Solar energy and the Feed-In Tariff - your opinions

I actually have a system, 3.96kwp installed in October 2010

finishedjpg.jpg


First years FIT's came to a few quid under £2k. Still think you'd have struggled to get the paperwork sorted prior to the deadline, took 3 weeks to get my MCS certificate after completion.
£300 a quarter for power? Ours is always around £600 as you can see it's a huge house and there's upwards of a dozen occupants most of which have no idea that switches can be turned off as well as on ;)
 
ron3003 said:
I actually have a system, 3.96kwp installed in October 2010


First years FIT's came to a few quid under £2k. Still think you'd have struggled to get the paperwork sorted prior to the deadline, took 3 weeks to get my MCS certificate after completion.
£300 a quarter for power? Ours is always around £600 as you can see it's a huge house and there's upwards of a dozen occupants most of which have no idea that switches can be turned off as well as on ;)
Click to expand...

They "promised" I'd have the certificate in my hand on Tuesday but its all over now :( So your annual bill is about £2400 and you get £2000 FIT.... ULTRA WIN! :) How much did the install cost if you don't mind me asking.
 
Last edited:
I paid £14k to Tesco including scaffolding back in 2010, the panels are a lot cheaper now hence the reduction in the tariff.
 
ron3003 said:
I paid £14k to Tesco including scaffolding back in 2010, the panels are a lot cheaper now hence the reduction in the tariff.
Click to expand...

But only £2k cheaper according to my quote. The tariff is dropping from 43.3p to just 21p. That massive drop doesn't correlate with the slight reduction of the install price.
 
elrasho said:
But only £2k cheaper according to my quote. The tariff is dropping from 43.3p to just 21p. That massive drop doesn't correlate with the slight reduction of the install price.
Click to expand...

Not really, you need to use certain panels and the fitters need to be registered. They keep the price artificially high. If you get a quote for equivlent panels and then find any electrician to fit them, it's far cheaper.

The price for FIT installation will fall in price next year, as they just haven't been reducing prices in line and so have been making more profit on what is essentially a monopoly.
 
Glaucus said:
Not really, you need to use certain panels and the fitters need to be registered. They keep the price artificially high. If you get a quote for equivlent panels and then find any electrician to fit them, it's far cheaper.

The price for FIT installation will fall in price next year, as they just haven't been reducing prices in line and so have been making more profit on what is essentially a monopoly.
Click to expand...

The fitters were registered and the panels were JAP5 60/200-250 panels (that's what the PDF file they emailed me says).

So you think next year the price for installation might half as the FIT has halved?
 
elrasho said:
The fitters were registered and the panels were JAP5 60/200-250 panels (that's what the PDF file they emailed me says).

So you think next year the price for installation might half as the FIT has halved?
Click to expand...

I doubt they will half, but they will reduce.I think people will still get a much better deal now. As the deal was tbh to good. But it needed to be. Now that public are noticing it and they are on a lot of houses, the need isn't so great for such massive savings. ~7 years to pay it of and another 18years of profit.
Still disappointed by the government though by reducing it, as we aren't meeting are renewable energy quota and co2 reduction quota both of which we are signed upto.
 
Last edited:
Glaucus said:
I doubt they will half, but they will reduce.I think people will still get a much better deal now. As the deal was tbh to good. But it needed to be. Now that public are noticing it and they are on a lot of houses, the need isn't so great for such massive savings. ~7 years to pay it of and another 18years of profit.
Still disappointed by the government though by reducing it, as we aren't meeting are renewable energy quota and co2 reduction quota both of which we are signed upto.
Click to expand...

Your so right, wish I knew about the savings earlier. I only got told about it on Friday!
 
ron3003 said:
I actually have a system, 3.96kwp installed in October 2010

finishedjpg.jpg


First years FIT's came to a few quid under £2k. Still think you'd have struggled to get the paperwork sorted prior to the deadline, took 3 weeks to get my MCS certificate after completion.
£300 a quarter for power? Ours is always around £600 as you can see it's a huge house and there's upwards of a dozen occupants most of which have no idea that switches can be turned off as well as on ;)
Click to expand...

I look at that photo and just think why didn't they remove the tiles and use the solar panels as the roof instead...
 
Amp34 said:
I look at that photo and just think why didn't they remove the tiles and use the solar panels as the roof instead...
Click to expand...

The panels fit on rails which are in turn fitted on the slates. Also he panels are not air tight so would make a crappy roof. Guess I'm gonna wait until next year, hopefully this time next year my roof will be shiny :)
 
I have recently started a PhD in sustainable manufacturing and something that interests me with buying solar panels is the 'payback period' (please note that my PhD is nothing to do with solar panels, just something I have picked up on).
Everyone chooses solar panels based on the 'break even point', but which break even point are we talking about?

Money wise, we can all do a quick calculation to see whether the investment is worth it.
Environmental wise, solar panels aren't the cleanest to make, so if you get one manufactured to save (usually) coal being burnt in a power plant, where is the break even point here?

This isn't questioning anymore who has bought solar panels - You have all bought them to save money, but a question I find of interest is are they really any better as you have to source the raw materials, process the materials, manufacture and distribute the panels. Also they must be disposed of at end of life.
Just a point I thought I would raise as everyone these days is talking about the environment, with the dreaded term 'emissions' :).





Making a decision bases on purely financial considerations is exactly why the world is in the mess it is in already, it just happens that reducing fossil fuel use saves money and helps the environment i.e a 'win win' situation.
(I use the term 'helps the environment' very loosely - The phase 'buggers it ever so slightly less' is probably more appropriate).
 
Last edited:
elrasho said:
The panels fit on rails which are in turn fitted on the slates. Also he panels are not air tight so would make a crappy roof. Guess I'm gonna wait until next year, hopefully this time next year my roof will be shiny :)
Click to expand...

When you say not airtight do you mean between the panels or within the actual panels itself? Sealing the panel edges would be easy and as standard you would seal the roof with pretty easily anyway.
 
Amp34 said:
When you say not airtight do you mean between the panels or within the actual panels itself? Sealing the panel edges would be easy and as standard you would seal the roof with pretty easily anyway.
Click to expand...

There are panels designed for replacing the tiles or creating a roof from.
But general more expensive and far far more expensive to install.
 
Glaucus said:
There are panels designed for replacing the tiles or creating a roof from.
But general more expensive and far far more expensive to install.
Click to expand...

I realise that, however those are small PV panels, what is to stop you using cheaper full size panels is my question, other than the sealing between the panels, which would take about 10 seconds and some sealant to sort...:)

It must take a lot less time to attach the panels to the battoning the tiles are attached to than to attach the panels to the tiles.
 
Ripping of the tiles, doing the fixing, insuring a seal.
They aren't design to have a water tight seals, others are and they are just small ones. They do big panels as well, designed to be a roof.

Nothing stops you. But it costs loads more and people are doing it mostly for finacial reasons.
 
No panels are attached to any tiles. They are fixed to the rafters of the house by sliding up a few tiles and fixing brackets like these into the wooden rafters

img1225xn.jpg


Then after sliding back the tiles a framework of aluminium rails is affixed to the brackets before the panels are fixed to the rails

img1227n.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom