Good, unbiased views/advice/info on solar power

[motorbiking]

Yes. that wouldn’t be a good thing to do. About as smart as giving a lodger a long lease on your spare room and then trying to sell your house.

 

[JohnD]

When the house owner has bought and owns the panels and paid an installer to connect to the grid there are still problems with selling the house and panels as a "package".

what problems?

 

[JohnW2]

Yes. that wouldn’t be a good thing to do. About as smart as giving a lodger a long lease on your spare room and then trying to sell your house.

Quite, but I understand that an awful lot of people have done it, tempted by the prospect of financial gain in return for little/no initial investment.

Kind Regards, John

 

[bernardgreen]

what problems?

All I can say is that my aquaintance's wife has said that there were potential buyers who lost interest when they looked into the repercussions of having solar panels on the roof. It has to be said that she and her husband did not see eye to eye over the money spent on the panels. He is one who never admits to having made a mistake.

 

[StephenOak]

what problems?

Maybe:
- It will strongly put off all the potential buyers who think solar PV is a bad idea (for whatever reason).
- It will put off a lot of potential buyers who are agnostic about solar PV but don't want the extra complexity, hassle etc. Also I suspect the surveyor will say that a special survey of the roof is needed to make sure the set-up is okay and this will also put off people.

 

[Diver Fred]

A necessary part of your consideration is the EPC class of your property! If it isn't EPC class D or better the 'Feed-In' tariff is worthless (under 0.5p per unit) - See Link

 

[JohnD]

Maybe

if it did, the owner of the house could remove them.

Once they are paid for, whoever owns the house will save a few £hundred a year on their electricity bills, quite apart from any FITS payments.

 

[JohnW2]

if it did, the owner of the house could remove them.

As I said, only if they owned them - i.e. not if they (or previous owners of the house) had 'sold their souls' (or, at least, roof!) to some company!

Kind Regards, John

 

[SimonH2]

Indeed, if the householder owns the panel there should be no problem at all - except that anecdotally buyers solicitors seem to take great joy in "finding problems". If they are fitted under a "rent a roof" scheme then the property is almost unsellable since AIUI the buyer won't get a mortgage due to the potential liabilities
Personally, if I were looking at a property, and it had fitted panels who's ownership and FITS came with the house, then I'd have no problems at all as long as I could see it was sensibly fitted. If it had rent-a-roof panels then I'd not touch it unless the vendor bought out the contract and the FITS came with the property and system.

As to inverter failures ... Many (most ?) are fitted in the loft which as we all know gets "electronics killing" hot during the sort of weather when the system is required to be working the hardest. My brother had hit fitted in the cellar for that reason - which also gives him easy access for reading the display etc.

 

[Kistelek]

Interesting answers everyone. Thanks. I'll sit tight on my empty roof for now I think and see how the technology develops.

 

[charliegolf]

FWIW...

I've had a 4kW array on a less than perfect site since Oct 12. My monitoring software suggests I have recouped c£3k to date, based upon generating 18.6mWh. I am on the 16/4.5p per click tariff. My pocket confirms the software estimate, btw.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

My monitoring software suggests I have recouped c£3k to date, based upon generating 18.6mWh.

Where do you think the money comes from to fill the gap between what you've been paid for that power, and what the people who bought it were able to sell it on for?

 

[charliegolf]

Anything in my post that is not unbiased advice? Did the OP ask about what you're asking about? Maybe start a new thread if you don't know the answer?

 

[StephenOak]

Where do you think the money comes from to fill the gap between what you've been paid for that power, and what the people who bought it were able to sell it on for?

Quite. FIT payments are a transfer of money from poorer people who cannot afford solar PV on their roof to richer people who can afford it.

I know someone who had solar PV installed and said it would provide income later in life. They became somewhat subdued when I pointed out that this money would not come from 'the government' or from 'the electricity companies' but from, inter alia, their children in extra taxes and higher fuel bills.

if it did, the owner of the house could remove them.

At a considerable cost. Scaffolding is not cheap, nor is the labour, disposal of the material, making good any damage to the roof, etc.

Once they are paid for, whoever owns the house will save a few £hundred a year on their electricity bills, quite apart from any FITS payments.

FIT payments are now a lot lower than they were and are, IMO, rather immoral, see above.

Any savings on bills have to be offset against maintenance costs which can be very high (e.g. scaffolding to enable safe access to the roof) and replacements of inverters (which I am told do not last that long). Also I believe that the insurance goes up quite a bit as the fire risk is somewhat higher and that these systems make fighting a fire much harder.

 

[EFLImpudence]

They became somewhat subdued when I pointed out that this money would not come from 'the government' or from 'the electricity companies' but from, inter alia, their children in extra taxes and higher fuel bills.

Wealthy landowners do not suffer from such weaknesses.