[Hermit Dave]

If you plan to only be at the house for 6 years or less, is it worth doing? Not sure there will be a payback in that time, and debatable whether they will add enough to the house price to cover the costs of installing them.

If you consume all the electricity generated you might have a break even period of 10 years. You can always take the panels off and with you when you move though


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[SuperLeaf]

I can only go on the quotes I had but to have top quality panels with the highest yield and 25 year warranty, and a german inverter, was close to £9,000, so almost £3,000 more than I paid for the Q Cells and Solis. That £3,000 would probably be better off going towards a home battery. If I do get a bad panel in 10-15 years time, I would hope it would cost less than £3000 to get put right. £3,000 is an expensive extended warranty.

That's a possibility.
From my personal research, it seems that the big brand names typically overprice their flagship products for the first years so more people buy their next best product.
QCells are not a Chinese solar manufacturer, it's one of the best ones.
It may also be that your installer has a good deal tied to reaching a certain volume with one brand name, so that he quoted a discouraging price for another brand.

The OP was quoted a Longi product, a second tier Chinese OEM.
We should be grateful for the Chinese OEM's for pulling down the cost of solar.
I would definitely opt for Chinese if the cost delta is significant, but in most cases, the base wholesale cost of the solar panels being a fraction of the total install cost, they should not affect the price of the install to the extent that the Chinese products offer better value.

I second the opinion that if the OP only plans to own the house for 6 more years, it may not be worth going solar, even less so for 8 panels, but it largely depends on the subsidy situation.
If subsidies pay for a big chunk of the install, why not.

 

[Coe123]

If you plan to only be at the house for 6 years or less, is it worth doing? Not sure there will be a payback in that time, and debatable whether they will add enough to the house price to cover the costs of installing them.

Yes story of my life. Lived a nomadic life, looked at doing these few years ago but been just bought a home there were other priorities.

Cost of adding these is insignificant compared to house price so as long as it doesn't reduce the price we should be ok. I think in 2025 a solar + EV ready home would be lot more appealing to buyers (if not I'll consider this as an altruistic project). If we were to add batteries I know our electric bill would be standing charge only but that increases the cost even further - decisions 😐.

I want to switch to EV but I can't justify the cost of owning a car either - given the low milage.

 

[Coe123]

I second the opinion that if the OP only plans to own the house for 6 more years, it may not be worth going solar, even less so for 8 panels, but it largely depends on the subsidy situation.
If subsidies pay for a big chunk of the install, why not.

8 panel is what they recommended based on Google map check, I reckon I could do 12-14.

My other rationale is that I need to set-up the scaffolding for other work anyway so do this together which would mean an effective cost of under £3K.

 

[SuperLeaf]

Yes story of my life. Lived a nomadic life, looked at doing these few years ago but been just bought a home there were other priorities.

Cost of adding these is insignificant compared to house price so as long as it doesn't reduce the price we should be ok. I think in 2025 a solar + EV ready home would be lot more appealing to buyers (if not I'll consider this as an altruistic project). If we were to add batteries I know our electric bill would be standing charge only but that increases the cost even further - decisions 😐.

I want to switch to EV but I can't justify the cost of owning a car either - given the low milage.

Solar progresses a lot.
In 6 years, you current solar array may not be as attractive to a home buyer, as new and better panels may be available.

An 8-panel array doesn't even come close to fulfilling the needs of an EV.
8 x 360Wp panels will probably yield less than 2000kWh per year in the UK.
Considering an average EV with a consumption of 150Wh/km, this is the equivalent of 8000 miles per year.
Realistically, including winter driving and charging losses, 7000 miles per year.
Add panel degradation, and it's even less.
So a potential home buyer with an EV would see no merit in such an install.

The install could however meet your home energy needs to a large extent, if you heat with other means than electricity.

So it depends largely on the subsidy situation.

It may be less sexy, but there could be other home improvement projects that could yield greater savings and higher subsidies, like insulation or switching an old gas boiler to a heat pump.

 

[Jeffrey Cooper]

8 x 360Wp panels will probably yield less than 2000kWh per year in the UK.

I'm not sure that's right - we have 2 250w panels that started last year, but non-optimal placing, better this year, but we've now generated over 500kWh since then !

 

[James Watson]

Solar progresses a lot.
In 6 years, you current solar array may not be as attractive to a home buyer, as new and better panels may be available.

An 8-panel array doesn't even come close to fulfilling the needs of an EV.
8 x 360Wp panels will probably yield less than 2000kWh per year in the UK.
Considering an average EV with a consumption of 150Wh/km, this is the equivalent of 8000 miles per year.
Realistically, including winter driving and charging losses, 7000 miles per year.
Add panel degradation, and it's even less.
So a potential home buyer with an EV would see no merit in such an install.

The install could however meet your home energy needs to a large extent, if you heat with other means than electricity.

So it depends largely on the subsidy situation.

It may be less sexy, but there could be other home improvement projects that could yield greater savings and higher subsidies, like insulation or switching an old gas boiler to a heat pump.

A garden office might be a good investment with home working high on the agenda and likely to remain so going forwards.

 

[Leonids]

Wouldn’t you lose the FIT if you replaced the panels for higher yield ones. Not only as over 4kW but they might consider it a big enough component to no longer be considered the original installation.

It's a good question! I was hoping it could all go through the same generation meter and the FIT provider would just divide it by three to get the measured amount.

Has anyone done something similar?

 

[Hermit Dave]

I'm not sure that's right - we have 2 250w panels that started last year, but non-optimal placing, better this year, but we've now generated over 500kWh since then !

Wow I have restricted south facing 2x 245W and they have generated over 400kWh since I installed


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[RunningStrong]

8-panel array doesn't even come close to fulfilling the needs of an EV.
8 x 360Wp panels will probably yield less than 2000kWh per year in the UK.
Considering an average EV with a consumption of 150Wh/km, this is the equivalent of 8000 miles per year.
Realistically, including winter driving and charging losses, 7000 miles per year.

So the UK average mileage then. Sounds close enough.

 

[Gerrard]

An 8-panel array doesn't even come close to fulfilling the needs of an EV.
8 x 360Wp panels will probably yield less than 2000kWh per year in the UK.
Considering an average EV with a consumption of 150Wh/km, this is the equivalent of 8000 miles per year.
Realistically, including winter driving and charging losses, 7000 miles per year.
Add panel degradation, and it's even less.
So a potential home buyer with an EV would see no merit in such an install.

Even if it didn't fulfil an EV demands fully (which no system would during winter anyway), it would still offset a lot of the cost, so I don't see why there's no merit in it? If you are filling the amount of roof space you have, then I don't see any issues with it. Sure the progress of technology will mean you would get more power out of that space, but then you'll never do it as something better/cheaper would always be around the corner. And as mentioned, the overheads of the installation itself is a considerable cost anyway, so the price wouldn't change massively over time.

 

[Trevor Larkum]

@Trevor Larkum Thank you, I've sent a request yesterday, I liked some of the pictures you have shared on some of the other related post which came up at the bottom - your projects look good. Any thoughts on the number of panels, chimney (keep/remove),

I'll have a look when we get to the quote. We're about to do a similar install in south London and he has decided to remove the chimney to save the cost of optimisers, but it did involve negotiation with the neighbour and a lot of calls to building control.

 

[Trevor Larkum]

It's a good question! I was hoping it could all go through the same generation meter and the FIT provider would just divide it by three to get the measured amount.

Has anyone done something similar?

The bottom line is you can't change your setup and still claim FIT. However, there's no problem with adding more panels, so long as they have their own inverter and meter.

 

[Leonids]

The bottom line is you can't change your setup and still claim FIT. However, there's no problem with adding more panels, so long as they have their own inverter and meter.

Thanks for the clarification Trevor. That's a shame. I've still got 15 years of FIT to claim so that's a non-starter.

 

[Naturetech]

OP: now we know that you are intending to be gone in six years, I'd hold onto the money and get a solar array for your next home, provided that you intend to stay there a good few years. I understand that you want to get the wall pointing done so need scaffolding, but you won't recoup the upfront costs of solar panels in the remaining time that you intend to stay. Don't try to justify them by thinking the resale value will increase by the installation cost - even now, a large proportion of the population think negatively of them. If you think I'm wrong, see how many homes actually have solar.

 

[James Watson]

Only exception I would say is a house with top rate FIT scheme panels. We had a 2012 solar install on our last house, ie top whack FIT payments. They definitely helped sell the house and added value. But it was an easy sell to retired couples looking at our bungalow explaining the tax free index linked FIT would cover their council tax and water rates for the next few decades.

Under SEG its not much of a sell. £200-300 SEG payments and maybe similar leccy bill saving a year on a 6kw system. Unless they have an EV they are likely to just think they are either a) ugly b) a liability waiting to go wrong or c) both.

 

[BornAgainEcoWarrior]

Only exception I would say is a house with top rate FIT scheme panels. We had a 2012 solar install on our last house, ie top whack FIT payments. They definitely helped sell the house and added value. But it was an easy sell to retired couples looking at our bungalow explaining the tax free index linked FIT would cover their council tax and water rates for the next few decades.

Under SEG its not much of a sell. £200-300 SEG payments and maybe similar leccy bill saving a year on a 6kw system. Unless they have an EV they are likely to just think they are either a) ugly b) a liability waiting to go wrong or c) both.

That's probably true, I really hope attitudes change fast. 2025 may be long enough.
It's certainly possible. If we think about other changes over the years sometimes they are very fast. Take smartphone adoption. In a few years we went from most people having no idea why anyone would want to pay so much money for an iPhone, to more or less than everyone having one. A few years after that smartphones have become integrated into every aspect of our lives.

 

[Johnny Read]

he has decided to remove the chimney to save the cost of optimisers, but it did involve negotiation with the neighbour and a lot of calls to building control.

I am going through that process at the moment so know a bit about removing a defunct chimney. I'm mostly taking it down due to a leak which I think is from the top haunching, but to be honest I don't need the chimney, it's draughty, and the chimney breast takes up a lot of space in one of the bedrooms. I submitted a simple building control notice which I think cost me £130 as the total cost was under £2k. I got in a Structual Engineer to do calculations on replacement timbers on the roof. That cost me about £300. As I mentioned earlier the biggest cost will be scaffolding. But the OP may want to strongly consider a SE anyway to check the roof timbers can support the additional weight of the panels. I know if I was buying house with PV on, Id be mostly concerned about the integrity of the roof structure and waterproofing.

@Trevor Larkum - do you install in-roof pv? Someone on here posted some photos of their property, which was almost like a replacement roof from metal sheet panels, with the PV bolted through. There were no tiles under the panels. Seemed a very smart way to reduce unnecessary loading and avoid hooks etc.

 

[James Watson]

Isn’t in roof less efficient than on roof due to heat build up due to the reduced airflow under the panels? Maybe that issue has been overcome now?

 

[Hermit Dave]

Isn’t in roof less efficient than on roof due to heat build up due to the reduced airflow under the panels? Maybe that issue has been overcome now?

That’s correct. During hot days (how many do we have really!!), the heat buildup causes a drop in generation by a 3rd.

Since there is no ventilation on in-roof, it’s likely to be more frequent


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