ARmy Rumour SErvice

Originally Posted by mucus2

I do believe the electronic bit that converts the solar power to electricity requires replacement every ten years at ten grand ago. Heard that on Radio 4 a while back, may have changed since then?

Just been quoted £8k for a 4kW set up and it will pay for itself in 7 years. The panels are guaranteed to be 80% after 25 years. It does warn that the inverter may need changing at some point in the 25 years. They cost somewhere in the region of £600.

Edited to add

A year ago they were charging £12k to fit them. The price drop is down to the drop in subsidy. From a personal point of view, I'm going ahead with it anyway. Power is not going to get any cheaper. The more it goes up, the more I will save.

Originally Posted by Gobbly wobbly

Just been quoted £8k for a 4kW set up and it will pay for itself in 7 years. The panels are guaranteed to be 80% after 25 years. It does warn that the inverter may need changing at some point in the 25 years. They cost somewhere in the region of £600.

That does sound better than 10k.
Must pay more attention to what I'm listening to in future.

Originally Posted by Gobbly wobbly

Just been quoted £8k for a 4kW set up and it will pay for itself in 7 years. The panels are guaranteed to be 80% after 25 years. It does warn that the inverter may need changing at some point in the 25 years. They cost somewhere in the region of £600.

That sounds more like it.

I was wondering if anybody actually had them installed and do the figures/savings as advertised or a lot lower?

Originally Posted by DesktopCommando

make ur own

BuildItSolar: Solar energy projects for Do It Yourselfers to save money and reduce pollution

Those are mostly solar thermal, sun light heating water.

The subsidies were for solar electric,photo-voltaic, PV, sun light making electrickery.

The PV inverters may go tits-up after 25 years, but the cost of the technology has been falling consistently for the past couple of decades. Inverters are fairly standard on big electric motors for fans and pumps. Twenty years ago they were real cutting edge stuff, most motors had star-delta contactor starters. I recall some Swedish sales rep trying to sell me some hydraulic speed control coupling gadget for big fans. In 20 years time inverters may be much cheaper. Or they may not

Following the boom in Double Glazing a number of years ago and IIRC householders being left with meaningless guarantees when companies folded is there an umbrella organisation to give some real credence to the long term guarantees offered ?
Of course this report concerning subsequent difficulties with the sale of a property is worth a read if ever tempted to go down the " Free " route .... RICS warns house hunters against buying homes with free solar panels fitted | This is Money

Edited to add another article worth a read ... Free & paid-for solar panels: Save on electricity bills and avoid the cowboys | This is Money