Anybody with Solar Panel technology?

norm

norm

norm

Soldato
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21 Jan 2003
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We're looking at getting Solar Panels installed on our roof purely as a reason to save on electricity costs in the future.

Anybody have experience of buying/using/installing them?

As I understand it, three main components required are;

- array of solar panels (how big I don't know).
- bank of batteries to store energy.
- inverter to use it in the home.

There's also a grant available from the DTI of upto £400 (30% of overall costs) which is a nice incentive.

http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/ - was working earlier today ... maybe they had a power-cut : )
 
I looked into it, and was put off by the initial cost of circa eight grand...

Savings on bills are great, but I advise calculating how long it would take you to break even versus that eight grand in high interest savings accounts, or even better invested on the future of the FTSE 250. (I haven't done this, because I strongly believe that based on historical performance over the past thirty years, the latter option would mean I'd never break even!)
 
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Don't forget Solar Panels on a home will increase its value. Some have said by upto 10%.

Either way it's a decent selling point. So right there you have recouped much if not all of the cost of buying it.

There's also the added bonus of any excess energy generated is sold back to the grid at ~75% the price of normal units. May sound negligible but over the space of say a year it builds up.
 
Even though they're pretty expensive and it might take a long time to break even I'd get a nice sense of satisfaction about generating basically free energy without having to have a bill :)

norm said:
There's also the added bonus of any excess energy generated is sold back to the grid at ~75% the price of normal units. May sound negligible but over the space of say a year it builds up.
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Cool, I didn't know that but it's pretty funky!
 
What happens if a nice storm comes along and takes exception to your envrionmentally friendly roof?

Certainly a bit dearer to replace than slate...
 
Can you not look into solar heating, so it heats your water and things like that. May not be as expensive and should reduce your bill by a lot.

Not sure how it works or if it's possible on this climate.
 
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I can't see solar thermal transfer cells working that great in this climate. Cloud cover impedes its ability to work (unlike PV cells) and in the winter months when it's already cold the gain from using it will be negligible.

If you have the means of generating your own electricity say with solar panels you can always add to it cheaply and easily with a simple wind turbine too.
 
norm said:
I can't see solar thermal transfer cells working that great in this climate. Cloud cover impedes its ability to work (unlike PV cells) and in the winter months when it's already cold the gain from using it will be negligible.

If you have the means of generating your own electricity say with solar panels you can always add to it cheaply and easily with a simple wind turbine too.
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To be sure to be sure. They only work in properly direct sunlight.

When I was in Fiji we had a solar panel about 1.5mx1.5m, on an average day we got enough electricity to power 3 light bulbs for about 3 hours. They are a lot less effective than you think.
 
i thought new new ones can get loads of power even when cloudy and some need cooling due to how hard they work and heat
 
Our hot water is solar powered. It works perfectly as long as you remember to go and clean the solar panels every month or so. Although the UK is a lot less dusty so that may not make so much difference.

In winter we still have to use the immersion heater, and winter out here is a lot milder than in the UK, so you may not find it too effective for a big chunk of the year.
 
norm said:
Don't forget Solar Panels on a home will increase its value. Some have said by upto 10%.
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Surely it's just down to the proportion of the existing house value the cost of the system represents? For example, a house worth £80k will have its value increased by 10% because the eight grand the system costs represents 10% of the house value.

Why the hell would anyone consider the value of the house to be increased by anymore than eight grand when for that amount they could just put their own brand new one onto a house without it?! :confused:
 
They are only good enough to suppliment your existing electricity and save you some power usage. On average a 1m x 1m panel only gives you 100W of power with the current technology.

So it will assist you in reducing your power usage but will take a long time to pay back the initial outlay in the system installation etc.

SCM
 
There was a program on BBC one about doggy installers fitting these pannels for a stupidy high cost. Apparently it sould only cost about £4000 on smaller homes to install.

Could go the getto route, line the roof with foil, place perspex tues along the roof, connect them all together and fill with water, get some kind of system going for plumbing and hey presto self heating water!

But i suppose that is a different concept to solar cells:o, you cant generate electricity with the getto idea.
 
I read somewhere about being able to get a goverment subsidy for installing them.

That was a year ago, things my have changed. There was a story on the beeb about loads of UK people installing panels after our long hot summers recently.
 
Deadly Ferret said:
Surely it's just down to the proportion of the existing house value the cost of the system represents? For example, a house worth £80k will have its value increased by 10% because the eight grand the system costs represents 10% of the house value.

Why the hell would anyone consider the value of the house to be increased by anymore than eight grand when for that amount they could just put their own brand new one onto a house without it?! :confused:
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I don't know the market trend with houses. But consider that a houses value increases with loft extensions, conservatories and the like. They're all just selling points that set a property apart from the rest. It's not an exact science.
 
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