Solar is the way to go !?

A question about : Solar is the way to go !?

Hi all, with energy prices going up it seems the wise option and enviromentally sound one would be to invest in photovoltaic solar panels. I am in the process of working out the money needed to invest, grants available and ultimatly the point at which i come into profit!

It seems for enough electricity for the average home you are looking at spending Ј10k of which Ј3-4k you can get in a grant so about Ј6-7k spend. House price rise may result which would prob pay it off! But after a number of years they will have paid for themselves,..and with the rate of energy rises then that time may not be too long!

If anyone has gone down this route or has any useful information I am very open to comments

Rouner

Best answers:

• There are threads on this in the 'Fuel and other Heating' section.
  IMO it makes no economic sense to heat water by solar means and even less to attempt to generate electricity.
  Plus there are a lot of 'cowboys' in this field.
• Well it would make economic sense but only in the long term, and thats like 15 years long term lol. It all depends on proce rises in electricity though. If for instance your electricity is Ј35 a month then thats Ј420 a year and to spend say Ј6000 on photovoltaic would involve just over 14 years before one broke even. Which for most people is not an option ( who knows where we will be in 14 years ), however that is based on current prices. Now if electricity keeps going up ( and it will ) then maybe the saving can be made in 10 years. This is getting more reasonable if you know you will live at that propertyfor most of your life. However I think maybe it is still a good plan even if you are not as the solar panels will raise the value of the property if it was to be sold, covering the cost of installing them and maybe some more.
  Rouner
• https://www.clear-skies.org/ here , and somewhere amongst all that info is a pyramid graph showing the most viable options. Insulation and draughtproofing has the best payback time with photo voltaic and small domestic wind turbines having NONE or very little.
  This....https://www.est.org.uk/ another government organisation supposed to help the consumer, but more interested in keeping the status quo. of high charging energy providers.
  I've been down all the avenues of renewable energy , and found DIY approach better and the local authority most helpful as to grants.
• Sorry to be negative re solar voltaic panels, but I doubt if they would still be working at the end of the pay-back period.
  Their development is still in its infancy, high cost for such little power (low voltage and current). They generate DC, which means expensive circuitry to convert to useable mains electricity. The area required per killowatt is large, so I doubt if your roof is big enough?
  Maybe the price will come down in the future, as those with sunnier climes realise their advantage.
  On the heating side, solar water heating is just about viable ( with grants ), but heat pumps would be imo a better option ( up to 1200% efficient), if cost could be reduced. Only mass production will do that.
  dc
• More good points made by dc.
  Photovoltaics are ok if you need to power a laptop in Africa - this far north, as dc says, your roof won't be big enough.
  As for protecting the environment, the manufacture of photovoltaic cells involves some very nasty environmentally damaging chemicals, and uses large amounts of energy - hence the high costs.
  Ground source heat pumps are the most viable way to go at the moment, this is what I would be looking at, but even they are not perfect - they use energy to extract heat from the earth. However, from what I gather, 1 kW input can produce 3 to 6 kW of heat, depending upon the size of the installation.
• Thanks for all your replies, very useful info indeed. Maybe for now my best option to save energy would be to frget about solar and look into getting my chimney lined and a woodburner in there! Plus insulation of attic space etc. What other electricity saving methods are there ?
  Rouner
• This is a good one, Rouner...........https://www.theyellowhouse.org.uk/
• ....and here is another......https://www.jrwhipple.com/sr/index.html..
  Insulation should be top priority and not having t.v.'s and such on standby..
• Want to make your own solar panel water heater? Have a look here
  WWW.LOWIMPACT.ORG
  I have been on the Bio-Diesel course, they are well run and very informative.
• The wind turbine mentioned above is designed for use at sea and is not really suitable for static use on land. Land based turbines generally operated at peak rated power at wind speeds of 12m/s. This is equivalent to 23 knots. This machine has its maximum rated power for a windspeed of 50 knots = 26m/s = 10 on the Beaufort scale: Storm; Seldom experienced inland; trees uprooted; considerable structural damage occurs. By plotting power output against windspeed using the cut-in speed and two windspeeds for which power is rated it is possible to estimate the power output at 12m/s as 32 Watts. Typical rated power outputs for inland turbines are in the range 0.5-1.5 kiloWatts (up to 3 for industrial turbines). An example of this type is the roof mounted Swift turbine developed by Renewable Devices. This has a rated power output at 12.5m/s of 1.5 kW and has been shown to typically produce 2,000 to 3,000 kiloWatt hours of energy per year. This is approximately 1/5 of what it would produce if it opperated in a constant windspeed of 12.5 m/s. If we assume the Rutland 503 windcharger performs similarly (which is probably generous since it's not built for low windspeeds) it would produce 56 kWh per year. Hence at a price of 10p per kWh you would save Ј5.60 per year on your electricity bill. At a cost of Ј259.99 you would therefore recoup your investment in 46 years.