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Solar Panels UK - is it worth it?
- Thread starter jdwuk
- Start date
Bantam
Member
This year i want to make more of an effort to go greener, so this years project is to start seriously looking jnto getting a solar & battery solution installed. luckily my mortgage is with Nationwide so may look at utilising their Green loan offer (0% interest for 2 or 5 years up to £15k). We only have a small terrace roof so reckon I can get 6/7 panels on my south facing roof.
Anybody have any experience or recommendations for companies in the Leeds/Bradford area that I can reach out to for quotes. At the moment just want to see whats out there and the costs so not bothered if they don’t install Tesla powerwalls.
Anybody have any experience or recommendations for companies in the Leeds/Bradford area that I can reach out to for quotes. At the moment just want to see whats out there and the costs so not bothered if they don’t install Tesla powerwalls.
Well the saying goes "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush"
Giving up FIT export at a deemed 50% of total generation for 20 years even at the lowest rate of FIT - which is about 10p per Kwhr in exchange for a SEG, that has no guarantee duration wise or the return price doesn't seem to be a sensible option.
I don't give very much export wise, my 4Kw solar and 13.5Kwhr batteries - for 9 months of the year run the house for majority of the time, charge the home batteries so the house runs free overnight and any excess usually goes into the car via the granny charger (no dedicated home charger in order the solar output can charge the car free at 2.2Kwts plus the base load of the house - @400 - 450watts)
I don't have a true south roof either and during the summer months my best generation for a day is about 33Kwhrs though its usually around the 25 to 30 mark. Tend to use circa 18Kwhrs per day. If I were paid the actual export it would be peanuts.
Deemed export seems like cheat mode
. Glad it was there to kick start the industry tho!One thing I am interested in this is how efficiency is improving over time - if you don't mind, how old are you panels, and what % efficiency do they have so you know? Would you swap them for better panels eventually? Before or after their 25 year 'life span'?
You don’t give up FIT. You only give up deemed export which is the ‘50% of generation is assumed to be exported’ and you get paid something like 5p/kwh for that. So 5p for half your generation.
The alternative is to move to SEG and get eg 15p for all actual export from octopus. Yes it’s variable but it’s quite a bit more than deemed and opens you up to the savings sessions bonuses too.
You still keep the FIT part which is the payment solely on generation (the 70p-10p depending when you signed up)
There is a case to be made (if you have a battery) to change from full self consumption of solar (deemed export still pays you for half your generation..) and instead let all the solar export and you charge overnight. If you can charge at less than 15p/kWh that’s a net gain
Drew57
Active ember
That all makes sense but I'm with @GlynG in preferring something that is guaranteed for a long time into the future (including rates that are guaranteed to rise each year) rather than jump for a current situation that pays 'more' but may well reduce as the need for domestic battery Grid support reduces. I also export relatively little vs being paid a further 50% for all generation.
My electricity/gas bills are significantly lower than anyone else in my family or circle of friends (plus Gov't winter fuel payments for pensioners) and I am easily able to afford that with no impact to my actual living standards so I'm comfortable in taking this longer term 'gamble'.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
If you have a North/South roof, and the North side is not too steep, it would be worth looking at PV on North too - in Summer you'll get 70-80% of the South
One set of "overhead" costs for the installation, so a lot less than twice the cost, and a fair bit more generation (assuming that you can make use of it )The PVWatts calculator would give you a fair indication of what the South / North parts of the roof would generate
Insulation? If affordable to do that would be your best cost-saving, long term, and improve comfort too
North contributes equally when cloudy too btw.If you have a North/South roof, and the North side is not too steep, it would be worth looking at PV on North too - in Summer you'll get 70-80% of the South
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Good point, I also forgot to mention that North will start earlier / finish later (than South) in Summer - 'coz sunrise is well North of East, and sunset well North of West
So provides power after South has stopped - and at times when commuters are likely to be "at home"
I dont think thats how it works down southGood point, I also forgot to mention that North will start earlier / finish later (than South) in Summer - 'coz sunrise is well North of East, and sunset well North of West
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
My 2p-worth :
But ... they will find they are leaving themselves wide open to a Musk-like disrupter, as established Auto has found out.
Indeed, usually true, but in this instance I reckon that there are some "opportunities", and established companies are happy with business as usual. - particularly if they can also boost profits. My pension provider does some incredible things, when I ask him why they are not readily available he says "Government provides these opportunities, most Pension providers don't want to bother with figuring out the red tape"
Perhaps there are green credits available for "buying domestic PV", and those are either useful to the company, or can be sold to others (who are not meeting "quota")
Or it might be a market-share-grab, ready for when things do change to favour greener producers
No doubt a host of other reasons, that a Disrupter may choose to take advantage of.
There is definitely some box-ticking available. Even bunging a few panels on North roof to say "Yes, does have PV" - which is just crass, that the Regs are satisfied by provisions even if completely hopeless. Sad indictment
Well ... that for sure, but I think there is also another angle.
Housebuilder puts one socket in the bedroom - nowhere near the bed. New home owner has to spend money getting a Sparky in to alter it.
That cost would be cheaper, in bulk, for the housebuilder ... and the additional cost would be added to Mortgage, and paid off over 20 years rather than with "cash pounds".
People buy extra-bits for cars - leather seats / whatever - I would have thought that a menu of options would be appreciated by buyers - particularly if it avoids them having to get them installed as soon as they move in (or being disappointed that, as mentioned up-thread, the house doesn't / can't have under-floor heating)
But there again Tesla doesn't sell much in the way of options ... and their margins are the envy of competitors.
My PV (on the new-build part) is on top of wriggly-tin. For a new-build the roof footprint could be designed to be an exact multiple of panel size, so no awkward around-the-edge bits to fill in.
Estate Agent mate of mine says they are finding New Build with old-style boilers harder to sell. Punters are saying "Government is going to make me put a heat pump in soon, so I want to buy my New Build with that already installed", so that will be asserting buyer-pressure on the home builders
But ... they will find they are leaving themselves wide open to a Musk-like disrupter, as established Auto has found out.
Indeed, usually true, but in this instance I reckon that there are some "opportunities", and established companies are happy with business as usual. - particularly if they can also boost profits. My pension provider does some incredible things, when I ask him why they are not readily available he says "Government provides these opportunities, most Pension providers don't want to bother with figuring out the red tape"
Perhaps there are green credits available for "buying domestic PV", and those are either useful to the company, or can be sold to others (who are not meeting "quota")
Or it might be a market-share-grab, ready for when things do change to favour greener producers
No doubt a host of other reasons, that a Disrupter may choose to take advantage of.
There is definitely some box-ticking available. Even bunging a few panels on North roof to say "Yes, does have PV" - which is just crass, that the Regs are satisfied by provisions even if completely hopeless. Sad indictment
Well ... that for sure, but I think there is also another angle.
Housebuilder puts one socket in the bedroom - nowhere near the bed. New home owner has to spend money getting a Sparky in to alter it.
That cost would be cheaper, in bulk, for the housebuilder ... and the additional cost would be added to Mortgage, and paid off over 20 years rather than with "cash pounds".
People buy extra-bits for cars - leather seats / whatever - I would have thought that a menu of options would be appreciated by buyers - particularly if it avoids them having to get them installed as soon as they move in (or being disappointed that, as mentioned up-thread, the house doesn't / can't have under-floor heating)
But there again Tesla doesn't sell much in the way of options ... and their margins are the envy of competitors.
My PV (on the new-build part) is on top of wriggly-tin. For a new-build the roof footprint could be designed to be an exact multiple of panel size, so no awkward around-the-edge bits to fill in.
Estate Agent mate of mine says they are finding New Build with old-style boilers harder to sell. Punters are saying "Government is going to make me put a heat pump in soon, so I want to buy my New Build with that already installed", so that will be asserting buyer-pressure on the home builders
MrBadger
Badger out
Leeds Solar use to give exceptionally good unbiased advice on a forum that I use to frequent. Their bespoke solutions were well thought of by some very knowledgeable people.
Hopefully they still exist with the influx of cheap as chips installers who were only interested in getting panels on the roof quick and not how they performed.
Bantam
Member
Thanks @MrBadger... good news is they are still trading as they are listed on the GivEnergy approved list of installers. I sent them an email over the xmas holiday period and they sent me over a high level quote last night and I already have a site survey booked in to talk through what they proposed and any refinements that are required. Its for a 3.01kWp (7 x Eurener branded panels) + GivEnergy 5.2kWh & Hybrid inverter, I suspect I might need a larger storage battery if I want to utilise Octopus intelligent tariff to store energy at the cheaper rate but see what they say when they do the site survey.
Will ask them about the north side as they have only quoted for the South facing roof. As I am in a mid terrace and the north side of the house is surrounded by buildings taller than mine, I suspect this may block any early/late sunlight that hits the north side of the roof.If you have a North/South roof, and the North side is not too steep, it would be worth looking at PV on North too - in Summer you'll get 70-80% of the South
The "deemed" export is super at 50% of everything you generate - when the fact with a battery and an EV means next to nothing is actually exported.Deemed export seems like cheat mode
One thing I am interested in this is how efficiency is improving over time - if you don't mind, how old are you panels, and what % efficiency do they have so you know? Would you swap them for better panels eventually? Before or after their 25 year 'life span'?
I had my panels and batteries just before the FIT was abolished - so its the lowest rate being paid - but its worth between £250 and £300 every year so far.
Generation for 100% at 5p and a further 6.79p for 50% of the total generation - My contract is for the 20 years though a year or so earlier and it was for 25 years.
I was installed in November 2018.
I did buy the absolute best panels and efficiency I could find - so LG Neon R @370w each all with optimisers fitted.
25 year construction guarantee and a guarantee that each panel will be producing 92% of its new output at the 25 year mark. Now being as LG are the largest electronics company in the world they also have a no quibble guarantee - its rock solid, any fault and they replace.
With this in mind I'm confident I will never feel the need to swap the panels for something else, When the guarantee runs out I will be 83 - so its more likely I will fault permanently before the panel will - so its a lifetime guarantee.
The inverter is the most likely to fail given the job it does and the average projected lifespan but I do have 20 years guarantee on that, the batteries however - they are 10 years - on that sliding scale system - so in effect its not a guarantee at all if the batteries fail at say 6 years, all i would get a like a small discount against new ones, but when they fail I will replace with whatever is best at that time because the Solax Triple power batteries didn't quite take off like I imagined they would, they remain fine performance wise but the company introduced Gen 2 soon after i had mine - so cant expand the capacity without replacing all of them and the BMS - if i had to make a decision today then it would be the powerwall.
Love it! We managed to get in on the renewable heat incentive system on out heat pump.
Not only do we spend less now than we would have on gas as a base line, but between off peak, solar and batteries the £1200 a year RHI payments are covering our complete yearly power bill
. Only for 7 years tho 
.Even better, almost all the installation costs are covered by various interest free loans - seemed a bit so what when we took them out, but looks like stunningly good foresight now!
They are no longer producing. The general consensus is to get in touch with your installer. Im sure as a big brand name they will probably sort something out even though this would be a separate business and they would not be oblidged.
All I was thinking is what would the replacement. Might be worth asking the original installer if still in existence imho.
MrBadger
Badger out
Its a long time ago, but I think the person in charge might have been called Gavin. If you get them or someone trained by them, then you will be in safe hands. They know what works and what doesn't and wont try an unnecessary upsell unlike some others - I somehow ended up on the SolarEdge installers list so saw first hand how they were promoting the virtues of their products to installers. Nothing wrong with how their product worked when needed (as it was for us), but plenty of scope to see how it was likely to be sold by installers to people where the benefit was marginal or non existent and a properly designed system (ie by proper designers like Leeds Solar) would equal, if not outperform for far cheaper cost.
