Solar Novice - our experience 33 days from discovering FIT to completion

[PeterFromSandhurst]

I posted a link under the Typical Prices 'sticky' thread but thought a topic for complete 'Solar Novices' might be helpful to some.

We just put together a website including amongst other things:

 - how we approached getting quotes for our 4 kw roof mounted FIT system and selected an installer
 - some advice for complete novices to consider
 - a suggested action plan
 - a few links (including one to this forum)
 - some photos of the kit that we installed (to help those who don't know and inverter from an invertebrate)
 - an offer to invest in other suitable roofs in Sandhurst for those with space but no cash
 - an opportunity to add useful advice

The site is aimed at those thinking about fitting a FIT system (up to 4 kw only) to their own roof - nothing else!

It was our first attempt at anything solar/renewable so please don't flame us too much but DO correct us if we have written up anything which is dumb.

Site address is   http://www.solarnovice.moonfruit.com

Cheers and keep up the great site!

Peter (from Sandhurst)

[rondurrans]

I think this website should be called 'We want your roof to make us rich!' 

[noah]

What a bold and courageous stance in the fight against global warming.

[PeterFromSandhurst]

I think this website should be called 'We want your roof to make us rich!' 

Great idea! If we do find any 'rent a roof' opportunities to invest in it will be a bonus but will carry risks which to date we have not fully assessed. Despite that, our hope is to find a better use for our spare funds than watching them rot in a building society earning 2% while annual inflation runs at twice that figure!

If the idea develops, we will need a contract to protect the interests of both parties. I have seen a few draft versions of these from other like minded folk but have not got one sorted yet. If you spot one that looks good please paste a link. If/when we get ours sorted we will make it available free of charge on the website to save others having to reinvent the same wheel.

Peter

[biff]

it may sound like a good investment at present,
                                         but they are talking about doing away with fits over here, just imagine having a dozen roofs rented and a contract with the owners giving them free lecky for 25 yrs,then change of goverment and change of policy,,no more fits, you could end up tied into a contract that would see you giving away your solar panels for free just to escape the maintenance upkeep.
                                              biff

[noah]

As is nearly always the case with `good investments`, they rely on another bunch of suckers giving up their surplus.

[PeterFromSandhurst]

it may sound like a good investment at present,
                                         but they are talking about doing away with fits over here, just imagine having a dozen roofs rented and a contract with the owners giving them free lecky for 25 yrs,then change of goverment and change of policy,,no more fits, you could end up tied into a contract that would see you giving away your solar panels for free just to escape the maintenance upkeep.
                                              biff

The current legislation provides comfort on that issue but any contract would need to include something to cover any retrospective rule changes which covered this. Good point though Biff thank you. btw, where is "over here", I couldn't immediately see where you were located   Peter

[biff]

oireland ,,peter,

[PeterFromSandhurst]

oireland ,,peter,

ty Biff

Alistair - I have sent you an email with the installer and equipment specs as requested in your pm

[Quakered]

These "rent your roof" schemes seem just plain dodgy from a number of perspectives.

1.   The lenders seem to hate the idea of people flogging off their roofs for 25 years and they will therefore be very difficult to get a mortgage and therefore very difficult to sell – not a great investment therefore for the home owner!
2.   The home owner gets at best, £200 in benefit of reduced electricity costs p.a. if the house in inhabited during daylight whilst the holder of the FiT could be getting £1,500 – hardly seems a fair split of the benefit to me
3.   The FiT owner will need co-operation every quarter from the home owner to get the meter readings for 25 years – does seem very unlikely to me. You may have a contract but the cost of enforcing it will be way beyond any income you are likely to derive
4.   The most attractive feature for the FiT owner is, I suspect, the tax status of this income. Now I am confident that the government will not “harm” the FiT programme for home owners however I am sure they would have a pop on those “entrepreneurs” trying to stretch the scheme beyond the original legislative intent.

Money in the Building Society pays sod all because it is used by those who want to take no risks. As it appears you are open to taking risk, I have some splendid oil wells in Libya that you could invest in! More seriously, when I stopped being a full time wage slave I put all our spare resources into the stock market and both the capital values and the dividends have comfortably beaten inflation and indeed the FTSE’s performance. Now I would not touch any of the “investment” products that are so heavily promotes as these only enrich the management rather than the clients. But if you have the financial nouse to learn and research the market then as a long term investment it should beat anything else. Certainly better than all those cry to let schemes promoted by fat birds on the telly! It does leap up and down but that is part of the fun!

[PeterFromSandhurst]

Some interesting views Quakered but the FTSE having dropped from over 6000 to 3500 inside the last three years and still not fully recovered is a poor example of an alternative. It has done less well than the building societies over that period which is hard to believe.

As for paying someone extra cash above £5000 (at today's rate), I wouldn't think of it unless they stuck their hand in their pockets and chipped in some of the capital (even 5-10% would be fine). Then I would be more confident that they would protect MY investment. I would be very happy to share the FIT income proportionate to the shared risk/investment. If someone gave me £5000 for doing nothing I would grab it with both hands.

[wyleu]

If someone gave me £5000 for doing nothing I would grab it with both hands.

And that in a nutshell is the problem. There's almost undoubtedly someone else on the other end of that nothing.

[PeterFromSandhurst]

Just posted first full 3 months figures (shown on the website below) detailing a combined income and use saving of just over £267 in the winter!

www.solarnovice.moonfruit.com


Peter

[skyewright]

Just posted first full 3 months figures (shown on the website below) detailing a combined income and use saving of just over £267 in the winter!

I'm puzzled.

What do the kWhs used and kWhs last year columns represent? Monthy "usage"? Monthly "import"? Something else?

I note that the difference between kWhs used and kWhs last year is vastly greater than the kWh generated figure. I've you've reduced usage by that amount over the year then well done, but I don't at present see what's it got to do with savings attributable to the PV?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something?

[claypole]

Good spot - these figures appear to be miles adrift. I've not installed yet but I'm planning on no more than £100 saving for whole year on 3.92kwp - bearing in mind the house is empty during most working (peak generating) hours. It might also prompt me (indeed already has) to cut down my overall useage but I reckon generated power used won't be much more than £100 pa (for my circs). If I don't also fit solar thermal I might look at rigging up an immersion link to generating power which will at least cut down the oil bill, but wouldn't stricly speaking be an electricity saving because I wouldn't previously have used the immersion.
Pete - can you confirm error in figures?