so 9ish years to get back the outlay. That is just working on FIT and export, not taking into account the savings on electicity by using own production.
Post last edited on 06/03/2013 13:17:48
------------- 74,going on 25
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder
Quote: Originally posted by sunshinetours on 06/3/2013
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LED light bulbs have a much much shorter pay back period than solar panels
And decent ones are coming down in price now too.
this isn't spam, cos I'm not naming where I work, but GU10 6W replacements are £12, GLS 7W (normal "bulb") about the same, candles from £6 so VERY close in price now to CFLs, the price of these having gone up alot quite recently.
and before everyone says about the whiter light, they are all available in a warm white, a close simulate to tungsten (the GU10s are indistinguishable by colour side by side)
outdoor LED floods, change a 150/500W lamp for a 4 or 8W LED retrofit, ok, not as bright as the 150/500W if you need that, spend a little more on a full 10 or 30W LED fitting (£30 - £50 plus fitting)
LED tubes for fluorescents, ok, these currently have a longer payback time, they are still relatively new and as such expensive, £25-60 (2ft-6ft)
Cheaper LEDs are about, but be wary of quality, for home I thought id be clever and got some cheaper ones, think they were £6 they only lasted 6 months, we have some GU10 LEDs in the shop that have been up since we opened just over 2 1/2 years ago.
I hope those that have taken the free offer made sure that the lease to the energy co was excluded from the security of tenure provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act - if you haven't, you have just granted a lease to a business who has a statutory right to renew at the end of the term.
I wouldn't touch the free offers with a bargepole at the moment, there is real concern within the property world that these properties are now blighted by panels, will be very difficult to sell as well as the security of tenure problem.
Make sure you get decent independent legal advice if you are considering this option.
A builder friend advised that the roof should be able to not also be strong enough to take the weight of the panels but that the points to which the mountings are fastened (roof trusses)should be checked for strength in the upwards direction as there have been a few case where the panels have lifted from the roof taking patrs of the roof with them during very windy weather when the wind gets under the panels and lifts them up.
Our appointment for the free survey was at 10 0'clock today and nobody arrived.
Got a call at 10:35 from a lady on the reception desk who said that 4, yes 4 of their surveyors had called in sick this morning and she even said that it might be "friday night out syndrome" and would I like to make another appointment - so I said no thanks.
The company is called Energy Solutions btw.
Piglet - thank you for your comments on the lease to the energy company. That's exactly the kind of question it's important to ask. Like I said, you need to know what questions to ask before you agree to anything long term.
Still debating between ourselves on whether panels would be right for us - as we are (like most people) looking for a way to reduce our energy costs - lots of helpful comments on here so thank you one and all.
We bought LED lightbulbs from IKEA last year. We were replacing our wall lamps so decided to get IKEA ones and then buy their LED bulbs.
The light output is brilliant (no pun intended ) the bulbs are warm white and they paid for themselves in 6 months. We put them in all the rooms where we use the lights most. My work lamps are also LED now too - can't fault them
Would love to have solar panels as I've had good reports of the bills going down, but dubious about the 'free' deals so far.
------------- Life is what happens when you've made other plans
I've had mine, a 4kw system, for just over a year. I was very lucky in that I paid the reduced price after 10 Dec 2011, yet got the full 43.3 FiT (now 45.4 and will be 46.81 as from 1 April). In the last 12 months, in spite of it being the wettest (=cloudiest??)year on record, I received £1651 in FiT and Grid Export (my roof faces slightly east of South East). Add to that £200 saving in electricity, and £50 saving in oil, it means my £8400 outlay will be paid for in a little over 4 years. After 15 years, it will provide me with a an average 20% ROI (tax free), and if I am still breathing, after 25 years will give me 28%. The variable is because I have taken the original cost of the panels out of the return. Also, I earned 7% more FiT than was predicted 14 months ago, and if that actuality continues, the return % will be higher.
Where else are you going to get that return??
OK - it's a lot different now. I've still got my original spreadsheet that I developed at the time, and I've just modified it to reflect current rates - ie around £5500 to install (4KW) and a FiT of 15.44. It still works out a payback time of 7 years. I have not included the cost of money in there, but I have used only a 3% p.a. increase in the cost of electricity, and it is likely to be higher than that (9% last year). But don't forget you need an energy classification of 'D' or higher to get that FiT - also note that installing solar PV will INCREASE the rating, so if you are currently an 'E', the installation of the system could take you to the required 'D'.
I looked at the rent-a-roof schemes first of all 14 months ago and wouldn't touch them with yours - I then decided to purchase myself.
To refute one comment - there is absolutely no 'damage' to my roof!! The panels are clipped to a rail which is supported by specially shaped brackets - where necessary, the tiles were slid up, the bracket screwed to a rafter, and the tile slid back down.
I'm currently looking at another box to fit into the system. This takes any and all power that would otherwise be exported back to the grid and feeds it to the immersion heater. This appeals to me because a) I will save even more money and b)I'll still be paid the Grid Export Tariff by the power company, even though they are not getting any power from me!!
Del
Edit: The £200 per year savings in electricity came from the EST (Energy Savings Trust), whose figures I trusted more than the salesmens'. As far as is possible to ascertain, the savings of one third were pretty accurate - nb this is for a property NOT heated by electricity.
D
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: solar panels - would you ???
