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Any Surveyors who have an opinion on solar panels


Maesknoll Red

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5 minutes ago, Maesknoll Red said:

Particularly the scheme the council are pushing.

https://solartogether.co.uk/bristol/home

I have registered for it (as it says no obligation), but is fitting solar panels likely to add or detract value to the house?

I would say these days they add value. Just make sure you will actually own the panels and they`re not under some sort of lease or rent-a-roof scheme. I talk to a lot of people who`ve had them fitted and they all say they`re great. It`s also worth considering what fuel your house uses - if you have mains gas for your heating you don`t benefit as much as if you use electric.

The other thing is the battery storage technology which is advancing apace and is very expensive now but is coming down in price all the time so you may want to find out if that will be compatible with the panels. If you have (or are considering) an electric car then battery storage would be a major benefit.

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2 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

I have often wondered if the future is for roof tiles to be dual purpose and whether that kind of technology is being developed?

 

It is. I`ve been involved in a couple of projects for a Housing Association where they`ve installed them when they`ve re-roofed a block of properties. They aren`t so much individual tiles as sheets that look like tiles though which are made to measure for the roof - a bit like the GRP roofs you get to replace flat ones.

The biggest barrier is though, as it ever was, resistance from the big house-builders who are coincidentally big financial donors to certain political parties.

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30 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

It is. I`ve been involved in a couple of projects for a Housing Association where they`ve installed them when they`ve re-roofed a block of properties. They aren`t so much individual tiles as sheets that look like tiles though which are made to measure for the roof - a bit like the GRP roofs you get to replace flat ones.

The biggest barrier is though, as it ever was, resistance from the big house-builders who are coincidentally big financial donors to certain political parties.

I have never understood building firms resistance to these things, it was the same with fibre optic cabling. I would think the USP of having houses ready for the future would far outweigh additional costs, and as you say, a properly committed Government should be making these things legal requirements for any new building projects.

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36 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

I have never understood building firms resistance to these things, it was the same with fibre optic cabling. I would think the USP of having houses ready for the future would far outweigh additional costs, and as you say, a properly committed Government should be making these things legal requirements for any new building projects.

In a nutshell

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3 minutes ago, City oz said:

Hey you need sun shine for them to work. ?

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Do not do it mate. There are cowboys around the world installing these and a fact is that if not installed correctly there is no pay back too the consumer especially common with domestic installations. 

A typical domestic one in OZ costs $3,900.00 and it takes years to get back your IOR (Investment on return)

Most dwellings experience on going roof leaks after installations as well. Panels unless maintained I.E cleaned regularly turn yellow and brown and the capacity of sun and yes you do need sun or at least day light with no low cloud cover your solar panel investment on pay back grows longer and longer.

 

 

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42 minutes ago, City oz said:

th?id=OIP.c9NH6Tme0zzaxTTSW7vpfgHaEo&w=200&h=124&rs=1&qlt=80&o=6&pid=3.1

 

Do not do it mate. There are cowboys around the world installing these and a fact is that if not installed correctly there is no pay back too the consumer especially common with domestic installations. 

A typical domestic one in OZ costs $3,900.00 and it takes years to get back your IOR (Investment on return)

Most dwellings experience on going roof leaks after installations as well. Panels unless maintained I.E cleaned regularly turn yellow and brown and the capacity of sun and yes you do need sun or at least day light with no low cloud cover your solar panel investment on pay back grows longer and longer.

 

 

Sorry mate, most of that is not true. You may have cowboys installing them in Australia but we don`t over here by and large. I`d love to see your evidence of `most properties experiencing roof leaks` as I`ve never heard of one - and, rather surprisingly, the UK gets more rain than Australia.

I`m not an installer by the way, just someone who`s profession is involved in assessing these installations. I`d rather deal in evidence than anecdotes.

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11 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Sorry mate, most of that is not true. You may have cowboys installing them in Australia but we don`t over here by and large. I`d love to see your evidence of `most properties experiencing roof leaks` as I`ve never heard of one - and, rather surprisingly, the UK gets more rain than Australia.

I`m not an installer by the way, just someone who`s profession is involved in assessing these installations. I`d rather deal in evidence than anecdotes.

Australia has more rain than the UK especially in the northern parts which are in tropocal climates.

Tile roofs are not common down under either and they are usually colourbond.

Most that have had them installed in their homes have losed money as their investment has not paid back.

We looked at installing this on a shopping center in Alice Springs. Alice has the best climate, clear skys and more sunshine than any other Australian City.

We had Enginners, QS,s on board and we could still not get the pay back required. We were sitting on a pay back period of 3.2 years.

 

 

 

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50 minutes ago, northsomersetred said:

I work for a company who fit them though i fit ASHP/GSHP and solar thermal.

From what i've seen and spoken to customers the majority are also fitting battery storage.

That`s the way forward. There`s no value in feeding the surplus generated electricity back into the grid, the price per Kw just doesn`t make it worthwhile. Battery storage is still expensive and (relatively) inefficient but the technology is improving all the time and the cost is coming down like it did with PV panels. With electric cars being the future, I can see PV/battery systems being the norm going forward.

What do you reckon is the future for solar thermal mate? I know a couple of HAs that are removing the systems they have that are about 15 years old now (installed when the houses were built) and are costing a lot to maintain.

I see a lot of ASHPs on social housing but am always surprised at how badly they rate on the EPCs I do - whether that`s the fault of the system or the EPC software though, who knows? GSHPs rate really well by comparison though.

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On 18/09/2021 at 13:04, Maesknoll Red said:

Particularly the scheme the council are pushing.

https://solartogether.co.uk/bristol/home

I have registered for it (as it says no obligation), but is fitting solar panels likely to add or detract value to the house?

If they are leased then this may cause an issue if you decide to sell, or are thinking of buying a house with leased solar panels.

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15 hours ago, northsomersetred said:

If they are leased then this may cause an issue if you decide to sell, or are thinking of buying a house with leased solar panels.

Indeed it can. There were cases in the early days of rent-a-roof where mortgage providers refused to mortgage properties that had done it. I`ve not heard of it lately though so I guess something must have been sorted.

It`s still not worth the risk of leasing them IMO.

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Apologies if I am hijacking this thread but I would be grateful if anyone could tell me how much a decent battery storage system would cost for the solar panels.

Assume a home for 2 adults who generally will be in during the day. I understand the concept that this will help us in the daytime use of all domestic appliances. Batteries will help for night-time use. However, I haven't seen any estimates as to the cost. All I can see from MoneySavingExpert etc is that we can save around £95 to £230 per year off our normal electricity bill. I know that Northern Ireland is somewhat North of Bristol but it would give me a good idea of what I can expect. BTW, whilst we are still part of the UK we don't get the scheme you get re extra payments for selling electricity back to National Grid. We can sell but not under the scheme.

Any thoughts on the above would be welcomed.

Many thanks.

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1 hour ago, Norn Iron said:

Apologies if I am hijacking this thread but I would be grateful if anyone could tell me how much a decent battery storage system would cost for the solar panels.

Assume a home for 2 adults who generally will be in during the day. I understand the concept that this will help us in the daytime use of all domestic appliances. Batteries will help for night-time use. However, I haven't seen any estimates as to the cost. All I can see from MoneySavingExpert etc is that we can save around £95 to £230 per year off our normal electricity bill. I know that Northern Ireland is somewhat North of Bristol but it would give me a good idea of what I can expect. BTW, whilst we are still part of the UK we don't get the scheme you get re extra payments for selling electricity back to National Grid. We can sell but not under the scheme.

Any thoughts on the above would be welcomed.

Many thanks

The company I install for also do solar PV. 

On the jobs where i've been doing GSHP/ASHP and the customer has had solar PV fitted it's usually been between £7-9k with battery storage.

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5 minutes ago, northsomersetred said:

The company I install for also do solar PV. 

On the jobs where i've been doing GSHP/ASHP and the customer has had solar PV fitted it's usually been between £7-9k with battery storage.

Would it be fair to assume the most you'll save on your electricity bill would be 20% pa for average couple at home most of the day?

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14 hours ago, TomF said:

I actually had our quote back from these scheme yesterday.  For a 6kw battery it added 2.3k onto the bill.  That was already around 6k for 16 panel setup which would generate approx. 5000kw per year.  It actually stated that it would allow for potentially 65% of your electricity needs to be run from the PV/Battery setup(they term it 'independence from the grid).  A 9kw battery was £3.3k but 80% independence from Grid.  - It's a lot of dollar that you may/may not get back I guess. 

I think like a lot of tech early(ish) adopters do pay more, partly because the cost of development is built into the early sales. As someone who driven Toyota Hybrids since 2005 I have found that the comparative cost has gone down quite a lot over the 16 years.

With some of the advances in technology, competition and encouragement from the market, it will get cheaper. 

I wonder if the batteries created Trevor Jackson has created might be the answer? Trevor used to work with a friend of mine at Babcocks in Bristol and left to work on his Aluminium Air batteries and a revolutionary new electrolyte that doesn't become acidic with use.

His tech has started to be used in Tuk-Tuks and hopefully may be adaptable for home use.

http://www.ececp.eu/en/aluminium-air-batteries-technology-of-the-future/

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On 19/09/2021 at 09:54, Port Said Red said:

I have never understood building firms resistance to these things, it was the same with fibre optic cabling. I would think the USP of having houses ready for the future would far outweigh additional costs, and as you say, a properly committed Government should be making these things legal requirements for any new building projects.

It’s like the way they’ve so often built new homes with wooden windows and doors, and weighing a few years they’ve all been ripped out and replaced with uPVC

Bottom line, I guess, is that it’s cheaper for the developer in the short term and that’s all they care about. 

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We had solar panels put up about a year ago. Happy to share our experience @Maesknoll Red if that would help - send me a message? 

I’d definitely say that a battery is worth thinking about as part of the plan. It’s hard to find any companies who pay for feeding excess back into the grid, and those that do pay peanuts.

And, with the direction of travel for energy prices, you need to keep as much of your own power as you can. 

The dilemma with a battery is this: in some ways it’s worth waiting a year to see just what the pattern of generation from the panels looks like. It’s not easy to work out the optimum size of battery until you know that. On the other hand, it means doing the job in two halves and, I believe, you pay less or no VAT if you get a battery at the same time as solar panels, but not afterwards. 

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9 hours ago, italian dave said:

It’s like the way they’ve so often built new homes with wooden windows and doors, and weighing a few years they’ve all been ripped out and replaced with uPVC

Bottom line, I guess, is that it’s cheaper for the developer in the short term and that’s all they care about. 

Half the trouble with windows and doors was that back in the 90s/early 2000s planners generally turned against uPVC as not being environmentally friendly and refused to allow developments unless they had timber windows. The reasoning behind this was the waste products from the manufacturing process but in truth it was a decision that made the planners look like they were doing something without knowing the science. The problem then was that the builders went for the cheapest, crappiest option which pretty much all had to be replaced within about ten years . 

Nowadays uPVC is back in fashion as it has been proven that they are more `green` than timber - mainly because the waste products are crushed and used for things like the base for new roads,

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