# Solar Panel Options



## percymon (Jun 27, 2007)

I had a cold call earlier this week about 'free' solar panels. A quick google search told me the company involved weren't quite as upfront with 'free' as they stated - ie it would appear you take a loan against their (overpriced) installation cost and then use the energy savings to part pay the loan off.

Anyway that aside, are these schemes still viable to the consumer ?

Or are 'rent your roof' types better these days ?.

Obviously feed in tariffs are not what they once were, but then the install costs are lower than 5 years ago too.

Our house is almost south facing (20' to the West), and fully exposed to the sky from pretty much sunrise to 30 minutes before sunset when the sun drops below the nearby mountain.


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## shl-kelso (Dec 27, 2012)

The ROI on well designed/installed PV system (no shading, good elevation and roof angle) can still be very good, as you say the costs have come down in line with the reduction in FITs so that the simple payback is about the same as it was when FITs were 45p/kWh and a 4kWp PV installation was around £16000.

Beware of these overpriced installations that are paid via a finance deal, you will be lucky if your total FITs revenue over 20 years actually pays for the installation!

It would be far better to find local recommended MCS-approved installers for a few quotes then look at what finance deals you can find and see if you can make it cost-neutral initially, as once the install is paid for you're left with a guaranteed tax-free index-linked return for the remainder of the 20 year FIT contract (with the usual caveats for any maintenance costs that might be needed).

I installed a 4kW array in December 2013, and between FITs payments and the savings on imported electricity (my annual usage was 2000kWh lower than the year before) "saved" over £850 in my first full calendar year. And from my monitoring it would appear it was not a fantastic year for sunny weather here either, so in a better year my returns should be a little higher too. That makes my simple payback around 6 years, which I'm more than happy with.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Not really worth the install cost since they dropped the price through the floor that you get back from generating anything 

Be handy if you bought a house with it fitted, but I certainly wouldn't shell out to buy it myself. Really isn't worth it unless you get a good price on the install 

Also depends on the quality of panel your getting, if it's a high install cost and not a great system, you may end up needing to replace it before its paid for itself 

I'd be vary cautious and run the numbers to check it's actually saving you anything before you commit 

Guy above obviously done ok so it can be done! But a lot of people mugged themselves off


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

We were looking at it at work. Was gonna take like 10 years to break even let alone start saving money

Pointless


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2015)

I'm happy with my solar panels and should get my money back in 6/7 years.

Be careful of the "rent your roof" option. This can lead to complications if you decide to sell your house. I've read stories of the panels owner wanting significant extra money for dealing with the "administration" of change of home owner.


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## smegal (Aug 14, 2009)

Kimo73 said:


> We were looking at it at work. Was gonna take like 10 years to break even let alone start saving money
> 
> Pointless


That doesn't sound right when you like at offsetting on site use and subsidy. That said, once they've paid for themselves, they keep on paying for themselves.


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