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Solar Panels


wolfie

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Don't know what happened there but I will try again. :unsure:

 

I have been looking at solar panels myself for a while now. It would be great to make savings on electric/gas bills.

 

There are those “rent a roof” schemes for 25 years which I am not keen on. Or you can just buy them outright at several thousand pounds taking years to break even.

 

It is a great idea and you get to stick your middle finger up at energy companies but only if you have a spare few grand and if you are also sure you are going to stay in your house for the next decade or too.

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try this link before you commit yourself answers some of your questions.

 

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Solar-panels-PV#3

 

Interesting link Evils. From it I worked out that I would benefit to the tune of £2,700 over 25 years :shock: and that is not taking into consideration that the Inverter will probably need replacing at a cost of £1000, and I live that long. :roll:

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Over the stated 25 year lifspan (and no-one can say that they'll last anywhere near that long - their performance certainly degrades over time) the payback is far less than the returns you'd get from sticking the money in a long term investment bond. Even with the low returns on investments at the moment!

 

And that's without any allowance for the cost of replacing things like the inverter, without any allowance for the feed-in tarrifs being changed (and, since they are currently pegged at THREE times the true cost of electricity they are only likely to go down over the next few years), and without any allowance for the extra costs which would be involved in carrying out any maintenance on a roof covered in solar panels.

 

I'd also be a bit concerned about the long term structural effects of the extra weight on a roof which wasn't designed for it. Not only is it a very significant weight, it's all on one side of a roof which was probably designed to have the two sides balanced and weighing about the same.

 

Nope, for my money we'd be better off banning the things from roofs altogether and using the money to build some nice shiny new nuclear power stations.

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I just clicked on the link Evils posted and I used their energy calculator based on what our elec bills are currently averaging at per month.

 

Being a large terraced house but with limited roof area it suggested I clicked on 'small' installation ie 6 - 8 solar panels.

 

The results ...well our benefit after shelling out for the intitial installation of around £4400 was a not so impressive at all at a mere £544 over 25 years which equates to around £21 per year.... or £1.81 per month..... or aprox 6p per day (excluding maintenance costs I guess)

 

I'm sure over a 25 year period I personally could save much more by simply switching energy suppliers regulary or sticking my £4400 in a high interest long term bond.

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Cleo.... are there many in Egypt with this new fangled solar panels stuff?

 

Personally I think they look a right eyesore

 

 

No. They are not needed here. In summer here it gets so hot we get free hot water from the cold water tap.

Its more air conditioning we have in Egypt rather than solar panels. Electricity and gas here is much much cheaper than in the uk. We are currently paying the eqivalent of 10GBP per month because we have the heater on 24/7. Come summer it will be much less.

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