Cyclone Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 so you've saved about £280 in the year at 14p per kw/h, are you on a free install or did you pay for it and get the fit? How much does the FIT add that that £280 saving then? And what will the payback period be on the installation cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbarnesfan Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 An estimate that the system will have generated by the end of the first year in service wiil be 2350 kw X 43.3p wiil have given me a return of £ 1017.55 plus half of the 2350 x 3p , £ 35.25 . £ 1052.80 will be an estimate of the annual return. The payback period depends on how much you have paid for the installation. It will be about 9 years on mine based on these figures. It does not take into account that the fit payment will increase and the effectiveness of the panels will decrease. Installation costs also appear to have dropped considerably in the last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 The FIT payment will increase? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samsparro Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 The FIT payment will increase? If I remember rightly it increases yearly with inflation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarlady Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 If I remember rightly it increases yearly with inflation It does increase with inflation and is also tax free (not if owned by a company though) There is a government consultation at the moment which is considering removing the RPI linking and I can only see it's a matter of time before they remove the tax free income as well. It's ok for those who are already signed up though, their terms will stay for the 25 year duration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samsparro Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 It does increase with inflation and is also tax free (not if owned by a company though) There is a government consultation at the moment which is considering removing the RPI linking and I can only see it's a matter of time before they remove the tax free income as well. It's ok for those who are already signed up though, their terms will stay for the 25 year duration! Hi solarladyn, I posted earlier in the thread about the time of year effecting the performance of the panels, is that something you can answer? My panels don't seem to be quite reaching their ultimate output even over the last few days. Its a 3.2kw system, but my energy meter only seems to get to about 2.2kw even at midday over the last few days. Is that right, will it increase as the strength of the sun increases? Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbarnesfan Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Your system will generate more kw during the summer simply because the days are longer. Your system will only generate up to the maximum capability of the inverter fitted. Although in theory the solar panels on mine are capable of generating 2.45kw , the Sunnyboy2000 inverter is capable of only 2kw per hour so that's all I will get out of it. There are some technical reasons for this, that you can look up to explain on various solar energy sites that will explain it better than I can. If you read the specification of your inverter it should tell you its capability. There may well be Solar specialists who understand or can explain it better than me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solarlady Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Hi solarladyn, I posted earlier in the thread about the time of year effecting the performance of the panels, is that something you can answer? My panels don't seem to be quite reaching their ultimate output even over the last few days. Its a 3.2kw system, but my energy meter only seems to get to about 2.2kw even at midday over the last few days. Is that right, will it increase as the strength of the sun increases? Ta Hi Samsparro, jjbarnesfan is right in that your inverter does make a difference just as much as the time of year. A slightly smaller inverter to the output of the panels will make the inverter work to capacity more often but will have a limit to how much can be produced regardless of how many panels you have. Shading makes a big difference depending on the capabilities of your inverter, if only a small part of 1 panel is in shade, it will reduce the output of the whole string. I can explain more on this but it will become a little too technical As the sunny days have (hopefully for good) arrived then your system will produce a lot more, the days are longer for a start so even if it is cloudy there is more time to generate. We have a 4kW system at the office and expect it to make over 300kW in May, June, July, August. In the winter months it won't make even half of that - so it makes a BIG difference! If your inverter is an SMA you can see what other SMA powered arrays around the country are doing by going to: http://www.sunnyportal.com/Templates/PublicPagesPlantList.aspx. This is a good tool for a rough comparison but be careful not to make too strict a comparison because the type of panels you have, how many and their orientation also make a big difference which these records don't tell you. It's enough to make you go but hope this has helped! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quint Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 If you would like to come and talk to us we are taking part in The Sheffield Stars Active Live event on Far Gate this Thursday. We will have a small stall set up opposite Mark & Spencer between 10am - 4pm. Come and have a chat to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samsparro Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Hi Samsparro, jjbarnesfan is right in that your inverter does make a difference just as much as the time of year. A slightly smaller inverter to the output of the panels will make the inverter work to capacity more often but will have a limit to how much can be produced regardless of how many panels you have. Shading makes a big difference depending on the capabilities of your inverter, if only a small part of 1 panel is in shade, it will reduce the output of the whole string. I can explain more on this but it will become a little too technical As the sunny days have (hopefully for good) arrived then your system will produce a lot more, the days are longer for a start so even if it is cloudy there is more time to generate. We have a 4kW system at the office and expect it to make over 300kW in May, June, July, August. In the winter months it won't make even half of that - so it makes a BIG difference! If your inverter is an SMA you can see what other SMA powered arrays around the country are doing by going to: http://www.sunnyportal.com/Templates/PublicPagesPlantList.aspx. This is a good tool for a rough comparison but be careful not to make too strict a comparison because the type of panels you have, how many and their orientation also make a big difference which these records don't tell you. It's enough to make you go but hope this has helped! Thanks for that information, its appreciated. So I take it from what your saying that your 4kw system has a 4kw invertor on it then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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