solar panels? increase or decrease property value?

[Tortington]

do solar panels increase or decrease property value?

theres an incredible offfer from a company called ecovision who are installing and supplying solar panels, they say they get the money by selling the energy back to the govt. ffrom the phone call it seems like everything is free

this seems too good to be true, have you any advice or experience?

There was a Guardian article about this a couple months ago - it sounds good but is reliant on the Government continuing to pay for the electricity generated. And assumes the panels will last 25 years. If you're thinking of staying put for 25 years might be a good deal but otherwise may not me. And it's only valid from around Derbyshire southwards.

ahh i see, so with another govt might come a change in policy and then what~? have to pay i presume? thanks - off to google guardian article

custado, if the government stopped paying then it would be ecovision that lost out not you. They are the ones taking the risks and nearly all the rewards, you are just getting a little free electricity. The panels are very reliable and likely to last longer than 25 years there is a component called an inverter that will most likely need replacing once or maybe more over 25 years but ecovision will pay for that.

If you are only gaining £100 per year or so of free electricity you have to wonder if it's worth it and do read all the small print very carefully.

thanks, i was posting on someone else thread about this and they mentioned that the roof will boviously need replacing at some point - and its going to cost me to remove the panels and put them back etc

which is something i didn't think of

also that the amt of electricity used during the day is so mnimal that ecovision will be making shitloads off my roof and that i am lkley to just be saving £100 a year

so i dunno

also, i read that in some cases the company providing the solar panels was basically leasing the roof space from you via the 20 year contract, so it might be tricky to arrange a mortgage with this arrangement in place.

i.e selling the place might prove difficult in future.

all of which is a shame because we should be encouraging solar panels and micro energy generation in general...but how?

"... which is a shame because we should be encouraging solar panels and micro energy generation in general..."

Should we?

Don't forget that a lot of the renewable energy sources are not as ecologically sound as they appear to be on the surface. Look at the energy costs in constructing the equipment, the pollution caused by refining the raw materials to produce the exotic elements used, the effects on wildlife of these equipments being in place. Many 'Green' groups have a vested interest in these technologies, and not entirely for their 'Green' credentials.

the main problem with solar panels is that they produce their electricity when we don't really need it and do nothing at peak times (dark winter evenings) so the country still needs exactly the same number of power stations whether or not everyone has solar panels too.

In terms of carbon costs of manufacture I understand they are OK.

Snorkie is right, Solar panels are ok in terms of their carbon footprint etc.

Unless you have bats in your roof there shouldn't be any wildlife issues either. The systems work by the PV company renting your roof space in return for the energy and feed in tariff from the government, which is fixed for 25 years. As long as your roof is sound and facing the right aspect you should be OK.

The main thing to be careful of is that PV is having a bit of a dotcom bubble moment at the moment so there are a lot of recent operators without much experience and it is worth checking the credentials of whoever you decide to go for

good website to look at..

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Sell-your-own-energy/Feed-in-Tariff-scheme

Lots of good advice on there, should answer all of your questions!

My DH's friend got solar panels installed last July (i think) and by Christmas he got a letter saying they were reducing his monthly direct debit and he got a £100-something cheque for overpaying...
He bought his panels though, so owns them and benefits from the feed-in-tariff.

Dont know how ecovision will work? Sounds interesting though cos you dont have to pay upfront, but what happens if you sell your home?

idont know . lots of questions - im wondering if i an be arsed

I think it was Martin Lewis who said that you'd be better off taking a loan out and paying someone to install, as the return on your money is about 9%. Might be worth checking out the moneysavingexpert website to see what is on there.

hmmm thats interesting.... makes me consider them too since our electricity bill has gone up AGAIN thanks to British gas! I think we are paying around £750 a year!!
So surely if i can get my electricity for free and get paid for supplying back its win win right?

If you pay to get the installed, the return will depend on the number of panels, the part of the country you live in (the south has more sun) the precise aspect of your roof and how much it is overlooked, and how many transfomers you need to convert ac to dc electricity. Most companies can do a model for you and come up with a figure based on your own property. In my case the installation is not cost effective because of angles and veluxes.

Also do be careful about planning permission. I would love solar panels, but also won't get permission to have them installed

There has been concenrs that these companies are not paying householders enough for their roof rent.

Germany had this system of subsidised solar generated electricity, they ended the scheme last year because it was an incredibly expensive way to reduce their carbon footprint. I wonder how long it will take the current Gov to realise their mistake.

Solar power is a great idea in a sunny climate but maybe not so great in good old Blighty!

We had a company come out to look at our property but since the installation is completely free to the homeowner they have to make sure they are getting the maximum amount of sunlight. our house has a large enough roof space and is due south facing but some very tall trees nearby were a dealbreaker.

The martinlewis comment has been taken out of context I suspect since there is no cost to the homeowner. Not much saving though unless you're home all day since the daytime electricity generated either gets used by the homeowner (we'd have been at work all day) or else it feeds back into the grid and the company gets the feed in tarrif payment. We'd only have benefitted at weekends. Working lunch did a piece on these companies about a year ago and its all above board.

I liked the idea though, retrofitting solar panels is costly and its takes a very long time to get a return but oil costs being what they are I still think renewables are the way to go.

Solar panels for electricity generation are not really viable when compared to a small wind turbine which has a much higher output. Solar heating tubes are very succesful and will pay for themselves reasonably quickly. I have a few small solar panels for charging batteries which works well in the summer months but are pretty useless in the winter when i need them most.

conculainey that's a sweeping and rather simplistic judgement. If you live in a low wind area; an urban area; or a very sunny area then solar pv will be better, if you live in an area with av. wind speeds over about 11mph then a turbine will be better. Wind turbines are about 20-50% cheaper for the same output (if you are in a windy place), but those figures are old - solar pv panel prices have dropped hugely in the last 18 months and the panels are getting more efficient, so are probably catching turbines up for cost effectiveness.

Snorkie, it was a simplistic judgement as I canot cover all locations but just describe my own which I have done, I have tried both solar and wind for electricity generaton and the wind turbine I use wins hands down, I use solar for heating water which it does very well and the systems are cheap and easy to install. My turbine is not the mains voltage type but a low voltage d.c design which charges banks of car batteries thus storing the energy for use even on still days, I am presently getting 80% of all my electrial needs from my turbine but hope to be totally grid free by the end of this year.
If and when the solar panels become readily available at a reasonble and viable price I certainly would consider using them but not as an alternative but more as an addition to the turbine.

Your system sounds very interesting conculainey and I'll certainly agree that in the right place wind is better - just that many if not most people aren't in the right place.

With your system wouldn't you be better using the grid as your battery system and exporting and importing as required? That would be much greener than batteries which are a bit of a disaster environmentally (and in their carbon cost to manufacture), though I suppose the inverter would add quite a lot to the cost? Do you run all your appliances at 12V or how does that work?

If you do go offgrid then some solar pv would compliment the wind very well I think. The ongoing maintenance on solar pv is something else to consider when costing it too maybe - the panels are very reliable and just keep going for years with no maintenance.

With the Solar thermal (which is much more energy efficient than solar pv it's true), I think unless you heat loads of water (like a swimming pool) most people find it doesn't really cost in unless you get a very cheap diy system as if you use gas to heat your water (as most do) in the course of a year you spend very little, so it would take a very long time to pay back. I know for me it doesn't cost in at all.

I built my turbine myself and all the batteries are recycled from a local scrap yard costing 10 pounds each, the turbine was originally a generator /starter from a ww2 sunderland flying boat and is controlled via an 18 speed pushbike gear system, again recycled. The turbine generates a nominal 24 volts d.c which is stored in the batteries which run all the low voltage led lighting in my home plus I have a 1 kw invertor fitted which runs fridge/freezer, t.v etc. When fully charged I can usually run my home for 4-5 days with no wind or use of the grid. Living in N.I the option to sell to the grid does not exist plus the majority of mains generating wind turbines will not generate when the grid fails so are a bit pointless really.
My solar heating can in the summer months produce over 80 gallons of warm water @ 55c minimum, 65c maximum each day, in the winter I cross connect it with my wood burner to heat the water and all the radiators , again the stove runs on recycled wood which costs nothing bar a 20 pound fee for crushing it in 7 ton loads. I have a theromax tube system, a chinese manufacted tube system and a home made flat collector all working together with solar powered pumps for linear heat control, it paid for itself in under a year as did the wood burning stove.
Hopefully I will be free of the grid this year when I have finished my second turbine and I can get permission to install it.

Wow at your diy skills! Did you have instructions for the generator & solar thermal systems or did you make it up as you go along? Was it difficult to install a low voltage lighting system in the house (and do you still have a normal lighting system as well)? I would love to try something simple along any of those lines, but lack the ability I think.

I only have a low voltage sytem for lighting in the house which includes low voltage outlets for table lamps, floor lamps etc. I rewired the house for mains sockets only and the lighting is 2 stage @13 volts and 24 if I need them a little brighter. I made one of my solar panels as an experiement and it has worked very well costing only 9 pounds to build plus the price of a low voltage pump which was 16 pounds. I use waste engine oil inside a disgarded double glazed window to collect the heat and the oil acts as a ballist so there are no surges in heat due to moving clouds etc, similar to an oil filled radiator only working backwards. The lighting is easy to do as a d.i.y system and the led lamps are coming down in price now.
I do have an advantage in that I live beside the sea and have a reliable source of wind and light,I enjoy making gadgets from old rubbish as a hobby but it has saved me a small forune on energy bills and does a great deal for the enviroment as well. I prefer to keep my electrics free from the national grid as I beleive the goverment are cashing in on the green energy movement which is bad imo, I prefer to be independant from the systems as the mains powered wind turbines will not work when the grid fails nor wil they supply energy when there is no wind, a low voltage turbine is safer, cheaper and can store its energy for days when there is no wind so I think it is much better.