Solar Power

[Pennies]

Does anyone use solar power in their houses to heat / provide electricity?

I'm considering doing this and want to know all about it.

How much does it cost to install?
How much does it cost to run?
Does the government provide grants to help with installatiom costs?
Do you have to live in a house that is really sunny (ours has loads of trees round it and can be quite shady, esp in summer).
Is it good to all year power or is it only feasible in summer?

Lots of questions, sorry but not sure where else to start - Googling just brings up so much non specific stuff!

Hi Pennies,

We use solar for hot water/heating and electricity. Can't answer about costs/grants as we are in France. However I would say that generally for PV (electricity) you do need direct sunlight, for solar thermal (HW and heating) you don't. We get quite a lot of hot water even when it's cloudy over here, but no electricity.

In terms of year round, electricity is good in the winter on clear sunny days, but we do need to boost the heating (we do it with gas). Still, overall I'd say solar meets at least 80% of our hot water and heating needs over the year (possibly more)

HTH.

Your post got me wondering about it too Pennies as my house really gets a lot of sun for a lot of the day (when there is any), did a quick google and found this which looks like it has links to other sites which might be helpful.

and here

you could try the centre for alternative technology in wales, they prob. have a website, they might be able to give you some leads? my FIL has pv cells and makes enough electricity that he sells it instead of buying it, but he lives in Maastricht in Holland so subsidies etc not applicable. i think shade would really reduce what you can generatem but i'm no expert.
lotussister, what region of france? i also live there. (here). (annecy)

I'm in Provence, so plenty of sun round here!

PV electricity is horribly un-green. Many PV cells don't even make back the surprsingly large amount of energy used to make them.