solar panels

[chipper]

ok so lecy bill dropped through the door yesterday and i wasnt impressed, its getting ridiculously expensive and its not like we take the piss and light the house up like blackpool illuminations.

so we were talking about it at work, and we got onto the subject of solar panels. now im pretty clueless about how it all works but the gist of what i got is, you get the panels for next to nothing and you sell any surplus electricity back to the grid, my problem with this was how do the company fitting them make a profit? to which no one seemed to have an answer.

do any of you uk peeps have them fitted? if so how much did you pay and more importantly were they worth it?

 

[MYstIC G]

No idea but I'd read something like this:

Is solar PV a good investment? - How to buy solar panels - Energy - Which? Environment & saving energy

 

[dysfunction]

I was also thinking about this.
I'm currently with E-on and they have this on their website:
SolarExchange - Get solar powered for £99 : E.ON

My guess it would be pretty similar for other companies...

 

[Kahland]

Get a solar updraft tower with turbines!. Used solar energy panels contains toxins and is chemical waste, as they have a lifespan. Although, it's of course a better alternative to power generated from coal, and for brits, uranium.

convection energy just needs glass/polyester and not toxic panels

Solar updraft tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[dysfunction]

Get a solar updraft tower with turbines!. Used solar energy panels contains toxins and is chemical waste, as they have a lifespan. Although, it's of course a better alternative to power generated from coal, and for brits, uranium.

convection energy just needs glass/polyester and not toxic panels

Solar updraft tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes that is very attractive in a residential area...

 

[caLLous]

I don't think he was being entirely serious dys.

 

[DaGaffer]

Yes that is very attractive in a residential area...

What? You can't get planning permission for a 200M tower in your back garden? Its bureaucracy gone mad I tell's ya.

 

[Kahland]

What? You can't get planning permission for a 200M tower in your back garden? Its bureaucracy gone mad I tell's ya.

Imagine how much use it could have! extras include bungee and basejumping in your own backyard!, or just plummeting to death when feeling blue.

 

[Zenith.UK]

I was also thinking about this.
I'm currently with E-on and they have this on their website:
SolarExchange - Get solar powered for £99 : E.ON

My guess it would be pretty similar for other companies...

I contacted them expressing my interest with this.
There are a LOT of caveats to stop you from being eligible.
You need to own your own home.
You need to have a slate roof south facing or within 30deg of south.
You need to have clear sky on the south facing roof.

I'm still going to follow through on my enquiry. £99 down to help knock down my bill would be a definite help.

 

[Job]

Solar panels in the UK really? How about fridges in the Antartic.

I mean really, who are they kidding, it would probably take ten years to get your money back, let alone save anything, on a cloudy day a roof full of solar panels would just about power the telly.
The kettle 2kw, the shower 10kw, computer 500w, the panels cost 4-5000 quid per kw, and that's in direct sunlight, they will produce a 10th of that when it's cloudy, so it'll cost 5 grand to power two computers for the small time in the UK it is sunny, which of course excludes all night and most of the winter, in fact it's probably sunny about 2 months of the year.

Solar panels in the UK are on the same boat as wind turbines..nice idea, but it just doesn't actually help at the end of the day.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Don't understand how leccy use can be considered expensive? We use a lot, we don't even have gas (leccy heaters) and it costs ~£1 per day per person. Do you guys run fucking sunbeds or something?

 

[JBP|]

I don't know much about the solar panel thing but i did hear something on the Jeremy Vine show on the radio a while back which went something like... the average house can have 9 or so panels fitted, however it takes 11 panels on a very sunny day to boil a kettle.

Also it apparently take something like 20 years before you sell enough tricity to make your money back.

Make what you will from that info

 

[old.user4556]

wind turbines..nice idea, but it just doesn't actually help at the end of the day.

You've clearly never been to Scotland.

Do you guys run fucking sunbeds or something?

You've clearly never been to Scotland.

 

[Job]

Yes, I 've seen those being built on the M6-M/A75, I think the actual output for wind turbines against the claim is 20-30%, they are around 25X more expensive than gas and require a power station running in standby to back them up.

One agency claims a single 1.8MW turbine can power a computer for 1600 years
oh right, using large numbers to hide the truth eh.
That's 1600 computers for a year, which is JUST the computers in a very small town indeed.
I love wind power, it's just the inappropriate, hopelessly designed, over subsisdised bags of shite we are putting up now are a joke.

 

[Cadelin]

Solar panels make money because there is a massive Government subsidy for it. The subsidy is for each kWh produced so you get your money back over time.

The way it used to work, was that individuals would pay say £3000 to have solar panels setup and then you would earn back ~£1000 for the 10 year lifetime of the panels. The companies would make money installing the panels and if you had a large house and some money to spare you could make a good profit.

This is being phased out but what is now allowed is for the companies to take a share of the generated cash. So now, you may only pay £99 to get the solar panels installed but the company doing it will probably take the subsidy and give you a bit of free electricity in exchange.


Anyway, solar is a good investment if you have an appropriate house and can afford it. Those that can't will be paying for its actual cost.

 

[Job]

99 quids OK , but what do you get? Seems like the oppurtunity to host some solar panels on your roof, they'll be nothing left,because they make so little in the first place

 

[Wazzerphuk]

You've clearly never been to Scotland.



You've clearly never been to Scotland.

Thankfully

Would be nice to get up there to see the highlands one day, but having to deal with stupid driving distance (no fucking way I'd FLY to Scotland), stupid cold and wet weather and then the inevitable jocks really takes the sheen off it

 

[old.user4556]

Ironically, the Highlands are packed full of English people who ditched the city life to run a quiet B&B / cafe / tourist shop. Barely any Scottish accents up in Skye.

 

[Moriath]

Ironically, the Highlands are packed full of English people who ditched the city life to run a quiet B&B / cafe / tourist shop. Barely any Scottish accents up in Skye.

and get eaten alive by midges hehehe

 

[old.user4556]

Definitely. They take absolutely no prisoners.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Ironically, the Highlands are packed full of English people who ditched the city life to run a quiet B&B / cafe / tourist shop. Barely any Scottish accents up in Skye.

Shoulda rebuilt that wall, eh?

 

[old.user4556]

Aye, they take er jerbs!

 

[rynnor]

99 quids OK , but what do you get? Seems like the oppurtunity to host some solar panels on your roof, they'll be nothing left,because they make so little in the first place

You get the inconvenience of the work being done - waiting in for builders etc. in return for them nicking all the grant and subsidy tax free and you get a few watts of free power which will save you about a tenner

Its an idiotic scheme that will do nowt for the UK's energy policy but will make a lot of tax free moulah for the rich at the expense of the poorest disproportionately - lovely!

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Durkadur!

 

[Moriath]

You get the inconvenience of the work being done - waiting in for builders etc. in return for them nicking all the grant and subsidy tax free and you get a few watts of free power which will save you about a tenner

Its an idiotic scheme that will do nowt for the UK's energy policy but will make a lot of tax free moulah for the rich at the expense of the poorest disproportionately - lovely!

yeah looked at that scheme and thought hmm i get nothing there feck that its all them

 

[Gemma the Dog]

It can be worth doing if a) you are going to spend at least 10 years in your current house and b) you have some spare cash!

The way you make your money back (and more) is through the 'Feed in Tarrif'. The is guaranteed for 25 years and is something the Utility companies are having to fund (which means all customers fund it in the end!)...currently for every unit your panels generate you get about 41.3p (not bad as you pay around 12p a unit to buy it back from them in the evening!).

That figure of 41.3p (from memory btw) will rise each year with the RPI I believe. And you get paid for what you generate, not what you feed back is how I understand it...they estimate you may use about 50% of what you generate but currently that isn't monitored...only what you generate.

Most official sites I've looked at have some sort of calculator and typically repayment comes between 7 and 10 years depending on cost and size of the system. So you should get a good 15 years of getting money *from* your electricity company rather than them paying you!

btw...no need to planning permission if you have a normal pitched roof...but if you have a flat roof like me...well, that's a different story

 

[Raven]

Yeah, I can't get them, our loft is only about a quarter of the roof and has no access hatch.

Plus they would look fucking retarded on my 400 year old house!

 

[Moriath]

Yeah, I can't get them, our loft is only about a quarter of the roof and has no access hatch.

Plus they would look fucking retarded on my 400 year old house!

buy a new one cheap skate they not that expensive

 

[MYstIC G]

lol, buy new house to get solar.

 

[Moriath]

what ya want an old house for when you can get a new one