Are solar panels worth investing in now as part of the energy crisis?

[thebellagio]

I’m getting quite scared about the energy impact. My dd is £250pm and it still tells me I’ll owe about £500 at the end of that term.

I’ve just upgraded my boiler (the previous one was 40+ years old!) but I’m wondering whether to invest in solar panels in a bid to lower bills. The house we’ve just moved into has a south facing garden plus it’s our forever home. but I have absolutely no idea about whether it’s worthwhile, whether it would make a difference, how long it would take to see a reduction in bills etc…

I was under the impression that it costs ££££ to do, and it takes at least a decade to see any return on investment. Is that true? In which case I’m wondering if it’s worthwhile…

For anyone who has them - have they been worth the investment and do you think it’s made a difference to your energy supply?

I'm currently halfway through a full renovation and extension of a 160 year old cottage that's in an area where there's no piped gas. We're fitting an air source heat pump but am considering solar panels to help power it.

Does anyone have this set up?

I would say it depends on how long you're planning on staying in your house. We looked into it as we use quite a lot of electric for our pets, but we're planning on moving in the next few years, so in our case it's not really worth it.

I would absolutely get them fitted now if we were planning on staying in this house for the next 20 years+. Sadly, I don't think energy prices are going down any time soon and I expect the demand for solar panels will go up and we'll see the price of those start to increase very soon.

We are having a solar install at the end of this month, £10,500, eek, panels & batteries etc. We use a lot of electric as we all WFH, (not a Covid thing) we have WFH for years. We moved last year and plan on staying here forever, as it’s suitable for my disability etc. It’s a big outlay but I agree that energy prices are continuing to increase and solar is only getting dearer. So we have decided to do it now.

@Roselilly36 -how many kw of a system & what size battery are you getting for £10k please?

@LittleEsme That set up has been put on a work related project recently as the roof was being replaced they put inline solar panels on, so it’s not on top of the roof tiles but part of the roof. Then linked up-to the new ASHP, so it can be done but I’ve no further information I’m afraid as it’s only been in situ a few months. From my limited knowledge of if its a really old building like you said that needs to be very well insulated first as a ASHP runs on low level all of the time so your building needs to ‘keep’ the heat in. Good roof insulation, walls, windows, drafty doors all need to be done first. As they work differently to our traditional turn it on/off when you need heat gas heating. Hope your project goes well old buildings can be tricky. If you have a large out side space a ground source heat pump is another option.

Thanks @SkiRun0077. We considered Ground source but the area is on rock and we didn't have the land to have the lengthy pipe work.

We've stripped it to the bone - new everything and insulated well, new roof. Bit gutted that the panels could be built into the roof but with escalating costs, I don't think we would have had the budget. Any solar would have to be done retrospectively anyway.

We live on quite a high projection so guaranteed blustery weather here, even on fine days. Wonder if mini wind turbines are a thing

Woobeedoo thanks for the info. I do live in a conservation area but I'm wondering if they could be put on the back of the roof, I don't think they'd be allowed on the front. Just like satellite dishes aren't allowed on the front so bad luck if your house faces the wrong way although I think they can go inside lofts. This thread is brilliant, I am going to put it on my Watch list

[quote buckeejit]@Roselilly36 -how many kw of a system & what size battery are you getting for £10k please?[/quote]
3.9kW Solar PV System + 11.6kW Battery Storage Solution

Many thanks @Roselilly36 that price is better than I'm being quoted - we're in NI though so less companies I guess, (slightly more panels-5.5kw & 10kw battery is £14k), can I ask do you know if it's German panels or Chinese?

Also, how did you decide on a 10kw battery? It's a big chunk of our savings & a 8KW battery is £2k cheaper so I'm dithering over that although our usage is about £100 per month before rises so bigger battery makes sense. I'm keen to commit one way or another so pushing dh for us to make a decision on what we want & get final prices & book tomorrow!

@buckeejit

Many thanks *@Roselilly36* that price is better than I'm being quoted - we're in NI though so less companies I guess, (slightly more panels-5.5kw & 10kw battery is £14k), can I ask do you know if it's German panels or Chinese?

Also, how did you decide on a 10kw battery? It's a big chunk of our savings & a 8KW battery is £2k cheaper so I'm dithering over that although our usage is about £100 per month before rises so bigger battery makes sense. I'm keen to commit one way or another so pushing dh for us to make a decision on what we want & get final prices & book tomorrow!

JA Solar 390 solar panel X 10

batteries are SolaX Triple 5.8kWh LFP Battery x 2

The company we are using are called Impact Services, 10 year guarantee, they do a lot of work for our city council.

Company recommended the solution, we didn’t have a clue!

We’re getting them plus a battery next month. It was £13.5k and will take 5 years to pay off. We’re in a 3 month old new build so extremely well insulated. We’re very happy with our decision.

Thanks @Roselilly36

@MintyFreshBreath 5 years to pay off is very attractive. Is that because you use a lot of electric & what set up are you getting for that price please?

Just had a guy from a local company out who's quoted us £5400 for 4KW without battery. He thinks there's no point with a battery as we'll use what we generate & the system won't switch to battery in event of a power cut anyway. Everyone seems to love the hot water thing

@buckeejit

Just had a guy from a local company out who's quoted us £5400 for 4KW without battery. He thinks there's no point with a battery as we'll use what we generate & the system won't switch to battery in event of a power cut anyway. Everyone seems to love the hot water thing

That isn’t my understanding, you can reserve a percentage of the battery power in case of a power cut.

It will be much cheaper without a battery option, but the whole idea of the battery is to top up at the cheap rate, 7.7p rather than 37.9 etc and then switch to the battery in the evening.

I suppose you could install just the panels and then fit batteries later, but with how prices are going it will cost you more in the long run.

If you have the money available I would go with the battery option. I know it’s a very big outlay, but it will be worth it in the end.

If you're not going to move house any time soon, and your roof is suitable, they are brilliant. Made a massive difference to my bills even before the run away price rises. And no, they aren't 14k like an earlier poster said. Expect 5-10 tops.

Apologies if this has already been posted, I haven't read the full thread.

It might be worth asking your local council if they are running a Solar Together scheme, this is a bulk purchasing idea whereby councils get reputable suppliers to bid and offer installation prices that should be significantly lower than you would get otherwise. If they aren't running one, ask if they would consider it maybe?

Well fitted secondary double glazing is really good for heat retention and the modern versions are unobtrusive and easy to remove for cleaning so no need to do out attractive old windows if they are reasonably sound.
As for solar panels, most of the payback sums are based on feedin tariffs and out of date charges for electricity. The cost of electricity is so high now that I'm pretty sure that if you used panels to charge up home batteries that you used for powering appliances or charging a car and only took power rom the grid when the batteries are empty the payback will not be as long as you think.
It would also make your house more saleable.
Fully Charged (show on YouTube) had lots of info.

@lasttraintolondon

My OH works for the largest solar panel installations company. On average prices are £15k however some do come in around the £10-12k mark. As I’ve stated up thread, companies that charge £5k are using imported panels made in China using slave labour.

Useful resources :
solarenergyuk.org/resources

www.which.co.uk/reviews/solar-panels/article/guides

Thanks for extra info. He said you need the mains power to be on to use the battery energy, I was hoping to use the solar power even if the normal power was down. Does anyone know if that's possible or if another bit of kit would help.

In our situation where we both wfh & likely to use what we generate through the day he thought a battery wasn't worth the money, even filling the battery up from the grid on a cheaper tariff at night. Pretty sure we're going with this option as he'll leave it battery ready. But he's been in the business for many years, knows my brother, is a sensible farmer & generally seems to be offering good advice, (European panels too, not. Chinese). Which is a complete turn around from yesterday when I thought a battery was most important!

His advice may well be right for your situation. The closer your consumption time is aligned to your production times the less need for a battery there is. It would be good to calculate that for surety of decision. It also drowns on the size of your array and whether you over produce against what you're using at any one time.
So if you go on holiday the Energy you don't use will go to the grid. If you have a large array and don't use all of it, the spare will go to the grid. This is fine, you'll get a small amount of money for that. But if you then need power at night and draw from the grid as your panels are dormant you'll pay more for that than you'll earn for spare put in. So the balance point at which what you lose versus what you'll pay for a battery is what you're trying to find. Essentially the pay back on a battery... If the balance is fine the pay back would be years if ever...

Look at www.nea.org/advice-support/solarpv/
There is a section of self consumption (amongst many others) which will help you judge the advice and reality against each other.
Their helpline is also good.
Impartial

Had them fitted last Monday. Perfect south facing, completely unshaded roof,in sunniest SE corner of the UK. Cost £8.100 12 panels 3.6kw. 2batteried ,we enquired 10 years ago were told then 13 years to pay for themselves, now approximately 5. There are no grants,to be had
Surveyor said we could have 15 panels,they would have hung over the roof. This was a special deal via our local authority, bidding system. Soon I will probably be naming and shaming these sub contractors, have been on to the solar company because they damaged every panel. They never mentioned you use a lot of electricity to make electricity. You can't use them during a power cut, they have an emergency cut off. We had an alarm going off on day 2. Remember also from when it gets dark you'll produce nothing. Think it will realistically be a year before we can see how it goes. Did a 2 year fix with Octopus last July, paying £130 a month,had a look today, for our use the cheapest now is £565 a month. We had double or triple A rated windows,doors installed,we have cavity wall insulation and thick loft insulation

If your installer is MCS certified this is good and you should be careful if they're not. The micro generation certification scheme gives you assurances on standards and is a quality mark.