Contencious - is solar worth while

[Octopus]

My brother is seriously considering having solar panels on his house.

The roof is facing south, south west, and is not obstructed.

How would he be able to decide if its worth it or not?? Yes this sounds a daft statement!!

He lives in the Leighton Buzzard area.

 

[Earthstore]

It all depends on his reasons, if he wants to do his bit for the planet, then its a yes.
If he can borrow money at 3.5% and get a 10%+ return,then its a yes.
If he is only getting 2.5% on his savings and wants 10+ tax free, then its a yes.
If he wants to show his brother how good his system is working, then its a yes.
Will that do for starters?

 

[Gavin A]

get a quote from a decent company (or more than 1), look at the performance and payback calcs, decide if it makes financial sense for him in his financial situation.

or if it's ballparks you're wanting, there are calculators around (including on our website) that will give you price and payback estimates for your area, roof orientation etc where you can adjust the assumptions on RPI, energy price inflation etc yourself if you want to sus it out before he takes the plunge and gets a quote. I doubt we'd cover leighton buzzard mind, so you'd have to take the pricing with a pinch of salt, as your local prices may be higher as installers in the countryside tend to have higher costs than us.

 

[Gavin A]

bottom line though, this is a long term investment with excellent returns that are both index linked and tax free, so if he's got the money sitting in the bank as a retirement next egg etc then it's a no brainer.

If he's got some cash, but is going to need it back in a few years time to send kids fo university etc then it might not be such a great idea at this stage.

 

[infinity]

South west is fine anyway, i have a 3.5 KWp system on my roof facing SE at 50deg inclination and i get over 22KWh on sunny days!

 

[Octopus]

OK. He's got the cash spare so borrowing won't be an issue and he hasn't got money sucking kids to fund either!!

 

[sedgy34]

How would he be able to decide if its worth it or not?? would a 12/15% return on his investment pursuade him

 

[Octopus]

How would he be able to decide if its worth it or not?? would a 12/15% return on his investment pursuade him

Probably. Is this what he might expect?

 

[pww]

Just bear in mind that it's very easy to show return figures of any size with very minor changes to the assumptions used. The worth of the investment is not just paper figures but whether you feel confident that a) the product is good and going to last without excessive downtime (when you won't be earning anything) and b) the company is likely to still be around to deal with any issues.

 

[SRE]

It all depends on whether he intends to stay in the house and whether the cash is spare. I used to tell my customers to go for Sanyo/Panasonic of they've done most things they want to do and will stay in their house for the duration. If they may need a bit of cash in the next 3/4/5 years go for a cheaper system. Both good deals and worthwhile but different reasons behind them.

Not sure about the 12 - 15% payback mind you ;-) I'm putting one in at cost on a rental we have and I'm expecting in the region of 15% and that's without scaffolding, roofing, overheads etc just the bare bones and doesn't include taking into account the "lost" cash once the system is installed.

But the fact that I'm installing my 3rd system even though it's my tenants who are getting the free electric should tell you all you need .

 

[babba]

How would he be able to decide if its worth it or not?? would a 12/15% return on his investment pursuade him

You better hope its not a 1.5KW 6 panel job.

 

[babba]

Op the best investment your brother will ever make for more than money reasons, can you tell me the negatives ?

 

[FB.]

Yes, solar is worthwhile.
Returns should be as good - or better - than most other "investment" options, with no more risk - probably less risk - than any other investment (unless you are a master trader on financial markets which takes a lifetime of experience and dedication).

I laid-out an investment case for solar on a financial investment forum which I belong to (I was the first reply, in case it isn't obvious) -
- link here:

TMF: Suggestions on investing a lump sum / Investment Strategies

.

 

[babba]

Yes, solar is worthwhile.
Returns should be as good - or better - than most other "investment" options, with no more risk - probably less risk - than any other investment (unless you are a master trader on financial markets which takes a lifetime of experience and dedication).

I laid-out an investment case for solar on a financial investment forum which I belong to (I was the first reply, in case it isn't obvious) -
.

If you dont make the same mistake.

Help!

​

 

[series530]

Another way to look at it is this:

If your brother has money that is doing nothing and it would be nice to have access to some of it, then think of solar as an annuity. You spend the money up front and buy the installation and then, every three months, the energy company gives you a FIT cash back that you can use like an income. You can spend that money or you can re-invest it. In our case, so far at least, we do the latter. In so doing we put some money back in the pot and get some interest upon it and we have it for an emergency.


Now, I may be over analysing this, it's the engineer in me. There are many sad individuals like me though on forums such as this... plenty of us get a kick of logging what we produce from the panels, mapping shadows, understanding the physics behind the technology and helping others who are considering making the leap. It's almost a hobby for sad gits like me!

Interestingly, and this is part down to PV and part down to a change in energy usage habits, our energy supplier sent us a report recently showing that our like for like electricity consumption is 30% lower in the past six months compared to the same period last year. Thanks to awareness and careful use of the new installation it is amazing how much can be saved. £300 of savings without even considering the FIT payback, is pretty decent I think.

PV is not a get rich quick scheme and it certainly doesn't make sense if you are living on the breadline or if you intend to move within a few years. As a long term investment however, it is pretty safe and quite rewarding at a time when you may well need the money (when energy prices are even higher and you could be retired).

Be careful and don't simply buy the cheapest system though. A carefully planned and properly installed system will not only give a better income but will also enhance house value rather than reduce it. Kerb appeal has a huge sway when you come sell a house irrespective of FIT income.