Solar panels - paid for supplying the grid?
 

Had a client today talking about solar panels.

Not completely sure of the details but if they pay to have these things fitted, they can supply the national grid power and get paid over and above the cost of their consumption of electricity.

Plus the payment from you the supplier to national grid is A)tax free and B)linked to RPI.

They worked out that from a £12,000 investment they will return £90,000 over the course of 25 years (tax free)

Anyone know anything about this?

Yes, my bro in law and one of my mates have them. You get free leccy and something ridiculous like 45p per unit you sell to the grid. My bro in law has been getting cheques for £200 and £250 a month DURING THE WINTER!

Good for those with money to invest, bad for those of us who haven't.

The way I see it, the leccy companies are all privately owned and have shareholders who expect dividends.
If they have to pay SOME people 45 per unit supplied to THEM, what are they going to do with their prices to the rest of us, in order still to make the profit they need?
This would have been a GREAT idea if leccy was still nationalised. As it is:(

Plus our local council are going to fit them on council properties:(:(

Same with wind power - you can sell the surplus power you generate.

You can also get the panels fitted free if you want to forfeit the cash and just take the energy saving. Solar Power

There is a bungalow in the next village that has these panels on the road facing side of its roof (south), and it looks fcuking ridiculous, more like a greenhouse than a home.

To make them pay, you really need a roof which faces south and then you will need to be able to install a minimum m/sq of solar panels to generate enough.

Buy the Solar panels outright. This has been said to be the best option in the long run, as you get more money back from the grid. But you need the capital to buy them.


Beware though.
The Solar panel industry is growing, and newer technology (to get more power from the sun) is coming out all the time. So if you buy now, you could have out of date technology very soon.

Also, I believe the Government is looking at the tariffs (at least for Commercial properties) in March 2013. So if more people start getting `Free` energy, and the Government losing out on VAT on your Electricity bills, expect a TAX on Solar panels.

Isn't it the Grid that pay though and not the leccy companies?
In which case it shouldn't make any difference, just lots of tiny 'power stations' supplying Grid as well the big ones :wonder:

yes most people I know do this, it's a no brainer

Every new builds here have them. Local council are fitting them to houses all over the place also. Even housing associations etc etc.

Porbably thinking that they will make mega bucks out of the National Grid. Until the Gov taxes the fook out of it!!! :mad:

But isn't the grid privatised too? So THEY need to make a profit and need to but their energy cheaply?

You also get a feed in tarriff where you get paid for all the power you generate even if you use it yourself.

If you've got the money to buy solar panels or wind turbines you'd be daft not to do it.
Has to be MCS certified installer and equipment though.
This website lists all the certified installers in the UK.
http://www.microgenerationcertification.org/

Lots of good info on there too, worth a look if you are interested :)

I'm wrong :)
OH has just explained it all to me :freak3:

Of course WE all pay for people making money out of the FIT through our power bills. Just another of those green scams, though obviously if you're profiting from it you may have a differing opinion .... :brickwall When will out government wake up, smell the coffee and realise that if they don't build more "proper" power stations NOW the lights will start to go out!

Dave

nothing to do with greenness or power etc, it is a wealth re-distribution scheme

No, and when I was pretty much told what tiles to use on my workshops, that can't be seen by anybody else but those in my home, and these awful panels can be fitted to a complete south facing side of a roof along a main road it makes a mockery out of planning in my opinion.

Exactly :thumb:

Why should somebody be paid three times the list price (and probably TEN times the wholesale price of conventional electrickery) just to pump electron particles back up the wire - where they simply heat up the cables underground :mad:

I am still waiting for someone to explain how your "feed in" gets back up through your sub-station and into the grid itself. Quite simply, it can't - it simply competes with all the other local (a few houses worth) conventional and FIT electron particles and if it can't immediately be put to good use then it is completely wasted. :rolleyes:

And we are ALL paying for this via the green supplement that is forced onto our conventional bills (which would disappear up its own arsehole if everybody went solar!).

mb

So, as nobody can explain exactly how the Feed In Tariff works (as in, is financially sustainable) i presume that it is a complete scam and should be abandoned!!

mb

You will all die before you get in profit :thumb:

Sounds too good to be true :eek: I heard that you can even get "them" to pay for installation albeit they take the £'s when leccy is returned to National Grid ...

Anyone on here had it done though?

TX.

PS

PMSL at the suggestion of tax on solar panels, where will it all end :cry: surely a joke though as it's green energy which the Govt are promoting :mad:

We recently installed a 10kw wind turbine (12m tall, 8m wingspan)and are now enjoying the benefits of the feed in tariff, free leccy, and we sell surplus electricity back to the grid. It will pay for itself within 4 years.

I totally agree with everyone on here about it being an unfair system and totally pointless trying to sell back to the grid but why not jump on the bandwagon and make a bit of cash off it if you can? For once it's not just the big companies who can make a profit from this, anyone can.

There are companies who will install turbines and solar panels for free, they take the feed in tariff and you get free electricity. Well worth a look.

Strange...

I worked for a company who had a fairly large wind turbine on there premises.

They wer'nt allowed to supply the nat grid due to not being able to deliver sufficient power, or somthing to that effect.

TBH, it seems strange people claining to get £200 pcm to supply the grid from a small surburban turbine..Thats twice our normal payment for gas & electric.

god knows what there turbine is producing


Mart

Some info on here, my Gf sells it... and yes it is as good as it sounds!
http://www.lemonsqueezy.biz/solar.htm

vested interest or what ;)

You get paid a small amount for selling unused energy back to the grid, I think it's about 3 pence per kwH.
However, as a financial incentive set up by the government to persuade more people to use wind turbines and solar panels you also get paid a feed in tarriff which for 1.5 - 10 kw wind turbine is 26.7 pence per kwH.
The feed in tarriff is paid for every kw of energy you produce, whether you use it yourself or put it into the grid.

..and the minute you make more than a few pence the incentives will be wiped and tax introduced.. voilà :D

Get in before the 2012 review and you'll be quids in.:D

I'd genuinely be interested to see your sources for this information, I can't see why large windfarm companies would be investing millions if the incentives are about to be wiped or taxed to death.
They all benefit from the feed in tarriff too.
You can also get loans for erecting turbines with the feed in tarriff as collateral, why would finance companies be willing to risk that if they were uncertain of the FIT future?

One very big IF........IF you can get planning permission....

Mart

You'd be surprised how easy it is to get planning permission for a renewable energy source, lots of planning restrictions have been lifted to make it easier.
Even in urban areas.

But this might be a reason not to invest ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03...abnormal_fail/ ... "... Windfarm operator the Renewable Energy Generation Group has blamed "abnormally low wind speeds" across the UK for greater-than-expected losses. .... Yet even as a method of reducing CO2 emissions, wind remains singularly hopeless. Denmark has been the biggest European investor in wind energy, yet still gets half of its electricity from coal-fired power stations – as much as it did before. When the wind blows correctly, Denmark is able to reduce the energy it imports from Norway's highly flexible hydro-powered network. So it simply swaps one renewable for another – at some considerable cost. ..."

So, I realise that you're just pushing the current way to "get rich quick" but remember that all that is happening is that the rest of us who do NOT have wind turbines or solar panels are actually having our bills INCREASE to pay the FIT to those that do. And we do not like it so please don't sound so bleddy pleased with yourself(ves)! :thumb:

Dave

We looked into the "free" install option. Got an automated email saying that our roof was not appropriate. But still fits all the standards. South facing, etc

Might try the pay for option...