Solar panels and energy crunch forum

You will not only be able to generate your own power but also get incentives for the power even if you use yourself. This in itself is a double saving as you effectively get the power generated and the feed-in tariff payment.

If that is not enough, the Clean Energy Cash Back Scheme as it is also known will pay you for every unit generated and exported. This maybe when you are out at work or on holiday etc. You are not only generating your own power, but generating an income. The larger the system size you install, the larger the income.

A properly installed system by an accredited installer will easily serve your home for 25-30 years.

Learn more at:

http://www.solar-panels.biz/pv-solar-panels-installations.php

Under the Feed in tariffs scheme, tariff digression will come into play from 2012, meaning the 21p per kw h produced will go down to approx 13p kw h (to later adopters). By installing PV solar panels sooner, you will benefit from a higher feed-in tariff rate. Stuart Lovatt from Heat my Home adds, "we are helping customers benefit from the highest tariffs, by encouraging earlier installation to guarantee the higher rate of tariff".

I would also like to add, if you know the size the pv solar system being installed you can predict how much electricity you would generate, therefore, the income. However, in addition to this obvious, paid income you have the financial savings in energy/fuel costs that you are no longer paying out for, i.e you do not need to buy-in as much power from the National Grid.

The saving you make on energy you are no longer buying-in is not so easy to predict and is often forgotten about in calculations on payback periods. It is assumed, and probable, that fuel costs will continue to rise significantly, and with a solar PV system lifetime of 30+ years, a payback period of 10 years is extremely feasible.

In fact, the payback time could be decreased further in a few years time when fuel prices have gone up even more!

My understanding is that Feed in Tariffs (FiTS) can only be claimed where the installation has been carried out by an MCS certified installer.

Can you please clarify this situation?

Yes, installers of your solar panels system do need to be MCS accredited, so you can claim the Feed in Tariff and the Renewable Heat Incentive starting next year.

Just to clarify. Heat my Home is a website developed to educate and promote the use of solar panels for domestic use. We have successfully promoted and steered our website viewers away from cowboys in the solar industry. Although Heat my Home is not MCS accredited, we do help our website users find MCS accredited installers as a free service.

http://www.solar-panels.biz/solar-panels-installations-quotes.php

The aim is for the FIT to offer standard renewable projects a 5% - 8% return on investment.

to clarify, the FITs scheme applies to installations commissioned since July 2009 and covers virtually every property in England, Scotland and Wales.

I now find myself to be almost evangelical in my enthusiasm for solar energy and will extol its virtues at the drop of a hat! I will be referring your company as we feel confident that they will be equally impressed by your highly professional organisation. Once I know how much i'm saving each year on fuel bills I will be unstoppable in talking about solar panels.

The initial investment in PV solar panels is not a small one. However, in my case, my newly acquired pension lump sum was struggling to make me any money in a safe bank account, so I looked into pv solar with considerable interest. It seemed that to get a decent return on investment, you needed to purchase a large sized system, which over the year should produce at least 104% of my electrical needs or thereabouts.

I was lucky to get in at the beginning of the governments new feed-in tariffs scheme, which gives me 21p kw h produced, whether I use myself or not. This seems a no brainier to me, especially as we can expect a 6 and 9% return on my investment over a year, a 10 year guarantee on equipment which has 25 year life expectancy at least, with the government tariff guaranteeing me an income for the next 25 years.

Be aware that the tariffs decrease depending on when you sign up for the tariff scheme, so you do need to make up your mind within the next 3 years to get the full rates as mentioned. A secondary benefit is the increase in value to my property, and if push comes to shove, the system can come with to my new home if I wanted.

Yes I was interested in the green credentials of the PV system, but its economic sense is what swung it for me. The installation team knew their stuff and the system immediately started doing its stuff.

I know I have to average out the performance over the winter months too, but in the reasonably sunny first 4 days and one dull day, 5 days in total, since being fitted, I am showing an 8-10% return on my investment, which bodes well.

The installation causes minimum disruption, with only 20 minutes power off and seeing the electricity boards meter running backwards, totting up exactly what I am selling back to the grid, is one of the most satisfying sights I have seen in a long while.

So study the figures and make up your own mind.

The fact that the solar panel market is expanding in the UK and other parts of the world, which is not well known for sun can be traced largely to the growing efficiency of solar and other clean energy technologies.