Solar panels

[carrust]

Has anybody on here had solar panels fitted? If so, are they worth having as a money saving venture & can anyone recommend an honest company that fits them.

[julia-mag]

I have solar panels and this was my first quarter that I could do a comparison with last year and my consumption was down 20% but I do watch for the weather and as I am at home all day I work indoors when the sun shines on them and the electric is free. Everyone will be different of course, and as I rent we do not get paid for electric generated but not used.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

The boat has long since sailed for solar panels...the feed in tariffs are now too low and the payback times are too far into the future.

[buildersmate]

I have great respect of Bright Spark's answers as I believe him to be an electrician/electrical engineer who consistently offer reliable answers to these sorts of question. But I'm going to offer you an alternative.

It's true the tariffs have been cut - now they are 15.4p/kWh for the generating tariff and 4.5p/kWh for the infeed tariff (I'll explain later), but that is because the cost of installation has been slashed to around £6k for a 4kW (16 panel) system. Installation costs have fallen because of economies of scale in manufacturing. Most of the cowboys have been driven out and gone back to tarmacing drives or replacing domestic fascias with UPVC.

You have to treat this solely as an investment opportunity - nothing more. For £6k of investment in a building society, what might you get back now - £200pa tops? So if you can get vastly more than £200pa, it could be worthwhile.

So what are the savings? There are three - firstly you spend less on your electricity bill, secondly the Government gives you 15.4p for each kWh you generate, thirdly, the Government gives you ANOTHER 4.5p for each kWh you shove back into the Grid. Since they can't actually measure yet how much you shove back, they assume it is 50%, whether you shove any back or not.

So the net annual savings could be:
£200 off your bills
£250 from the Government extra for the privilege of reducing your bills
£50 from the Government for electricity you gave back (but you don't even have to give it back).

Whether you can achieve this is going to depend on whether:
your house sits almost south-facing
how far south you live
how you use electricity up in the summer (and winter) but most gets generated in the summer months.

An accountant colleague of mine has just had his system installed.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Net savings....£250+£200+£50=£500...minus a possible £200 interest on capital (or more if you borrow from a BS or bank)=£300 per annum.
This gives you a payback of 20 years on a product thats advancing rapidly every year and will be vastly outdated in less than 5 years.I.M.O in 5 years time a 4kw system will cost below a grand and the collector array will be the size of a satellite dish.People will be paying to have these eyesores of today taken down. In most cases after 10 years the guarantee will have lapsed and any repairs will be down to you.If a panel fails you will need scaffolding to enable replacement and if the inverter fails it will cost up to 1k...if you can get one.
However you pay your money and take your chance

[buildersmate]

Touche (without the accent) BS! Brilliant answer.
I didn't say I had installed it - I'm an engineer, not an accountant.

[carrust]

Thank you all for your answers....food for thought....

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Bm...thats why your mates had his done...because he's an accountant not an engineer. :-)

[adamgeller]

As I am a member of “Friends of the Earth International” so really wanted to make a contribution for mother Earth. And for that we got a residential solar system installed at our beach house 2 years back from Solar Electric Supply, inc. (http://solarelectricsupply.com) recommended by a family friend. We have saved a big amount from the electricity bills so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wb-oyCVC8Q&feature=colike

[adamgeller]

As I am a member of “Friends of the Earth International” so really wanted to make a contribution for mother Earth. And for that we got a residential solar system installed at our beach house 2 years back from Solar Electric Supply (http://solarelectricsupply.com) recommended by a family friend. We have saved a big amount from the electricity bills so far. I want to thank them and all other people who though doing business for a living but also saving earth at the same time.

Go Green!