Has anyone fitted solar panels?

[zisforzebra]

Has anyone fitted solar panels to their house and how much did it cost?

Also, did you need planning permission? We have a north/south facing roof which I think would be great but don't really know where to start.

Thanks!

[inmysparetime]

We installed solar PV in April, 8 sharp panels, 2kW system, cost about £8k. Our combined monthly gas& electricity has been a consistent £17, we have generated just under 1000kWh and are due our first FIT payout of £450 this week.
We live in Manchester, on an awful day we generate about 2kW, on a great day, as much as 13kWh, typically about 6kWh a day overall.
We had money in savings to pay for it, the only downside I have found is that we can't have an energy monitor as they record the magnitude of electricity going through the incoming cable, but not the direction. Whenever the sun came out it looked like there was a kettle boiling. The penny dropped when I boiled the kettle and the energy monitor showed a drop in power .
No planning permission unless conservation area or listed property, no tax on FIT income, basically no maintenance short of aiming a hose over the panels once a year or so. I love my solar

[angelinwilliams]

Solar panels cost from £2,000 to £3,000 per kW to purchase and install. The average family home will require at least a 2 kW system for all their energy needs.In many cases, planning permission is not required if solar panels are fixed to the roof of a single dwelling house.

power plant operational issue

[Bunbaker]

We had photovoltaic panels installed in February just before the feed in tariff went down. Utility Warehouse supply all our utilities and they pay an extra 2p (I think) per unit on top of the FIT. Our last few bills have been negative and they have actually paid money into our bank account) This includes not paying for telephone, broadband and gas because the payback has been so high.

Having the panels has made me think more about how I use electricity, so, for example, I won't run the dishwasher and washing machine at the same time. I also won't run them after dark unless I have to. So far we have saved/accrued several hundred pounds since February.

We didn't need planning permission - I did check, and I think it will add value to the house as we own the panels, although the installers have told us that we can take them with us if we move.