PV panels ????

[westeleven]

...

 

[ricicle]

Make sure you are not bowled a googly - the payback for PV is a long time.

 

[xdave]

One firm visited and quoted but I was not impressed and another firm arranged to visit but then tel. on the morning to say that they had heard that I had already been quoted by .... and they would not be interested in quoting as they worked together ?!? - almost price fixing ish!

Assuming they are not two names of the same company then that is price fixing and your local trading standards should be notified. Even if company A would have sub contracted the actual work out to company B, or if they are both wholey owned by a common party, it is still illegal. Lots of smaller and specialist companies engage in this sort of behaviour to keep prices higher and demand lower, and trading standards are always interested to know about them.

 

[westeleven]

...

 

[LoveRocket]

Consider solar heating - much simpler, cheaper and more efficient.

Deffo report those merchants to trading standards though

 

[nozspark]

The main question is what system are you looking at getting installed (how many kW) ,what you've been quoted and what do you think it's worth..

Off my head I think you'd be talking somewhere ITRO of £10K for a 2.5kW (I have never priced one though)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I want to have a PV system installed on my house

Don't do it - domestic PV is nothing more than a novelty in this country.

OK - there may be one or two off-grid people committed to the use of renewables who use it as one way to make electricity that they store and cannot/will not take account of the cost, but for your average guy in a grid connected house who wants to save a bit of money it's pointless.

Based on a system lifetime of 25 years the cost of the PV generated electricity
was found to be between 20.9p/kWh and 184.7p/kWh with an average of
47.5/kWh. If known underperforming systems are removed, the average and
maximum costs are 39.1p/kWh and 77.8p/kWh respectively.

OK - that's based on a study done 5-10 years ago, and I'm sure that technology has improved and got cheaper since then, but I still think that PV is a chimera, and a much better ROI is obtained from solar heating of water and/or spending the PV budget on better insulation and heat recovery.

Even with the ridiculous FIT incentive being offered it still doesn't make sense. You see reports of what a wonderful effective rate of return you get on your investment of 10's of £Ks, but they all ignore the fact that unlike other ways you might invest that money you've lost your capital - you'll never be able to get that money back, apart, maybe, from some of it when you sell your house.

Also see this: http://www.ibpsa.org/proceedings/BS2009/BS09_0789_796.pdf

and these two other threads:

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=215188&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=216104&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

but am having difficulty finding a sensibly priced supplier/fitter.

Ha - the first of those other topics contains posts which may give you a clue as to why that is....

 

[electronicsuk]

The prices are silly, I could buy a wonderful new car for the cost of a 4kw system thx

I'm sure you could, because right now, a 200w panel retails for around £1k. For a 4kW system, that's £20k in panels, before you even buy the inverter and install the system. I advise you do spend the money on the car, as it will probably still be a better investment even after depreciation.

 

[londonboy]

The prices are silly, I could buy a wonderful new car for the cost of a 4kw system thx

I'm sure you could, because right now, a 200w panel retails for around £1k. For a 4kW system, that's £20k in panels, before you even buy the inverter and install the system. I advise you do spend the money on the car, as it will probably still be a better investment even after depreciation.

The 200w panels are £400 each

 

[londonboy]

Westeleven... Don't get any installation done by any of the installers in your area (especially Bournemouth!). I recommend a company in Wales whos name begins with a D

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm not clued up on the figures, Im just an installer for a large company!

Does their name begin with 'D'?

 

[electronicsuk]

The prices are silly, I could buy a wonderful new car for the cost of a 4kw system thx

I'm sure you could, because right now, a 200w panel retails for around £1k. For a 4kW system, that's £20k in panels, before you even buy the inverter and install the system. I advise you do spend the money on the car, as it will probably still be a better investment even after depreciation.

The 200w panels are £400 each

Really? Either prices have come down a lot or you're looking at seriously cheap (read: cack) panels. I may have over exaggerated slightly, but last time I checked, a 200w panel produced by a reputable manufacturer such as Kyocera or Sharp was a shade over £900.

 

[londonboy]

I'm not clued up on the figures, Im just an installer for a large company!

Does their name begin with 'D'?

Nope, I worked in Bournemouth but quit!

 

[ajstoneservices]

German or Austrian "Q" Cell panels around £1.85-1.95p a watt. Chinese pv much cheaper around £1.65p a watt.

4kw kit with Q cells Schuco mounting, Sma inverter supply only, around £12000.00p. Installation cost depends on site conditions.

There are a number of MCS approved contractors happy to install customer supplied kit providing it's MCS approved.

 

[Taylortwocities]

This might be a little out of your budget.


Costing around €1,200m, this array will deliver 11MW initially and up to 30MW when fully operational in 2013.

Untitled

• Taylortwocities
• 2 May 2010
• 1

The Solar Platform at Seville has been constructed by Solucar, using a range of solar technologies.