Except as cod'ead alludes to, you need to find out the situation if you sell your house - the panels aren't yours to sell. Will the contract roll over to the next householder (who may wish to buy and install their own panels?), can the panel owner be forced to remove them (etc etc)?

Solar panels are a cr*p way to generate power, even in Queensland, where their efficiency is as low as 20% - largely due to the requirement for the sun to hit them at a precise angle, let alone any issues with being overcast.

Its only by distorting the market above and beyond carbon pricing that any such systems make any kind of economic sense. Like all renewables, when combined with the requirement for backup power from fossil fuels (less efficient fossil fuel-powereed plant than if the panels weren't there) they also don't actually help the environment. Add to that the very high capital cost/kw and the current generation of solar panels are 'feel good' only.

Still, if you get them free and save a few quid every year and don't intend to move house then why not?

The panels stay with the house so the new owner has to take on the agreement. If you want the panels removed before the end of the 25 years then you can request this but there is obviously a fee attached to doing so. At the end of the 25 years you can either ask the company to take them down (at no cost since the agreement has ended) or they will just leave the panels and equipment in place (but then of course the maintenance, repair and any liabilities transfer to the home owner).

Some decent details here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=43691868

Some decent details here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=43691868

A simple solution to saving money on electricity bills would be to turn off lights when not in use and turn off all sockets at bedtime.

But solar panels look bloody awful and unsightly on houses.Warrington council have done a lot in the last 12 months, and christ they look stomach churning. I should imagine that home-owners that have solar panels, will lose value on their homes.

But remember folks, you don't get owt for nowt.

Well you don't have to turn off the ones that aren't in use of course, and don't turn off the one that your alarm clock is plugged into.

I have a architect friend who designs some very expensive private villas on the more exclusive parts of The Algarve and I asked him a few months ago about solar power and why hardly any of the villas on the Vale do Lobo seem to have any form of solar panel, his reply was that none of the properties that he designs will ever have them as they look bloody awful and they are too inefficient to justify to his clients (not that his clients ever need to worry about their 'leccy bills).

I assumed he's done the research that an architect would be expected to do so for the time being I'm sticking with his opinion.

Live Wired wrote:A simple solution to saving money on electricity bills would be to turn off lights when not in use and turn off all sockets at bedtime. War on Standby!

Live Wired wrote:A simple solution to saving money on electricity bills would be to turn off lights when not in use and turn off all sockets at bedtime. War on Standby!

The unsightliness might not be that much of a problem in the future. There's talk that roof tiles will be made out of solar photovoltaic material eventually, so they'll look pretty much like a normal roof.

I've seen a couple of fairly impressive systems using ground source heat pumps, with solar panels providing 90% of the electricity to run the heat exchanger and heat pump, resulting in in a building with almost no energy bills, apart from the rather high cost of setting it up in the first place. Needs a very well insulated property and plenty of south facing roofspace for the solar panels though.

The major problem with all the detractors of alternative energy systems, be that solar, wind, water, geo-thermal or whatever, is that they forget that our main energy carriers currently in use are finite resources. We've spent the best part of 300 years extracting these carriers from the ground and only in relatively recent times, have some suggested it can't go on forever.

Yes, the alternatives are expensive and inefficient but so was the internal combustion engine when it was forst introduced. As time goes on, the technologies will improve and economies of scale will bring prices down. The only things preventing that happening sooner, are a lack of vision, a reluctance to invest and denial that the way we provide and use energy MUST change.

Really is a no brainer,i had them fitted in march,cost £10K,just got my 1st quarter cheque from British Gas(my electy suppler)for £273,saved about another £130 offa my bill.
East stand sponsors sell/fit them,buy if you can and if you cant get free ones and run everything(as much as poss) you can during sunlight hrs.
Tariff is going down and down,i was lucky and got in at 21p,ging down again soon iirc.
Highly reccommended pay or free !!!

Peter.

Did a PV job recently that included some sort of passive switch (fairly new I think, cost around £1k). When the system in running near capactity it turns on the electric immersion & heats up your hot water as well, effectively bypassing the need for solar thermal.