Solar panels , would you ?

My mate has just submitted planning for his own “solar farm”. His garden was on a steep slope but he has built it in to two large level areas with retaining walls but this has left the top 20ft still on a slope that is perfectly positioned for panels.

He has enough space for 20 panels and the cabling can all be run down via ducting that already carries 10mm2 SWA feeding his hot tub. He also has an access panel in the wall that the SWA comes from that leads to the cupboard where his CU is. So minimal work needed to run everything. Its like evil genius stuff 😁.

Whole thing will cost him £25k but he should be able to generate some amount with 20 panels.

Only issue is that planning is taking ages round here so he might get the nod sometime in April.
 
bobmac said:
Savings begins on day 1
You can cancel your direct debit to your solar panel savings account.
And you save on your utility bills from day 1.
My friend says he is £300-£400 better off per month.
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Good grief how much electricity does he use???
We use about £600 of leccy per year.
 
cliveb said:
That's very weird logic.
If he hadn't been saving up to buy the panels, he wouldn't have been putting aside that £250 a month.
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Before he got his solar panels, he was saving £250 per month, direct debit.
Now he has his panels, he's cancelled his direct debit so now he has £250 more in his current account every month plus the savings on his elctricity bill
 
bobmac said:
Before he got his solar panels, he was saving £250 per month, direct debit.
Now he has his panels, he's cancelled his direct debit so now he has £250 more in his current account every month plus the savings on his elctricity bill
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Bob, you really need to think a bit harder about this.

Let me try an analogy. I feel like going on holiday and decide to save £250 a month to fund it.
Once I've saved enough to go on holiday I do so, and there's no need to keep saving.
Do you think that taking that holiday is now saving me £250 a month?
 
cliveb said:
Bob, you really need to think a bit harder about this.

Let me try an analogy. I feel like going on holiday and decide to save £250 a month to fund it.
Once I've saved enough to go on holiday I do so, and there's no need to keep saving.
Do you think that taking that holiday is now saving me £250 a month?
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Joe Bloggs gets paid £2000 per month.
His solar panel direct debit was £250 per month, leaving him with £1750
His utility bill is £150 per month, leaving him with £1600
Then he buys and installs the panels, DD cancelled
His utilty bill drops to £50 per month
Result...no £250 DD and a reduced utility bill by £100
So instead of having £1600 left, he has £1950, so he has £350 more disposal income after getting the solar panels than he had before he got them.

If that's wierd logic, I don't give a toss.
 
bobmac said:
Joe Bloggs gets paid £2000 per month.
His solar panel direct debit was £250 per month, leaving him with £1750
His utility bill is £150 per month, leaving him with £1600
Then he buys and installs the panels, DD cancelled
His utilty bill drops to £50 per month
Result...no £250 DD and a reduced utility bill by £100
So instead of having £1600 left, he has £1950, so he has £350 more disposal income after getting the solar panels than he had before he got them.

If that's wierd logic, I don't give a toss.
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I think you’d need to compare it to before he started saving for the solar panels
 
bobmac said:
Joe Bloggs gets paid £2000 per month.
His solar panel direct debit was £250 per month, leaving him with £1750
His utility bill is £150 per month, leaving him with £1600
Then he buys and installs the panels, DD cancelled
His utilty bill drops to £50 per month
Result...no £250 DD and a reduced utility bill by £100
So instead of having £1600 left, he has £1950, so he has £350 more disposal income after getting the solar panels than he had before he got them.

If that's wierd logic, I don't give a toss.
Click to expand...

If he could afford that £250 for panel saving and his bill has gone now surely he is now putting that £250 a month aside for something else
 
bobmac said:
Joe Bloggs gets paid £2000 per month.
His solar panel direct debit was £250 per month, leaving him with £1750
His utility bill is £150 per month, leaving him with £1600
Then he buys and installs the panels, DD cancelled
His utilty bill drops to £50 per month
Result...no £250 DD and a reduced utility bill by £100
So instead of having £1600 left, he has £1950, so he has £350 more disposal income after getting the solar panels than he had before he got them.

If that's wierd logic, I don't give a toss.
Click to expand...

Very weird logic indeed. 3 ways of looking at it to me. 1. How much per month less his bill is due to the panels; 2, how many years that monthly saving will take to equal the solar outlay. And third, need to factor on the lost interest on the solar outlay to make it fair
 
bobmac said:
Joe Bloggs gets paid £2000 per month.
His solar panel direct debit was £250 per month, leaving him with £1750
His utility bill is £150 per month, leaving him with £1600
Then he buys and installs the panels, DD cancelled
His utilty bill drops to £50 per month
Result...no £250 DD and a reduced utility bill by £100
So instead of having £1600 left, he has £1950, so he has £350 more disposal income after getting the solar panels than he had before he got them.

If that's wierd logic, I don't give a toss.
Click to expand...
Fred Smith also gets £2000 per month.
His utility bill is £150 per month, leaving him £1850.
Like Joe Bloggs, he installs panels and his utility bill drops to £50.
But unlike Joe, he didn't need to save up and just bought his panels with money he had in the bank.

So by some strange voodoo, the panels are saving Joe £350 a month but only saving Fred £100 a month. Please explain how this miracle has occurred.
 
bobmac said:
No, Joe isn't saving £350 per month, he has £350 more disposable income than he had last month because his bills have come down and his DD has been cancelled.
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Can we agree that you are claiming that Joe has £350 more disposable income than he had before deciding to buy the panels?
 
cliveb said:
Can we agree that you are claiming that Joe has £350 more disposable income than he had before deciding to buy the panels?
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Almost.
He has £350 more disposal income after he's bought and installed them.
The point is, the time it takes to recoup the outlay is irrelevant unless you have borrowed the money from the bank and paying it back each month.
And I'd like to know which bank pays out £4,200 interest per year on £15,000 savings
And finally, if you spend £15,000 on a new kitchen, how long will it take before it pays for itself?
 
bobmac said:
Almost.
He has £350 more disposal income after he's bought and installed them.
The point is, the time it takes to recoup the outlay is irrelevant unless you have borrowed the money from the bank and paying it back each month.
And I'd like to know which bank pays out £4,200 interest per year on £15,000 savings
And finally, if you spend £15,000 on a new kitchen, how long will it take before it pays for itself?
Click to expand...

All this discussion has proven is people would rather argue the details of money over doing something about our reliance on fossil fuels, same with EVs.

Rightly or wrongly each to their own but shows help is needed from government to encourage switching

Maybe a positive PR campaign. would you like to be less reliant on Russia and the Saudis? Buy solar panels
 
pauljames87 said:
All this discussion has proven is people would rather argue the details of money over doing something about our reliance on fossil fuels, same with EVs.

Rightly or wrongly each to their own but shows help is needed from government to encourage switching

Maybe a positive PR campaign. would you like to be less reliant on Russia and the Saudis? Buy solar panels
Click to expand...

I agree entirely.
Maybe they could highlight how much the prices for solar panels have come down in the last 10 years and will continue to fall, they attract 0% VAT and I doubt energy providers will be dropping their prices anytime soon + 20% VAT. Not to mention petrol/diesel prices
 
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