Has anyone gone down the route of solar energy yet. I would like to know if it,s as good as the government are claiming, or is it just total bullshit like endowment mortgages which were supposed to make a fortune and didn’t.

on my bike? no

roughly 8 yrs before you start making any money off them.

i sell them for a living.

Yes, buy haven’t got my feed in tariff working yet, but the panels are working.

And I have this cool idea for a scam with a wind machine driven off the mains working the tariff difference…

Have a look at this watchdog report.
And the free solar power web page.
It appears that there are people selling when the deal can be done for free. 😉

if you sign for the FREE option, the company who does the install gets all the government kickback, you recieve zilch.

That’s what is shown on the Watchdog link ton, IIRC you can buy at something like 10k and make 28k over 25yrs or you can rent the roof and get a reduced cost and a clear profit of 3k or finally deal with the shysters.
Which one are you ton?

we just sell it to the installers.
and there are some proper cowboys about.
roofers, aerial installers and anyone with ladders are jumping on the band wagon.
if you decide to go with it, get a company that has been going for 5 or more years.

Does that mean you’ve jacked in the satelite stuff then, ton?
You sell direct to the end user or organise the rent a roof grants and then pass details on to the installers?

still selling satellite and aerial stuff.
and solar to the trade installers.
no contact with the end users.

Before you buy solar panels, check this thread out… About a massive volcanoe errupting

Im going for the 8th comment down by Andyl

There are quite a lot of threads about this already with useful info on them. In here somewhere

roughly 8 yrs before you start making any money off them.

Don’t you start making money immediately ? As to how long it takes to recoup your initial investment then that’s a different question.

Having 3.75 kw of panels installed next week.

Basically costs ~ £3100 per kw installed, max domestic Installation is 4 kw.

Using consevative predictions, estimate is I’ll get my ‘investment’ back in 7.5 years and then a tax free income of £1700 per year for 17.5 years. We are also getting a battery back up system installed too, so they are charged during the day and we draw from them in the evening, so our draw from the grid will be virtually zero. So that saving can be added onto the tax free income for total return.

If you’re got £12k sat in the bank doing nothing, (it’s actually losing value sat in there), it’s a no brainer, get some panels on your roof. 8)

The only limiting factors are if you don’t have a southerly facing roof or if you have listed property then they can’t go up there, but they could still be installed in the garden if you have one big enough .

allthepies………….i meant profit…sorry.

100mpph, you seem to explained rather better than me , what i was trying to say.
lets hope for some sunny time……….. 😉

We are also getting a battery back up system installed too, so they are charged during the day and we draw from them in the evening,

That is a rather large investment. Is your house super-insulated? Just looking at where else you could invest that money as a battery bank plus management systems aren’t cheap – especially if you’ve not managed your load down first.

Roughly how much for the battery back up for a house? Interesting

Hmm I think some of you are missing the point here. Because we buy power in from overseas (France) at about 80p per unit the Government are happy to pay you 41p per unit you generate via your Solar or Wind machine.

If you then use units they cost around 15p, wether you generate them for yourself or not, so if you use them then you get a net profit of 26p, if you don’t then its 41p.

So my little thinking about it scam was using the mains to power a wind machine to generate the 41p using energy that cost 15p when it aint windy, haven’t sorted it yet, but will report back if successful, have no qualms now about stiffing the government of thieving expense claimers..

In any event it’s a good thing and you’re saving the planet (except my scam that’s not saving anything other than a few bob pour moi) As to the whole what you have to do to break even on them, you shouldn’t think like that, after all how do you ever break even owning a car?

@ton: I sell data for a living – I specialize in finance and solar… call in to Unique Prospects and ask for Rob, I can help you out!

I’m going to get some solar on my property very soon I’d say.

As someone who advises people on this and doesn’t make money from it yes if you have the money and a south facing roof. At a minimum. Call your Council in the first instance, get 3 quotes, look for local MCS accredited installers and do it before April. Think about how long you are going to be on your property and use energy smartly, I.e. using electricity when the sun shines. Yes you can make money now but reducing your emissions should be the motivation in my opinion. Probably better to insulate and sort out efficient water and space heating in the first instance.

And I connect people to the distribution grid for a living – play nice and keep them under 3.68kW per phase everyone or I’ll have to send the lads round 🙂

I know a couple if people who have has these installed and their meters now go backwards during the day!

Probably CERTAINLY better to insulate and sort out efficient water and space heating in the first instance.

FTFY