Solar Panels

[MPOWER]

Blondes

Does anyone have any idea about solar panels for your home.

A few people on the street have used " A Shade Greener " or is it best to pay yourself?

Any views would be good to know.

Cheers

Regards

M

[EvilPie]

Business logic would suggest that these companies aren't really doing this for free so there's quite a return in it for them. Therefore the same return should be available for you.

There's no doubt they provide a good return at around 13% but don't forget that your initial investment is now sat on your roof and you can't ever get it back. If you spend £7k on solar panels after a year you have about £900 in the bank. If you stuck £7k in the bank after one year you have £7100 in the bank.

They tell you that you get a 7 year payback but that's only to pay for the panels. It's only after this 7 years that you theoretically have the cash that you started with. It's going to take another couple of years to offset what you lost through not sticking the money in a bank and then finally you're making a profit. Do you really want to wait 9 years to make a profit? Will you still be in the house in 9 years?

If you have absolutely no plans to move and will literally never need that money then it's a good (very) long term investment.

If you have the free panels all you're going to get is the savings from any electricity you actually use. That's typically about £150 per year. Do you really want those f**king ugly panels on your roof for £150 per year?

Unfortunately the feed in tariffs aren't anything near what they once were. They started at around 44p per unit of electricity generated whereas now it's about 14p. When you're generating 3000 units a year that's some difference!!

Mr Lewis has a decent guide. It also mentions "a shade greener": http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels

Have you looked at other green options? The new RHI makes things like ground source heat pumps look very attractive. They cost in the region of £10k to £15k to install but the government gives you about £3k per year for the next 7 years to help out.

[MPOWER]

Cheers Matt

Great information

Thank you

[mikeymike]

Are you talking solar panels for hot water or photo voltaic for electricity.

If its for your hot water and you have a cylinder - its worth having 2 as they will pay you back over a 10 year period and then your probably freerolling for the next 10 years.

If its photo voltaic for your electricity dont bother as the technology is just not quite right yet, also if you own your own property it can devalue it when you come to sell.

When they brought out the original tarriffs it was a no brainer, but all the tarriffs have been dramatically reduced and will possibly be reduced further after the election

[EvilPie]

Are you talking solar panels for hot water or photo voltaic for electricity.

If its for your hot water and you have a cylinder - its worth having 2 as they will pay you back over a 10 year period and then your probably freerolling for the next 10 years.

If its photo voltaic for your electricity dont bother as the technology is just not quite right yet, also if you own your own property it can devalue it when you come to sell.

When they brought out the original tarriffs it was a no brainer, but all the tarriffs have been dramatically reduced and will possibly be reduced further after the election

This makes zero sense. You say not to bother because the technology is not quite right yet but then you say that on the original tariffs it was a no brainer. Was the technology not the same (or worse) then?

The technology is irrelevant anyway as long as it actually works. The panel manufacturers will freely admit that the panels are far from efficient, usually in the order of 20% efficiency or so but as it's free energy it doesn't matter one bit how much of it isn't converted to usable electricity.

Also MPower is obviously talking about PV as he mentions 'free' systems and the company 'a shade greener'. There's nobody out there providing free solar hot water systems as they don't benefit from feed in tariffs so there's zero financial benefit other than for the homeowner.

God knows what you mean by "it's worth having 2"? There's so many factors to take in to account before you decide how many to have this just doesn't help at all. You're basically saying that whatever he's considering he should double it without factoring in anything else.

M. if you go for solar thermal (water) then it's the governments RHI (renewable heat incentive) that makes it worthwhile financially. A typical system costing about £3k to £5k will save between £50 and £80 per year if you currently use electric (less if you use gas). The RHI payment could be anywhere between £1k and £3k over a 7 year period depending on the size of your house and several other factors. It's nowhere near as simple as '10 year payback then a freeroll'.

Financially if you're looking at one or the other it's obviously the PV to go for. If what Mikey says was correct you'd see the hot water solar everywhere instead of the PV. If it's about doing your bit for the environment and you have no other medium to long term requirement for the money then roof space permitting I'd go for both.