Solar Panels

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Given the way electric prices are going I've started looking into solar panels. Seems you can apply for up to a 5k loan funded by Scot Gov interest free.

 

Have requested quotes from a few local companies and some national ones as well so hopefully get some actual quotes this week and hopefully they are able to do an install soon, some forums saying installers are maxed out for a long time and despite the VAT now being 0 prices seem to be on the way up.

 

In probably going to be £200 a month electric when the prices go up in a few days so it makes sense to try and reduce the cost of this.

 

Luckily I've got an unobstructed south facing roof and think my west facing roof is quite good as well so might be able to get a decent sized system.

 

Probably going to go without a battery at the moment as I'm at home all day and battery prices would make the system a bit too expensive at the moment.

 

Anyone got solar panels installed?

 

Any recommendations on installer's (who cover Fife)?

 

Will keep this topic updated as it progresses.

[Steve_Wilkos]

I have a patent pending for something similar that fits in the back of your mouth.

I call them molar panels.

[philpy]

@Melanius Mullarkayhas one on top of his head.

[Thorongil]

I’m getting them soon. Building a garage with a south facing roof. Also installing an Air Source Heat Pump. 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Thorongil

[Melanius Mullarkey]

34 minutes ago, philpy said:

@Melanius Mullarkayhas one on top of his head.

I was on your stomping ground earlier. I consider coming round and reflecting the sun off my bonce and burning your front door but it was too foggy.

Next time.

[Shadow Play]

50 minutes ago, UsedToGoToCentralPark said:

 

Given the way electric prices are going I've started looking into solar panels. Seems you can apply for up to a 5k loan funded by Scot Gov interest free.

 

Have requested quotes from a few local companies and some national ones as well so hopefully get some actual quotes this week and hopefully they are able to do an install soon, some forums saying installers are maxed out for a long time and despite the VAT now being 0 prices seem to be on the way up.

 

In probably going to be £200 a month electric when the prices go up in a few days so it makes sense to try and reduce the cost of this.

 

Luckily I've got an unobstructed south facing roof and think my west facing roof is quite good as well so might be able to get a decent sized system.

 

Probably going to go without a battery at the moment as I'm at home all day and battery prices would make the system a bit too expensive at the moment.

 

Anyone got solar panels installed?

 

Any recommendations on installer's (who cover Fife)?

 

Will keep this topic updated as it progresses.

 

I definitely wouldn’t bother with a battery and I think you may be disappointed with how much electricity each panel actually produces.  It’s just over 250 watts for the average panel, so a bank of 6 panels is not even enough to power two bars on an electric fire. There are more efficient panels available but they are prohibitively expensive.

[philpy]

8 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

I was on your stomping ground earlier. I consider coming round and reflecting the sun off my bonce and burning your front door but it was too foggy.

Next time.

 

[Trogdor]

I'm interested to see how the payback looks with the ridiculously high electricity prices. My roof is south west facing so expected it to be decent but when I use the calculator on the Energy Savings Trust website it doesn't payback - I end up with lifetime net cost rather than benefit. 

https://www.pvfitcalculator.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

[Thorongil]

23 minutes ago, Shadow Play said:

I definitely wouldn’t bother with a battery and I think you may be disappointed with how much electricity each panel actually produces.  It’s just over 250 watts for the average panel, so a bank of 6 panels is not even enough to power two bars on an electric fire. There are more efficient panels available but they are prohibitively expensive.

I’m putting in a 4KW system which will produce enough energy basically to run my home, give or take. I might have an electricity bill the odd month but it won’t be much.

Undecided on a battery.

Even if it only powered the Air Source Heat Pump it would be worth doing.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Thorongil

[Left Back]

21 minutes ago, Shadow Play said:

I definitely wouldn’t bother with a battery and I think you may be disappointed with how much electricity each panel actually produces.  It’s just over 250 watts for the average panel, so a bank of 6 panels is not even enough to power two bars on an electric fire. There are more efficient panels available but they are prohibitively expensive.

Whit?

I got 20 310W panels put up for £6k.  This was a couple of years ago.

[Left Back]

1 minute ago, Thorongil said:

I’m putting in a 4KW system which will produce enough energy basically to run my home, give or take. I might have an electricity bill the odd month but it won’t be much.

Undecided on a battery.

You’ll have a bill every month.  If you’re smart it won’t be huge in the summer but typically you only consume over the year about 40% of what you generate.  The rest is either exported or stored (if you have a battery)

[maicoman]

Better make sure your roof is in mint condition before you go any further

[Shadow Play]

2 hours ago, Thorongil said:

I’m putting in a 4KW system which will produce enough energy basically to run my home, give or take. I might have an electricity bill the odd month but it won’t be much.

Undecided on a battery.

Even if it only powered the Air Source Heat Pump it would be worth doing.

I take it that is roughly 16 panels?  That is certainly far more worthwhile than the 3 or 4 panel systems you see dotted around.

I’ve added a screenshot of what  a 3.5 kw-peak system (similar to your intended system) can save you according to EST estimates.

2 hours ago, Left Back said:

Whit?

I got 20 310W panels put up for £6k.  This was a couple of years ago.

I said the new, more efficient ones are prohibitively expensive.  Google them.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Shadow Play

[peasy23]

We've had a 16 panel system for quite a few years, can't remember exactly how much our contribution was, but our electric in a 3 bed semi (with a teenager who doesn't realise that you can turn things off as well as on) is currently £26 per month.

[Gnash]

3 hours ago, Left Back said:

You’ll have a bill every month.  If you’re smart it won’t be huge in the summer but typically you only consume over the year about 40% of what you generate.  The rest is either exported or stored (if you have a battery)

This is correct.  If you think about it, you will be generating 0 about 60% of the time when it's night or near dawn / dusk and thick cloud.  Then you will generate 3.5-4 kw on a sunny summer's day when you aren't using much electricity. 

My bills reduced by £50-100 per year (it's very difficult to estimate accurately).  That would be higher now, but the real benefit is the feed in tariff.  I got about 15p per kwh, I think that is optimistic these days though. 

[101]

4 hours ago, Left Back said:

You’ll have a bill every month.  If you’re smart it won’t be huge in the summer but typically you only consume over the year about 40% of what you generate.  The rest is either exported or stored (if you have a battery)

What's the bill for, other than the cost of panels?

[peasy23]

What's the bill for, other than the cost of panels?

Even if you were generating 100% of your electricity needs, you still need to pay the standing charges for being connected to the national grid.

[Left Back]

2 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

Presumably that's only at sunny times though?

The time you'll need most electricity would be at night so if you're not storing the electricity being generated during the day you'll be using the National Grid supply wouldn't you?

I'd have thought that solar panels simply wouldn't work for you financially unless you were storing the electricity but I'm not certain of how they work in practice.

I did my numbers before I put in our current system.  About a 10 year ROI. No FIT though, just SEG these days.  Our previous system in our old house was about 7 year ROI with FIT. Both those time periods will come down with the current hike in electricity prices but tbh I can’t be arsed to work out by how much.

Storage is a different animal and made no financial sense to me when I last looked at it.  The maths was quite simple.  At the time a kWh was about 15-16p to import.  The best SEG was about 5.5p per kWh export. Roughly 10p per kWh saved for storing and re-using.

The cheapest storage (£/kWh) is the Tesla powerwall which cost about £9k.  You therefore need to store and use 90000 kWh to make your money back.  The unit holds 13.5 kWh so thats 6666 cycles.  If you could charge it from solar every day (which you can’t) it would take you over18 years to make a return.  The guarantee lasts 10.

When you look at time of use tariffs it gets more interesting regarding electricity storage, and of course the current price hike changes the numbers but not enough to make it remotely compelling.

[lichtgilphead]

I got quotes for an air source heat pump both with and without solar panels in 2019. The break-even point with solar was ridiculously far away, so we just went for the heat pump. Still happy with our decision. 

The OP's priority should be the heat pump.

[Scotty Tunbridge]

A house round the corner from me has had solar panels for as long as I’ve been here.

However, pigeons were literally always going under them so the people eventually got the gaps underneath them sealed off. The noise of loads of them walking about on the roof constantly must have been brutal. So I would suggest to anyone getting them to make sure they are sealed as such.

 

Got to agree that with the ridiculously high jump in the standing charge they seem pointless to me. A way to get cheaper heating would be my first choice.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Scotty Tunbridge