Solar panels, opinions please

[HintofBream]

I am thinking of putting these in and have been quoted £8,400 inc VAT for 8 panels, 200KW. This seems a bit pricey to me. What do others think? Any recommendations, or not, for installers? (Norfolk)

I'm told you need to check which panels you're being quoted for, as the output is very variable. If you look on the web, there is apparently a place (in Germany I think) that tests all the solar panels and reports on how much energy is actually being produced by them.

I think there has been a recent change on how much you earn on solar panels, you may get a better price than a few months ago as a result, as their sales figures would have just gone down after a rush of business to get the panels at the better rate.

not 200kW, I feel sure.

Piglet John, 200 somethings! it says 2K. What do you think it is likely to be? I thought the guy said 200.

Yes, clearly the whole thing needs serious investigation, thanks GrendelsMum and NewHouse.

maybe 200W per panel? so 8 panels a notional max of 1600W (1.6kW)

If it was a total of 2kW from 8 panels then it would be 250W each nominal (most of the time they run below the nominal output)

a total in the region of 2kW max sounds about the right figure for an ordinary house, you need quite a big south-facing roof to reach 3kW.

That makes sense PigletJohn. Yes the house is on the small side, as it is a second home that mainly DH uses as he works away from home. I think I'd sooner have the panels there than on our proper house, as they are not very pretty. In any case the guy said our real house was not suitable because it has solid walls, not cavity, and not much double glazing, being late Victorian, and there seems to be some sort of regulation about all this.

MrsMagnolia the Mortgage problem only applies to people who have leased their roof to a third party who owns the solar panels. It's not a problem for people who have paid for the installation and own their own panels as the OP is considering.

We have 17 panels on our roof - they could only source a lower wattage than originally quoted so we got them to keep same price, put more of the cheaper panels up and keep the max power you are allowed to produce. We paid less than 10k for everything (in Feb) and have the inverters on each panel.

My parents also had them installed in Feb and have 8 panels each on front & back of house and they are very pleased with the returns so far as well.

DH is now obsessed with the weather and forever checking his "app" wherever he is to see how much we have made. Last few days have produced about 18kw daily :)

get a solar water panel first - faster payback time, especially with the summer coming up
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Solar-water-heating

£8400 for a 2kW system seems a little steep. People are talking as low as £6000 for a 4kW system these days. Also unless you get it done by 1st April, you will need a class D or above energy performance certificate

TalkinPeace2, £55 a year saving on a £4800 investment + servicing cost (can't imagine this will be much less than £50) every 3 to 5 years doesn't sound that good to me. (Figures are from the link you gave). I think solar PV gives much better returns than this even with the reduced FiT.

Thanks folks, I think we should be OK with the energy cert. on the house in question; more like class Z on our main house I would think. The concensus seems to be that the quote was indeed steep.
Milliways, why do you have the inverters on each panel? I thought one did the lot.

We are in Norfolk, last year we paid just over 10k for 3 kWH, Green Home Energy Solutions (Durrant). Samsung or something like that panels (not the much cheaper Chinese generic ones with no track record). Very happy with the installers & the products, good energy production, and beware a lot of cowboys in this industry. Highly variable quotes you'll find. We only have one inverter for 12 panels.

We are still getting lots of related sales calls, pretending to be based in Norwich, even though we are with TPS & they obviously aren't local outfits at all Somebody (who gave us quotes?) enthusiastically passed our number around the industry.

Withmanytots
I have to disagree with their numbers.
Three years ago our panel and its plumbing cost £1300
we had to have a new hot water tank anyway but the incremental cost was around £200 plus £200 for fitting
so under £2000
the gas boiler is turned off completely from April to October - the system keeps 240 litres of water at shower temperature
if I could fit hot water feeds to my appliances I would.
Servicing - £50 in 3 years. Pump runs at 11 watts of electric

On my house, with my family I'm saving over £200 a year on my under £2000 outlay

The inverters were so that if just one panel fails, the rest are not affected (not sure of all the techy blurb but apparently without them if one panel has a fail then total performance is affected, so DH went for a company that would do this). Our "app" can also show how much power each panel is producing.

DH reckons they will have paid for themselves in under 7 years.

We had 16 panels (a 4kW system) fitted in November for around £11k. We did have a slightly cheaper quote, but I didn't feel as comfortable with that company. I think prices have definitely dropped since then; solar companies have had to become more competetive due to the drop in Feed in Tariffs.

We have a perfect large, shade-free south-facing roof, and managed to nip in before the change in tariff, so I'm hoping it will pay out fairly quickly. This week we produced around 22 kW per day; if we achieved that level every single day (which we obviously won't) we would net just short of £4,000 a year. Fingers crossed for a sunny sumer, though!