Why don’t we put solar panels on every home?

[Whyaretheynotdoinganything]

Just as the tile says, I’m wondering why the government or the opposition are not proposing free solar panels for every home as a solution to the energy crisis and energy security?

Surely a cost benefit analysis would show net economic benefit, whereas subsidising household energy bills is expensive with little return for the economy.

One barrier would be the workforce, but we’ve managed mass construction projects in the past eg. post war council house building programme.

We need a radical solution fast, it would at least give us hope even if the returns are not immediate.

Those who don’t want panels can pay market rates. Apparently panels pay for themselves in 7 years. I’d happily contribute a proportion but don’t have the savings to cover it all.

The easy answer is, current global politics don’t support this. Politicians are serving a higher God - namely fossil fuel producers and large scale housing developers.

Batteries already exist for solar panel installation, it just makes it more expensive.

My house is over 100 years old. The roof isn't suitable and I live in a conservation area. It's not as simple as you're making it out to be! We also can't have heat pumps because the walls aren't suitable apparently!

I agree. I think it really is time that we were all incentivised to fit renewable sources of energy and to insulate. Time also for councils to come into the real world.

I live in a timber frame house dating from the 1600s which is listed. The wattle and daub walls are fabulous insulation it has turned out during the hot spell, (clearly under rated as a cheap form of insulation) but I am not allowed double glazing even if low profile (I use bubble wrap on the widows in Winter) and my south facing slate roof at the back would be fabulous for solar panels but I would never get permission to fit them. Daft, as the house is nothing special at the rear elevation, its value as a listed building is in the continuity of the street scene at the front. It was commercial premises up to 10 years ago so very little is original anyway.

New builds not having panels is mad. They could be aligned the best way at the planning stage. They could ensure the local grid could cope too.
Good insulation and heat recovery might be useful too.

We should be making sure rainwater is stored too as a resource. A few extra reservoirs wouldn't go amiss.

We've got solar panels, which were already installed when we bought our (new-build) house. They make a small dent in the electricity bill in Summer. The problem is that in Winter, when we use more electricity, they only make the equivalent of a few pence a day. So on balance, I'm not sure I'd pay to have them installed if we didn't already have them.

I'm currently looking at a grey water system by sinking a tank under the garden because I could trap a huge amount of rainwater when it rains as demonstrated by my water butts. Like many old houses, next door discharges onto my roof and both drain down a single downpipe into the sewers ie. all rainwater is wasted. I tap into this to fill my 400 litres of water butts for the garden and when it rains hard they are overflowing in 10 minutes and I have to run out to cut off the diverter to the butts.

There seems to be no readily available system for this. Just imagine if all houses had solar with automatic planning consent and we all had grey water tanks. Neither is perfect but I bet it would end the energy crisis and the water crisis.

Domestic power storage is the next piece in the puzzle. Tesla has developed a domestic battery storage, looking like a fridge. Ie looks nice! Other companies are too. I think when these are easy and safe to install then solar will really take off.

One aspect that we can't ignore or make disappear - electricity is dangerous! And the physics is a bit complex. So we will always need companies to do the installing.

Here in Ireland new council houses are all built with solar panels - we’ve just had a new Lidl open recently that is totally powered by solar and has a recycling facility where you get money off vouchers for recycling plastic bottle and drinks cans etc

I'm currently looking at a grey water system by sinking a tank under the garden because I could trap a huge amount of rainwater when it rains as demonstrated by my water butt
We've done this. All our waste water goes into this large tank after being processed in a mini sewage treatment plant then into the tank, by which time it's so clear it's safe to use on the garden. When the tank is full the surplus is discharged into a nearby stream. It's great during this drought!

But you have to weigh up the costs - it was about £12k if I remember rightly, but if you're on mains drainage, which we're not, it's a big pay out just to have some grey water - better off getting lots of butts.

I read something somewhere ( but can't remember where) from a professional - maybe independent adviser doing a blog or just commenting on solar panels..

She said something along the lines of be careful getting solar panels due to contract with supplier and getting re-mortgage / selling house and someone having to get mortgage on house. Something about ownership/ lease/ contract with supplier of solar panels and mortgage companies sometimes being wary and not providing mortgage .

Sorry it's all vague, I can't remember the details but it made me think if I ever could afford solar panels I should read small print and check with mortgage company.

Maybe this is something that would have be looked at if it was to become more widescale?

www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/solar-panels-and-mortgages/

Just did a google to see if could find what I was talking about so thing with mortgages depends on whether someone leased them rather than bought them outright

@ErrolTheDragon the Costco ones
include installation and battery for storage. Will be looking into those ones …

Yes, this is the kind of forward thinking idea we need!

We've had PV panels and batteries installed. So far this month we haven't troubled the grid at all. That will change as the seasons turn but we're doing our bit. We're currently feeding in to the grid for free but we could have earned £7.

@Blowthemandown do look carefully at the inverter rate on that deal.

The inverter is everything. If the inverter is 2.5kw then you are limited to converting that into useable energy even if your roof is covered in dozens of panels.

Our property is on the very edge of a village and the grid infrastructure is rubbish. As a result despite the fact that we could fit around 35 panels on our due south facing roof, we have been capped by the grid at 5kw since that’s all the local infrastructure can support. The usual cap is 3.68kw so they lifted it slightly but not much.

Because modern governments are in hock to the big house developers.

Tbh I would rather they did something serious about insulation. It seems to me I've been hearing about ineffective insurance schemes which manage to get three houses a year insulated for decades. I hope the schemes are better than they sound.

We don't have a south facing roof plus due to the height (townhouse) it would cost an extra £5k for installation. Oh and until heat pump's get better it won't help much

We're listed and not allowed. We did try

We're listed and have been told that it might be possible with solar slate (we have a slate roof) but they want a full assessment of all the roofs and other less intrusive options first as our south facing roof is also the main pretty elevation.

We're working this up at the moment though solar slate is less efficient than normal solar panels as it can overheat.

We're also looking at solar hot water which would probably be a bigger impact here at the moment as our gas bill is terrifying.

In Kensington and Chelsea I think the planning authority has said that they don't require listed building consent for solar slate so long as it meets their design criteria and the buildings are grade 2, not grade 2* or 1.

When we were renovating our house 10 years ago, we just missed out on grants to have them fitted. We just couldn’t afford it now.

My friend bought a farmhouse with them fitted and although she doesn’t make barely any money back off the grid , she has no electricity bill and it runs her holiday let too.

the most important thing is the “no bill”, not making money from it,

It would have taken 20 years at the price that energy was when you checked.

Power costs have quadrupled since last spring meaning if your quote was then, at today's price, it would take 5 years. With a push towards net zero, I can't see things improving much.

I don't have a south facing roof. My west facing roof is the front of the house, visible to the lane, and planning wouldn't allow them, the last time I asked.

I'm going to ask again.

We had them installed recently, with a battery. Since they’ve been on we have drawn no electricity from the grid, and in winter we estimate our usage will reduce 2/3. We will sell enough back to the grid to cover our annual standing charge. Our return on investment is 7 years but could reduce to 5 if the price cap goes up as reported. Saying that we are south east, with a large roof and south facing garden. The numbers don’t work like ours if you are further north, or non south facing.

I have solar panels. Solar panels have never worked that way - they just can’t. Storage batteries make a lot of sense from a personal and grid perspective. They aren’t particularly big - not tons of space - and maximise the value of electric generated by panels

the national grid suffers from overload of renewables at certain time - hence why turbines can be switched off and producers paid still when supply is higher than demand. Battery storage both commercial and domestic can help balance loading and our renewables generation is currently outstripping storage capacity. Octopus energy did a trial recently to encourage consumers to cut down/minimise use between 5-7 pm as that is the peak time for demand and means the grid has to be able to suddenly up supply. Batteries are a way of reducing and smoothing demand at that time and many energy suppliers now have lower tariff charging periods during the night to take advantage of renewables supply at that time when demand is otherwise low. As our supply of offshore wind is progressing at some speed, that need to balance grid supply and demand will increase.