It did to me
Solar Panels
- Thread starter JamesEB
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A solar panel ( that produces electricity ) does not have to be "tied in" to the mains supply. A system that is not tied in will not be ableto export power to the grid and thus there will be no income from it. However it will produce power when the mains fails but will still require an invertor and switch over system to power the house electrics.
One very efficient option is to use the DC power from the solar panels to heat water for domestic hot water supply and /or in a heat store to provide heating for the house.
One matter that the solar panel salespeople do not mention is the problems that fire brigades have with solar panels if they attend a fire in a building with solar panels. The high voltage produced cannot be turned off ( other than by turning the sun off ) and these voltages create a serious safety hazard.
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I have panels, I was a fairly early adopter so got in on the high tariff. The upside is I get paid more for what I generate, the downside is my panels were more expensive and not as sophisticated as the current crop. IMO the costs have reduced in line with the generation opportunities, so you should get the same ROI today as I'm planning too. I've had mine about 4 or 5 years. I have a 2.5kw system comprising 10 sanyo hybrid panels.
Every quarter you submit a reading, You occasionally have to reset a tripped MCB,, I think I have one wearing out and if you miss it, you lose all your generated power.
Things I'd check:
- shadowing - panels have improved, but even a TV mast caused ours to lose 40% on a sunny day.
- good roof in good repair, you don't want to be putting them on a roof near end of life.
- Use the power smartly. Washing machine on during lunch time etc.. hot water via immersion in the summer etc.
- make sure the cabling clearly visible -500v DC and a gazillian amps will probably cook you like a microwave if ever you go through it
- check your output regularly - these things are not maintenance free.
I reckon we are getting ROI of 8% which is better than a bank.
I believe its a legal requirement for the inverter to power off to a "dead" grid, otherwise you could fry someone working up the street.
Every quarter you submit a reading, You occasionally have to reset a tripped MCB,, I think I have one wearing out and if you miss it, you lose all your generated power.
Things I'd check:
- shadowing - panels have improved, but even a TV mast caused ours to lose 40% on a sunny day.
- good roof in good repair, you don't want to be putting them on a roof near end of life.
- Use the power smartly. Washing machine on during lunch time etc.. hot water via immersion in the summer etc.
- make sure the cabling clearly visible -500v DC and a gazillian amps will probably cook you like a microwave if ever you go through it
- check your output regularly - these things are not maintenance free.
I reckon we are getting ROI of 8% which is better than a bank.
I believe its a legal requirement for the inverter to power off to a "dead" grid, otherwise you could fry someone working up the street.
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remember the ROI is not the same as a bank, because your initial capital is gone.
In a bank:
year 1 £10,000
year 2 £10,000 plus interest
year 3 £10,000 plus compound interest
etc
With solar
Year 1 £0
Year 2 £800
Year 3 £1,600
etc
So for the first 12 years, you are out of pocket.
If you're fond of electricity, smart money (by which I mean a decision that turns out to be lucky) might have been
http://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/summary?s=NG.:LSE
though of course things could have turned out worse.
In a bank:
year 1 £10,000
year 2 £10,000 plus interest
year 3 £10,000 plus compound interest
etc
With solar
Year 1 £0
Year 2 £800
Year 3 £1,600
etc
So for the first 12 years, you are out of pocket.
If you're fond of electricity, smart money (by which I mean a decision that turns out to be lucky) might have been
http://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/summary?s=NG.:LSE
though of course things could have turned out worse.
If that is a response to my comment then, quite.It did to me
I did say "Paying 41p for something to be sold for ~16p makes no sense anywhere",
obviously receiving 41p for something worth ~16p is a different matter - especially for landowners with huge arrays.
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Interest
what's that then?but seriously I'm aware of NPV and my 8% is net of the cost of money.
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a solar pre heater pumped by a solar pump is very easy to make if you have a gravity fed hot water system.
It was but only because I've been selling and installing the stuff since 2005. I do have four arrays registered at 41.3p. 21p. 16p and 12pKWh. It makes little sense at 4.25pKWh.
Short answer for the OP is, assuming you want a domestic install, forget it. Tories have slashed the incentive tariff payments so only a mad person would get them installed now, hence so many MCS companies have folded.
Question for those with existing installations, on a bright sunny early January day (today) what was your max % power in relation to the installation's best capability? I could only get 1750 watts around midday/1pm with a 3.6KW system. My house is high up and with a very low sun it might be about right. What do you think?
Question for those with existing installations, on a bright sunny early January day (today) what was your max % power in relation to the installation's best capability? I could only get 1750 watts around midday/1pm with a 3.6KW system. My house is high up and with a very low sun it might be about right. What do you think?
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march to may tends to be best for me. The sun doesn't get high enough during the winter and the heat haze stops best performance in the peak of summer.
I have sanyo hybrid panels, I hit 2.1kw on my 2.4kw system today, but only briefly.
I have sanyo hybrid panels, I hit 2.1kw on my 2.4kw system today, but only briefly.
Interesting. I possibly ought to have get much more than a 1750w peak today then. I'm wondering if there's a fault up there but God knows how I can pinpoint it if it's a panel fault.Pull some stone tiles aside and investigate from within the loft perhaps. Is your house fairly low ground in so far as sea level?
One of my systems generated .68kwh the other day. The following day it was over 10kwh. That tells me much about the weather on those two days.
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Its on a 2 story side extension.. (note TV pole was moved becuase it was sucking 40% out on a sunny day) S-SW facing.
Actually he is quite correct. The same applies to wind power as well with their generous subsidies - both overt and covert*. The ROCs on wind are even higher than the FITs for solar.
Whether you believe it or not, these things do increase the costs to everyone - in effect generous FITs in the early days of solar meant that poor people got to pay more so that well off people could get their generous returns. That's effectively what it comes down to - poor people are disproportionately affected by the added costs; while only relatively well off people can afford to tie up that sort of cash long term.
And as long as there are people struggling to both stay warm and eat - then yes, adding costs to their energy bills is going to worsen the winter cull.
* There are significant costs imposed on the rest of the system in accommodating intermittent/non-dispatchable forms of generation, and these tend to get ignored by people pushing these technologies.
Whether you believe it or not, these things do increase the costs to everyone - in effect generous FITs in the early days of solar meant that poor people got to pay more so that well off people could get their generous returns. That's effectively what it comes down to - poor people are disproportionately affected by the added costs; while only relatively well off people can afford to tie up that sort of cash long term.
And as long as there are people struggling to both stay warm and eat - then yes, adding costs to their energy bills is going to worsen the winter cull.
* There are significant costs imposed on the rest of the system in accommodating intermittent/non-dispatchable forms of generation, and these tend to get ignored by people pushing these technologies.
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