Gruesome Dump 3:28 Thu Mar 21
Solar panels
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Energy prices are horseshit. Anybody gone the solar panel route? Initial cost? How long before they pay for themselves?
HURRY UP.
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Replies - Newest Posts First ( Show In Chronological Order)
Mike Oxsaw
6:10 Sat Mar 23
Re: Solar panels
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The elephant in the room regarding solar panels is the cost of disposing of them when they reach their end-of-life phase and need to be replaced. Many land fill sites refuse to take them, even now, where there'd have been no such issue when they were first installed.
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dirtyden
3:33 Sat Mar 23
Re: Solar panels
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It is like the wild west out there for solar panels. They probably make dodgy double glazing salesman look like mother Teresa.
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Mike Oxsaw
12:47 Sat Mar 23
Re: Solar panels
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More global warming = more solar energy. What's the fucking problem?
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Dick Shaftsbury
8:12 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Solar is really a hot topic.
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Mike Oxsaw
6:37 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Solar panels generate under occluded skies - they even generate under moonlight if the sky is clear enough.
They don't generate at "direct sunbeams" 100% maximum efficiency but as long as they produce an adequate output for the user, that is the only thing that matters.
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BRANDED
5:18 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Bet the solar panels have been chucking out the electricity in the last 7 months or so while its been shitting down with rain.
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Lee Trundle
2:57 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Got yourself a fire, Dump?
I switched my 2 for a wood burners and they're great at chucking out heat.
GUTTED THUNBERG?
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Gruesome Dump
2:55 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Northern Sold 12:15 Fri Mar 22
£395pm on gas and £380+ on leccy… it’s due to the size/age of the building. That was the best offer from any company when signing up. Absolutely pulled my pants down…hence looking for alternatives. Grim.
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norwaytips
2:33 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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No, but I am considering a heat exchanger unit, instead of just a new boiler.
What we need on the I.o.W though, is a way of converting rainfall into electricity.
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Banjo
2:14 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Hello Cony, hope you are well mate.
Left Melbourne winters behind some years back, retired to the NSW coast near Newcastle, winters are just right.
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Cony Tottee
2:08 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Even with the cold Melbourne winters Banjo? :)
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Banjo
2:00 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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I also live in Australia and had 20 solar panels installed a few years ago. At the time I worked out that the payback would take three years, it actually took just over two years and now I have free electricity.
Not sure how this would work with the British weather but it is definitely worth investigating particular with the rising cost of electricity.
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Sydney_Iron
3:03 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Got Solar years ago, last electricity bill was about the equivalent of 15 quid for the month! Installation of 18 panels and all the converters was about 1500 quid after government subsidies.
*im in Australia though….,,,,,
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Northern Sold
12:15 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Oh my old man got them 7/8 years ago when you had the gov' initiative ... said if it was now he would not bother...
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Northern Sold
12:12 Fri Mar 22
Re: Solar panels
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Grump... £5k a year on electricity?? Fucking hell... my gas and electricity together is £1350 a year (Ovo) and will be going down by £20 per month from April.. and that's with three of us in a three bed LARGE bungalow... and that's with gadgets and shit on all day long... you need to move your supplier mate
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Blossom
10:35 Thu Mar 21
Re: Solar panels
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I echo atb Trevor's response. I'm in Essex. South facing oitched roof. Had a relatively simple system installed last September. Eight x 435w panels, GivEnergy inverter and a 5.2kwh battery. £8100 all in including anti bird netting (pigeons love sleeping/nesting/shagging and shitting between the panels and the roof). Pyback period should be about 8-9 years, so I'll let you know in 2031.....
On the basis of my experience, I would recommend GivEnergy gear. I only wish I'd bought a bigger battery than the 5.2kwh size I had recomended to me. It will probably be big enough for me during the summer months, but I could have used more battery storage this winter (to charge overnight during cheap rate period then use throughout the day when there isn't much daylight). Bigger battery costs more of course. A good thing about GivEnergy batteries is that they are LiFeP technology and are not potyentially prone to temperature runaways or fires, which LiCrNi batteries can be. If I'm going to have a great big battery in my house I don't want the risk of a battery fire.....
Not got an EV so no added complexity of car charging. I'm told this can generate huge 'fuel' savings though.
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Willtell
10:35 Thu Mar 21
Re: Solar panels
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I forgot to mention that we have 4 panels south facing and 9 west facing.
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Willtell
10:30 Thu Mar 21
Re: Solar panels
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That’s interesting Atb Trev. The company engineers that installed my system were all Spanish so I didn’t grasp all the technical detail. However I can read that in 2023 it produced 5,217.2kWh which I guess is 5.2 MW.
I used a lot more power (9.98MW) but didn’t have central heating so relied on A/C heat which is all electric. As is hot water and we have 3 bathrooms. So far this year we’ve used a lot less because we installed central heating. It’s not really cold here but it’s cooler at night but rarely goes lower than 8C and often stays in double digits.
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atb trev
5:46 Thu Mar 21
Re: Solar panels
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I live in Bristol btw
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atb trev
5:44 Thu Mar 21
Re: Solar panels
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I've got a 4kw system. Put it in in 2014. Got into the last of the FIT payments. We spent £8K fully installed. Our roof orientation is not ieal. East/South East facing.
It's all paid for itsself this year. i.e. 10 years. with the FIT payments taken into account. We had battery storage installed last year which has made a big difference to our savings. In the summer our house is almost all run on solar + battery and that now includes hot water as we have heat pumps.
We generate just over 2MW a year from them. The amount genetated goes down slighly each year until you get them cleaned, then it jumps back up. The best year we had was the first year - 2.4MW generated. Last year after cleaning we generated 2.372MW so the efficiency has been holding up.
They are due to last at least another 10 years, probably much longer.
I would heartedly recommend getting them and advise getting battery storage too.
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Willtell
5:02 Thu Mar 21
Re: Solar panels
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I have them on my house in Spain. Wonderful things with batteries and hours of sun almost every day means €50 a month electric bills which is mostly standing order stuff.
We are all electric apart from an oil central heating boiler. We have a swimming pool which consumes electricity pumping through the filtration system several hours a day. Also air con which is reversible for heating and cooling.
Cost was around €10,000 installed with 13 panels and 2 hours of battery power. I have little idea what I’d be paying if it was all through the grid but considerably more than €50 a month.
Probably nowhere near as good in UK though as you must get less than a quarter the sunshine we get here in Spain.
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