[Technology] Solar Panel Installation Recommendations

[Coldeanseagull]

If you are thinking of 'leasing' them rather than buying them outright, and you wish take equity release or sell your property in the future, you or the new buyer may encounter some mortgage issues.

Nope, buying them

 

[227 BHA]

Solar reminds me of car chargers being a sparks I was told Solar the next big thing car chargers the same neither have took off to the levels expected. In Spain 100% worth it this country is it really worth the investment?

Definitely.
Since April our house is completely self-sufficient haven’t paid a penny in energy bills- electricity export massively outweighs import so much so that it’s covering our gas bill and we’re already over £500 in credit which continues to grow for the winter months.
We have got 19 south facing panels (luckily have the perfect roof so was a no-brainer) and a storage battery - best investment in the house we ever made.
We’re getting at least 15% return on our investment and it will have paid for itself in 7 years - has added value to the house and should get many more years of free electric after that period before we’ll have to think about any upgrade

 

[folkestonesgull]

My installation was done by Home Smart Energy , Burgess Hill via the Solar together scheme .

Definitely NOT recommended

What went wrong. I'm looking at this scheme...surveyor coming on Friday

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Sussex Solar in Southwater highly recommended
https://sussexsolar.com/

ta

Sussex Energy Advisors https://sussexenergyadvisors.co.uk were very good when they installed my panels 7 years ago. Based in Eastbourne.

ta

Solar reminds me of car chargers being a sparks I was told Solar the next big thing car chargers the same neither have took off to the levels expected. In Spain 100% worth it this country is it really worth the investment?

yes

Used PDP Services in Burgess Hill. Very good!

ta

 

[nicko31]

a heat pump is going to cost you money to run, its marginally cheaper than other forms of electric heating. its not an alternative to getting solar to generate power.

Marginally cheaper than gas CH maybe (3 times as efficient) but way cheaper than conventional forms of electric heating. The latter is outrageously expensive unless you can harness off peak tariffs

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

I am thinking about this but wondering whether you're better off getting an air source heat pump rather than solar.

I have heard that the annual maintenance for the panels can be high and life span due to technological advances effects them too?

Any one researched this before buying before?

Your house really needs to VERY well insulated for ASHP to work well. Radio 4 did a couple of programmes about eco homes a couple of months ago and the gist of it was ASHP definitely worthwhile for newly built homes insulated to current Building Regs standards, but not really suited to older housing stock. I suspect there may be some exceptions to the above but that’s how I interpreted it.

I would maybe go for solar panels with a battery if you have an older property and have room for the panels on your roof.

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Ps most new homes have PV panels anyway on the roofs and their technology and durability has, like most things, developed over time.

 

[dazzer6666]

Very recently had panels fitted, the company (link below) was recommended to me and they were excellent from first contact to completion. Got lucky with timing - had a quote on the Thursday, accepted it the same day and was told 6-8 weeks then got a call from the planning director saying they had a gap due to commercial job that had to be delayed. Everything was up and running within a week. Since all the export paperwork was signed off we’ve been virtually self-sufficient in electricity.

http://www.solardynamics.co.uk/

If anyone is going to use them let me know and we can wangle a referral bonus. My mate got £250.

 

[nicko31]

Ps most new homes have PV panels anyway on the roofs and their technology and durability has, like most things, developed over time.

Do they? The government scrapped the code for sustainable homes as Cameron labelled it as "green crap". I see little evidence of it outside of premium properties, there a new Estate near me (David Wilson Homes), loads of south facing roofs and not a solar panel in sight.

 

[folkestonesgull]

Do they? The government scrapped the code for sustainable homes as Cameron labelled it as "green crap". I see little evidence of it outside of premium properties, there a new Estate near me (David Wilson Homes), loads of south facing roofs and not a solar panel in sight.

Another Cameron f*CK up. Pushed housing industry back years, homes would have been essentially carbon neutral from 2016 rather than 2025 under the future homes standard.

New homes coming through now with the updated 2022 building regs are far better.
I work for a SME housebuilder and we are building EPC A rated homes now, fabric first, gas free with ashp and solar through choice. The big players do the bare minimum required by legislation....

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Very recently had panels fitted, the company (link below) was recommended to me and they were excellent from first contact to completion. Got lucky with timing - had a quote on the Thursday, accepted it the same day and was told 6-8 weeks then got a call from the planning director saying they had a gap due to commercial job that had to be delayed. Everything was up and running within a week. Since all the export paperwork was signed off we’ve been virtually self-sufficient in electricity.

http://www.solardynamics.co.uk/

If anyone is going to use them let me know and we can wangle a referral bonus. My mate got £250.

We are looking into it, when a legacy hits our bank so will bear you in mind.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Very recently had panels fitted, the company (link below) was recommended to me and they were excellent from first contact to completion. Got lucky with timing - had a quote on the Thursday, accepted it the same day and was told 6-8 weeks then got a call from the planning director saying they had a gap due to commercial job that had to be delayed. Everything was up and running within a week. Since all the export paperwork was signed off we’ve been virtually self-sufficient in electricity.

http://www.solardynamics.co.uk/

If anyone is going to use them let me know and we can wangle a referral bonus. My mate got £250.

Ta

 

[clapham_gull]

Evil Marxist things invented by the deep state to monitor our electricity and internet usage.

As everyone who has done their own research knows (wake up UK), electricity made from the sun damages your brain and makes you vote Lib Dem.

Electricity from coal is much much cleaner and if taken once a day with a couple of ivermectin makes you 120% immune from the Covids.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Evil Marxist things invented by the deep state to monitor our electricity and internet usage.

As everyone who has done their own research knows (wake up UK), electricity made from the sun damages your brain and makes you vote Lib Dem.

Electricity from coal is much much cleaner and if taken once a day with a couple of ivermectin makes you 120% immune from the Covids.

Nice one, Donald

 

[Elbow750]

I am thinking about this but wondering whether you're better off getting an air source heat pump rather than solar.

I have heard that the annual maintenance for the panels can be high and life span due to technological advances effects them too?

Any one researched this before buying before?

My annual Solar PV maintenance is £ zero for the last 7 years. Tech advances are like phones and computers, they will always be a bit better next year, but how many of us never buy a phone or PC just because they will be better next year? No we all buy one and accept the performance we get on sign up.

I have 14 South West facing panels that produce a max of 4K Wh . I also have a battery and am completely self sufficient in electricity from April to October, including all hot water and cooking. My system has already paid for itself, so from now on I'm quids in. My Inverter has a 10 year warranty so I might have a replacement bill in 3 + years, but word is the inverters and panels go on for 15 - 25 years. I'm very happy with my system.

Air source heat pumps do work much better with large radiators or underfloor heating. They also need a decent amount of room around them to disperse the cold air, otherwise it impacts efficiency. IIf you are fitting to an older property you might need to upgrade the radiators so it's probably best to get an air source heat pump when you are looking to replace an existing boiler and radiators anyway, rather than chuck away a modern gas boiler. Its a bit like triple glazing, It's not worthwhile ripping out perfectly good double glazed windows to put in new triples. But if you need new windows anyway, then triple glazing is worthwhile looking at.

 

[Rowdey]

a heat pump is going to cost you money to run, its marginally cheaper than other forms of electric heating. its not an alternative to getting solar to generate power.

What..?! You are an intelligent reasoned and sensible poster, why would you say this.. elec direct heating is approx 34p a kw, ASHP is 300-400% efficient and brings it in line with gas costs per kw (12p?) - Yes there are 'thrown in' installs, but any install Co who are MCS acredited ( who get you the £5k back) are bound by the guranteed efficiency predictions.

 

[dazzer6666]

Top tip based on our road - make sure you get the panels made bird-proof. Added a few hundred quid to the cost of our installation but looks very neat and our next door neighbours have a horde of pigeons nesting under theirs. Get it done as part of the installation, you won’t regret it.

 

[nicko31]

My annual Solar PV maintenance is £ zero for the last 7 years. Tech advances are like phones and computers, they will always be a bit better next year, but how many of us never buy a phone or PC just because they will be better next year? No we all buy one and accept the performance we get on sign up.

I have 14 South West facing panels that produce a max of 4K Wh . I also have a battery and am completely self sufficient in electricity from April to October, including all hot water and cooking. My system has already paid for itself, so from now on I'm quids in. My Inverter has a 10 year warranty so I might have a replacement bill in 3 + years, but word is the inverters and panels go on for 15 - 25 years. I'm very happy with my system.

Air source heat pumps do work much better with large radiators or underfloor heating. They also need a decent amount of room around them to disperse the cold air, otherwise it impacts efficiency. IIf you are fitting to an older property you might need to upgrade the radiators so it's probably best to get an air source heat pump when you are looking to replace an existing boiler and radiators anyway, rather than chuck away a modern gas boiler. Its a bit like triple glazing, It's not worthwhile ripping out perfectly good double glazed windows to put in new triples. But if you need new windows anyway, then triple glazing is worthwhile looking at.

I'm curious what is your annual generation from your 4kw system? Do you end up exporting much to the grid?

 

[Grizz]

I'm curious what is your annual generation from your 4kw system? Do you end up exporting much to the grid?

We have a 3.8kw system (10 panels), but that never goes over 3.25 due to the way some of the panels face. Each year we generate about 3800kwh from that and we export about 2800 of that, as we don't have a battery. Having spent hours/days pondering the maths of it all, I still don't think a battery is worth it for us. There's only two of us and we use maybe 2-3kwh a day from the grid in the summer months, 5-6kwh in the winter months. I work shifts, so can use all the white goods during the day. (it's a moot point anyway, as I can't afford a battery at the moment).

 

[nicko31]

We have a 3.8kw system (10 panels), but that never goes over 3.25 due to the way some of the panels face. Each year we generate about 3800kwh from that and we export about 2800 of that, as we don't have a battery. Having spent hours/days pondering the maths of it all, I still don't think a battery is worth it for us. There's only two of us and we use maybe 2-3kwh a day from the grid in the summer months, 5-6kwh in the winter months. I work shifts, so can use all the white goods during the day. (it's a moot point anyway, as I can't afford a battery at the moment).

I get the impression its hard to get over 80% of the output. I'm going to for 7kw system with 10kw battery, 5kw inverter (limited to 3.6kw export)

My strategy is export at the highest possible rate in summer (Octopus Flux pays 23p) and in the darker months I'll switch with Octopus Intelligent (7.5p off peak to charge battery, export is only 4p but generation will be low)

Reckon 7-8 year payback.