So I may be buying a house with P.V. installed....

[Gary K]

but have you tried

comes up with all excuses then you get put on the current rate

Granted,I haven't tried.
I assume you have then?
Which provider was this with? Did you try another?

 

[gutterball]

Would you be better with a power wall, rather than the fit payments. and use the electric you have stored when out during the day to run the house at night? How long would it take you to recover the cost?

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Would you be better with a power wall, rather than the fit payments. and use the electric you have stored when out during the day to run the house at night? How long would it take you to recover the cost?

I will try to find the video as there was an electrician in holland who made his own powerwall and pv set up that surpassed the tesla specs for substantially less money.
The stuff is all available on the shelf. It just needs a bit of know how to put it together safely

 

[The Ghost]

Would you be better with a power wall

Is that addressed to the OP or others? What is a power wall? Even if it was addressed to the hijackers I would still like to know.

 

[gutterball]

Vortigern
It was a general question for the readers of the post and the op. I was wondering whether forgetting about exporting the power and using it yourself was a better idea.
Tesla Powerwall - https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/powerwall
Other storage systems are available.

 

[The Ghost]

Well as I say it is all greek to me. And the original question was how to gen up on it as an end user. Power wall/storage sounds good.

 

[bluenev]

I have 4kwp pv installation, generating 3800kwh per year, paying £2k per year.
They give you an extra 4p for the 50% of 3800 you nominally export. Eg the export is not measured. Saving me approx £250 in electricity and more for gas.
On the powerwall... you still get the fits but get to keep and use more of the power... as you say at night. But i have not seen any kit that can give you a return on the money you pay out. You will be approx exporting 950kwh per year... thats £120 worth of power a year. Tesla powerwall is £5k +install... I'll let you do the mathes... approx 50 year payback.
With a 2kwp (kilowatt peak) system you get to try to use 1900kwh per year, most of which arrives in late spring summer and early autumn, when you need less!
My fits are paid by EDF but i have changed my energy supplyer several times since Dec 2011 without problems. Never changed my fit payer... little point.
Contractually, You are asked to supply a reading every 3 months and get a bank payment a few days later. Ask for copies of the last 4 payment pdf's. You will see that the fits go up by inflation in april.
Maintenance... cleaning... when it rains in the uk they get washed... dont be ripped of by cleaning services.
Day to day. We have 2 OWL meters showing generation and what us exported to the grid. We put tbe dishwashers/washer on when we are exporting 2-3kw to increase usage.
Storage of the energy... for £200 you can buy a solar iboost or Solic ... that both push only the excess energy into the hot tank via an immersion heater saving gas use 4p... 6000kwh in 3-4 years.
I now charge a plugin car when its sunny. Free miles.
Problems... I've had one where the supply voltage is 253+ not 230V... this caused the inverter to stop and wait for less than its uk settings. Fixed by the NW elec network people.
I also heard of badly fitted protective earths with sunnyboy... fix on forum.
Enjoy!

 

[a-z electrics]

Income Depends on when they were fitted and what the FIT was at the time..
Mine is a 2.8kWp system fitted in Dec 2015 and I get about £430p.a. which goes up by inflation every year. In addition I get a certain amount of free electricity so it's worth considerably more than this.
I also run an electric van and can sometimes offset the charging for free when at home. Not that it costs much anyway. I think the concept is great and am expecting a home storage battery soon to capture some of the surplus going back to the grid. You get paid for 50% of solar generated as going back to the grid, whether you use it or not..

 

[a-z electrics]

Don't think you need to do a course, although I went on a one day course at the Centre for Alternative Technology. Check them out..
theres plenty of books and info online. Might even be worth getting a local installer round for a quote eg increase panels or home storage and pump them for info.

 

[PEG]

Don't think you need to do a course, although I went on a one day course at the Centre for Alternative Technology. Check them out..
theres plenty of books and info online. Might even be worth getting a local installer round for a quote eg increase panels or home storage and pump them for info.

Good luck with that being understandable,viable,and still worth a carrot in time...

Got practically ostracised at an ECO expo,in Manchester,years back,for posing the very real possibility of all the various "enabling schemes",ending in PPI type misery...cue the FIT unravelling,in Scotland about now...

As per usual,a moderate number of people did,and are doing very well,with a massive number,hamstrung and paying for it.

I was really surprised,and ready to have a nibble of humble pie,recently,when a representative of a PV installation outfit,was telling me of the near twenty years they had been in the job...maybe an example of a good'un...then some further probing,revealed the four changes of trading names...oh, well...

 

[a-z electrics]

Yes like everything else, dare I say even electricians, there are cowboys about but a bit of research will show who's serious about it. Steer clear of the national companies.. my local outfit SOL were really good and still in business.

 

[shaunb]

Hi Vortigern,

I have self-owned PV panels and my parents have rent-a-roof so I can give you some factual answers to most of your questions:

1. My south(ish) facing 3.36kw PV system (with a fair bit of shading in winter, which reduces output) generates around 2,600kwh per year. So, the one you’re considering was similar, reducing it proportionally you’d expect to generate about 1,546kwh per year. Depending on when the system was installed (i.e. what FIT tariff they’re on) it could generate income of up to £844 per year (i.e. if they installed in 2011 and receive the current 52.75ppkwh FIT + 0.0372ppkwh export rates). Plus, depending on your usage pattern, you would expect to knock an average of 30% off your electricity bill. So, if they receive only ~£600 per year then they probably installed after the Government’s first reduction in FIT rates. The FIT rates rise with inflation too each April and are guaranteed (as much as anything written into in law is) for 25 years.
2. As someone else said, it is critical to understand is if the homeowners installed and own the PV system, in which case they’ll be selling it to you and you get the rights to receive future FIT income. Check which utility provider they get paid by too, it is usually one of the big six and in my experience some of them have shockingly poor service on the FIT payments side (i.e. because they have to pay YOU money). The fact that they claim to receive FIT payments implies that they do own the system. Check they have no related loans outstanding and that you will get full title to the system as you would with any other fixture & fitting.
3. If the panels were installed under the very popular ‘rent a roof’ schemes then (assuming like my parents’ system) the paperwork will leave you with no choice but to leave the system as is, you cannot choose to uninstall it without cost. You still get the ~30% lower electric bill but the panel owners get all of the FIT income. IMO there is little to worry about with this type as the owners/maintainers are unlikely to go bust because they rake in TONS of money from hundreds of properties from doing very little most of the time. And, as soon as your system has a fault – almost always the inverter – they will know about it as they remotely monitor, and they will fix it quickly at their cost. You may suffer a little inconvenience of staying in for their visit.
4. If it is a self-owned system I would make sure they can provide you with any passwords/PINs for accessing the inverter menus or details of how/where the system data is exported to (many go direct to external servers and you have a user/password to access your own stats). Some of them may have no remote monitoring – for mine I installed an old PC next to the inverter to act as a logger.
5. You can’t just upgrade from 2kw to 4kw – if the panels are receiving FIT payments (anything installed >=2011 is likely to be) then the original installation would have been certified under the MCS scheme. You should be able to change it but would have to have new certification from an MCS approved installer, and that MAY cause the FIT rates to reduce (I'm unsure on that)

Hope this helps!

 

[telectrix]

a propos of that^^^^^^, would you advise an outright purchase or a rent-a -roof free install. our main concern would be the free electric in the daytime. not too bothered about the FIT as it's very low at present. . solar installations are beyond my comfort zone.

 

[robertay2000]

apparently that is the Co-op! The roof is not rented according to the vendor. Have raised questions with my solicitor probably get a reply around christmas /sigh

£4 and the Land Registry sells you ( mortage lender etc ) the property title where you can check if any leasing agreement attached. Personally, Iwould negotiate house price discount for taking the solar lot down.

 

[Midwest]

Think the decision to buy or not, would of been made by now.