ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Ok so wife's been contacted by the "free" solar panel mob.

The deal on the table is they lease your roof for 25yrs and we get free electricity.

Now there are a few points that worry me.

1. Damage to my roof which is perfectly good and has 70 odd year old slates, which are expensive and difficult to get hold of as they are all different sizes.

2. The minimum requirement is 14 panels, which will fit, but again the roof was not designed for this extra load.

3. Is the return from these worth the possible hastle involved.

In short i'm after peoples thoughts and experiences with these companies and solar panels in general.

beef-on-the-bone

iTrader: (5)

have been looking into this myself

the most common answer i found was that you are better off owning the panels yourself unfortunately

if you were to move in 8/10 years time, would someone want to move in to a place where they "don't own" their roof and it's covered in outdated panels

the technology is in it's infancy really and improvements and drops in cost will soon come

do you have free electricity all the time or just off peak during the day, need to really check the fine prints

but then there are plenty of people that have done it the free way

rooferman

iTrader: (6)

Do they pay for your electricity when the panels are not generating....ie in darkness ?

If its diminishing roof slates then you will need a competant roofer to install....i have fitted kits for slates and they are not the best design imo...

The panels range in weight from approx 20kg to 40 kg each.....it would be best to have a structual engineer inspect your cut roof design...trussed roofs are usually o.k.

We mainly deal with large installs on farm buildings etc....some have over 250 panels !

The return on these will be huge......but for domestic installs ..i,m not so sure..

Most of the panels we have fitted are chinese ..... are they going to degrade over the years ? Guarantees etc.....there are a lot of companys springing up to make a buck....even though the tarrif is under threat....

rooferman

iTrader: (6)

Problem is you use most of your electricity in the evening.......when the panels are not generating.....

They forget to mention that bit !

Shaid

Give it five years max and they will have DIY kits in B & Q!

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Yes the 25yrs aspect does worry me, 600kg on one side of a 70yr old roof doesn't fill me with joy either, just so the freezer and the fridge run for free during the day.

Come on some one tell me the pro's, lol.

^Qwerty^

Either buy them yourself or sit and wait it out - prices are dropping all the time and the technology is improving.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Yes i think this is a definate possibility as the panels have just taken a giant step forward, but the new technology has not become available yet, i suspect that they are waiting until the stockpile of old panels and materials had been used, hence the big giveaway / subsidised installations.

The new panels generate more and are 1/5th the cost apparently.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Depends on the maintanence agreement.

For example if a panel fails or shatters (they are glass). If you owned them, well, when they fail its down to you to sort, even if they fail prematurely (but outside of warranty), same with the inverters and control gear.

And if they become obselete/outdated, well at least you didn't pay for them.

rallycol

iTrader: (4)

New systems are coming out every few months ,and tying yourself into one at the moment could leave yourself behind the times almost over night ,there are systems in the pipeline that even make your roof look normal ,IE each slate/tile are actually a seperate panel inter-linked ,rather than a cluster of large panels perched on your roof.

Suresh

It's a scam to part poor taxpayers from their money for no return. For those who think that's acceptable I hope your roof collapses!

ScoobyWon't

It'll stop birds ****ting on your tiles

Leslie

It all sounded very good initially, but its surprising what comes out later. Pretty expensive to replace failed panels, later models will work better as ever, and the mortgage companies don't like them apparently either. The inverter is also very expensive to replace.

Think I will stand aside.

Les

Tidgy

1> reputable company will do a full inspection and get you to sign off on any existing damage to confirm they havn;t caused it, and then sign off no further damage at end (had loft insulation done via grant and this was done for that, even down to blown bulbs.

2> They should be getting a structural eng to check that its suitable for this very reason.

3> depends on terms and cons.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Just had the first survey, affable chap as you'd expect, answered all my questions.

I'm not convinced it's such a good idea, they get roughly 24p for every kilowatt hour, system is a 3kw peak and doesn't depend on sun light only daylight.

So for 5 months of the year when its pretty much dark by the time we are using the bulk of our electricity we will get next to nothing, then in the spring/ summer when our daytime activities increase because like most, we are out and about we get maybe 2/3 hours use of an evening which would mainly consist of the tv and a light or two, but again by the time we switch them on the system would not be generating.

My other main concern is that they write the contract into the deeds for 25yrs and as i am pretty sure that i don't intend to be here when i'm 70yrs old i'll need to sell the house before then, and that it could put off a potential buyer.

So it's much as i suspected you get very little in this world for free, and the fat cats get fatter.

On the other hand it is a worthwhile investment if you buy the system for around 9k and reap the rewards yourself, especially if you introduce a storage facility.

But i think with the advances in the technology it will be wiser to hang fire a year or two to see where the market goes.

So for those reasons "I'm out"

mamoon2

I had wondered when the technology would develop into actual slates, so in effect the whole roof is one giant solar panel but made up of normal (ish) looking tiles or slates

Chip

I invested some of my redundancy money in panels which will supplement my pension, is that such a bad thing?

rooferman

iTrader: (6)

If you store the generated electricity, which is not easy anyway....you don't conform to the goverment tarrif....