Solar Panel Schemes

[pjcomp]

Just think of the cost of electricity if we keep investing in wind farm technology. It'll probably cost you a fiver to put the kettle on and a tenner to bake something in the oven.

Just think of the cost of electricity if we don't invest in something .... ah, sorry, there won't be any electricity.

It's easy to mock and pour scorn, but where is the future power generation going to come from if these things aren't developed and tried out now? Edison famously tried and rejected hundreds of different designs of light bulb before hitting on the one that worked. That's what R&D is all about.

Whatever means of generation is produced for the future it may well cost a fiver to boil the kettle. Just because we've had cheap power for the past few years (and we've had electricity to every home for barely 60 years out of the past several thousand) doesn't mean we're entitled to it for ever.

PJ

 

[WabbitPoo]

Does anyone actually know anyone who has them installed? I know friends of friends who at least claim they ARE making the sort of kWh mentioned, setting aside the financial aspects.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

They AREN'T making the sort of kWh mentioned.

They are being paid AS IF they were making them.

It's a house of cards, and the more people install them the more unstable it becomes. Imagine if everybody in the country had them, then what? They won't actually be generating useful electricity, so we'll still need all of the central generating capacity, we'll still have to pay for that, and on top we'll all be paying each other for the pretence that our glass roofs are making electricity. Except that won't be cost neutral because we'll all have to pay for the capital costs of everybody else's panels and we'll all have to pay for the profits of the companies that install and/or fund them and we'll all have to pay for the administrative costs of the generating companies collecting and disbursing the revenues. The more people that have them the more it starts to look like the financial equivalent of a perpetual motion machine.

 

[bernardgreen]

Does anyone actually know anyone who has them installed?

Yes I know two that spring straight to mind and am aware of a third one.

The first two are systems that were DIY installations by engineers more for the "fun" of doing it. I think their reported results are reasonable accurate. Their results suggest that many of the claims made in sales brochures are at the very top end of what is possible under ideal conditions.

The third one is signed up to feed excess power back into the grid. From being very enthusiastic and wanting others to take the opportunity with him a year ago he is now reluctant to talk about it. No proof as he won;t talk money but it does seem he dis-appointed with the reality.

Two years ago a hotel in Spain installed a system on their roof. last year they had moved it down to ground level even though this meant taking up part of the gardens. Reason for moving them was that when on the ground it was much easier and safer to clean the panels.

 

[pjcomp]

I heard yesterday that some mortgage lenders are not lending on properties with solar PV generators.

This cropped up on Radio 4's Moneybox the other week when they were discussing the feed in tariffs. A listener called in to say she worked for a bank who declined mortgages when the house had the "free" solar panels - those which have been installed free on the basis that the installer gets the feed-in tariff and the householder only gets some free electricity. If teh PV installation is owned by the house here shouldn't be any problem.

PJ

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The first two are systems that were DIY installations

Which don't qualify for FIT payments...