Solar energy and the Feed-In Tariff - your opinions
- Thread starter Thomas L
- Start date
Pity I'm moving house next year. I currently have a south facing garden with very large roof space... and even better I have a large double garage with pitched roof facing all four directions. I could generate a lot of electricity from panels on that lot.
Very. They would basically have to remove the roof. Besides access to my garage is not exactly straight forward for someone trying to nick anything, least of all something bolted down.
Care to pass on the fitters details? 12k for a 4kw system seems to be quite reasonable, though perhaps some of that was down to it being easier to install than on a house roof.
My house faces south and I live just inside the southern M25 so it's not a bad position.
Soldato
Thanks to the awkward extensions on our house, we've only been quoted for a 1.12KWH array, awkward installation brings the cost up to £5.5k
Estimated return of £450 a year, and I'm not sure if its worth while, the guarantee will have finished by the time we reach profit.
Estimated return of £450 a year, and I'm not sure if its worth while, the guarantee will have finished by the time we reach profit.
Man of Honour
@Castiel,
How big and where is all the inverter stuff stored? Any chance of a photo? I was thinking about getting these on my roof... south facing and lots o' space on it... just a bit concerned as to how much attic space I would lose.
How big and where is all the inverter stuff stored? Any chance of a photo? I was thinking about getting these on my roof... south facing and lots o' space on it... just a bit concerned as to how much attic space I would lose.
The gurantee is for 25 years. 25 x £450 = £11,250
£11,250 - £5,500 = £5,750
Not as great as the £30k profit on a 4kw array but still a profit.
Plus that savings is based on todays electric prices not what they might be in later years.
It is all fitted in the Garage itself, not much bigger than an average combi-boiler. I'll go take a photo in a bit, I'll edit the post then.
Soldato
Soldato
The array itself though is only guaranteed for 10 years, if anything goes wrong after that, you have to fork out.
Based on 5% interest in the bank, and the 20% tax we would be paying on that, we would make £8600 over 25 years, and have easier access to that capital should we need to spend it.
If we had a easier installation, and space for a bigger array (our extension casts shadows over a large section of the roof) then it would be a no brainer. But with things the way they are, I just don't think its worth it
Exactly, that's the whole point. The different rates of FiT for different technologies and sizes are set such they they offer an attractive rate of return (around 7% I think). From the individual's point of view, it should be a no brainer.
However, as has been pointed out above, this is a political/economic manipulation. PV in the UK, at today's prices is not competitive against other forms of energy generation. However, costs are falling rapidly (whilst conventional thermal generation costs are rising). Unsubsidised grid-parity is conceivable within the decade.
Castiel, looking good. My folks have a very similar set up.
I thought thorium reactors were the way forward, its more abundant and none of the historical nuclear accidents could have happened in a thorium reactor... infact its 1960 tech that was only ignored because we wanted fuel for nuclear war heads....
Associate
Survey complete
Even if I take out a 5 year loan for 12k it only comes to just over 14k. And at £234 a month just for the loan it works out to £2808 a year. If Castiels conservative estimates of £1800 per year are accurate then I'm only actually paying off £80 a month for 5 years which is nothing at all.
Soldato
If figures are correct, this scheme seems to be ridiculously generous... I had no idea that the profit margins could be so large! I will definitely look into this some more and ask my parents about getting it...
However, although I wouldn't be sloth to take advantage of it, I can't help thinking that this is a massive waste of other peoples money! (as other company customers will be paying this FIT). imo, if someone can justify making everyone pay this much extra on their electricity bills, then the extra cash should fund nuclear power, which would more effectively replace the dirty baseload coal power stations, and you would get more kwh for your money if it was spent on nuclear rather than PV cells. Rubbish idea tbh (unless you are one of the ones buying the cells). A system where homeowners could donate enough money to fund (x)KW of a new nuclear power station would reduce CO2 emissions much more than funding (x)KW or solar panels on their roof imo.
I see this as a silly way of boosting renewable energy generation, being used purely because there won't be 'government spends £xxxxxxxx of taxpayers money on expensive PVs' headlines, instead, it is a stealthy way of stealing money from the (majority of) people that don't get in on this FIT thing before it gets closed to new users.
However, although I wouldn't be sloth to take advantage of it, I can't help thinking that this is a massive waste of other peoples money! (as other company customers will be paying this FIT). imo, if someone can justify making everyone pay this much extra on their electricity bills, then the extra cash should fund nuclear power, which would more effectively replace the dirty baseload coal power stations, and you would get more kwh for your money if it was spent on nuclear rather than PV cells. Rubbish idea tbh (unless you are one of the ones buying the cells). A system where homeowners could donate enough money to fund (x)KW of a new nuclear power station would reduce CO2 emissions much more than funding (x)KW or solar panels on their roof imo.
I see this as a silly way of boosting renewable energy generation, being used purely because there won't be 'government spends £xxxxxxxx of taxpayers money on expensive PVs' headlines, instead, it is a stealthy way of stealing money from the (majority of) people that don't get in on this FIT thing before it gets closed to new users.