Solar instal in Blackpool - lots of questions

[john999uk]

Been reading lots on Solar and a lot of sites are out of date or offer conflicting info.

My understanding is that to get a reasonable FIT tariff (about 17p/KW) the property needs to obtain an energy efficiency rating of 'D' or above?

We have a Victorian Semi, with 2 year old Double Glazing, 200mm Loft insulation, Gas central heating (10 year old boiler), water heating by immersion (will be heated from boilers soon), compact florescent lamps in most fittings, can't have cavity wall insulation as we have a basement.
We have a grp flat roof about 7m x 4.5m on an single story extension that faces south.

First question: Does anyone think we have a chance of getting a 'D'?
Is it much more expensive to have PV panels fitted on a flat roof as alternative South facing roof is 3 stories up?
Anyone recommend anyone close to Blackpool to do the work?

If we have no chance of a 'D' then I don't want to waste companies time in coming to visit and assess our property.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[WRDEnergy]

Hello,

So your fit rate will be 15.44 pence not 17 pence.

Yes you will probably get a D or higher (the solar panels themselves add to the EPC and your allowed to get it done after the panels are installed)

Yes flat roof is more than pitched it might cost more money, can solar panels access the flat roof as is ? if not then you would have to scaffold the roof and that would cost more money then a 1 story house for obvious reasons.

If you need a quote then we will be happy to help. We have a team in Blackpool.

 

[john999uk]

Thanks for reply. Flat roof is easy to access on 2 sides, it's about 8 ft up. It is only accessible by ladder.
Thanks for offer of quote. Not really at the stage where I want to get a company to go through all the bother of site visit yet. When we have deceided if Solar PV is for us I will let you know.
Thanks very much for the info.

 

[SRE]

I'm not convinced you would get a D rating without a boiler upgrade, I think it could be borderline. Some of our houses have been similar and missed the rating. To be honest it's worth £50 for an EPC (you may actually get it cheaper in Blackpool) to make sure you can hit it and if the person doing your EPC is half decent they should give you loads of energy efficiency advice. You're then in a better decision to prioritise just don't let them tie you into a Green Deal Assessment.

 

[jason121]

I agree with SRE have EPC before you decide to go ahead with install. Cavity wall good cause problems.

 

[Earthstore]

I also agree with SRE, but it may just be worth getting someone around from the PV industry just to see if it is viable to install a system on your property.

PV is not suitable for every house, and a decent company would tell you so, it might save you the price of an EPC, that's all I was thinking.

 

[john999uk]

Thanks very much for all your replies.

Now for the really difficult question.

Anyone recommend a 'decent' company who would come round and have a look? My Location: Blackpool

Thanks again

 

[Vegelen]

Microgeneration Certification Scheme - Installer Search

 

[Darkwood]

Your in blackpool .... everytime ive been there its p....... it down ....never seen they sun out

 

[Vegelen]

.

 

[danesol]

I personally in your position would get an EPC done regardless, get a few quotes in for PV and do the nos ( ROI etc ), but at the now feeble FiT rate you would get, I would say you would be best to use your monies more wisely especially if you arent going to be at home during the day when the majority of abundant FREE electric is available to use effectively and to your advantage.

If say you could achieve 2,500 kwh p/a - that would only give you a return of ~ £ 400.00 plus whatever electric saving you could achieve which wont be much. Had you installed in 2012, that income figure from tariff alone would of been more than £ 1,200, so highlighting the simple fact now that only the most suitable houses for PV - would give any kind of reasonable return and worth the effort.

I would go as far as suggesting your monies would be best served replacing that boiler with the most efficient one avail, replace all current lighting with LED, look at other options for cavity fill and concentrate on solar water heating panels instead for your hot water supply

Just a thought..................

 

[Ian-LS]

I personally in your position would get an EPC done regardless, get a few quotes in for PV and do the nos ( ROI etc ), but at the now feeble FiT rate you would get, I would say you would be best to use your monies more wisely especially if you arent going to be at home during the day when the majority of abundant FREE electric is available to use effectively and to your advantage.

If say you could achieve 2,500 kwh p/a - that would only give you a return of ~ £ 400.00 plus whatever electric saving you could achieve which wont be much. Had you installed in 2012, that income figure from tariff alone would of been more than £ 1,200, so highlighting the simple fact now that only the most suitable houses for PV - would give any kind of reasonable return and worth the effort.

I would go as far as suggesting your monies would be best served replacing that boiler with the most efficient one avail, replace all current lighting with LED, look at other options for cavity fill and concentrate on solar water heating panels instead for your hot water supply

Just a thought..................

If you don't know what price PV has currently dropped to then please don't post on public forums saying Solar PV is only worth it for the most suitable houses, companies are trying to make a living on this forum and making general statements won't help . The finances still stack up for low electric consumption houses due to the lower costs of Solar PV now but I agree its not for everyone but still one of the best investments currently out there. The FIT rate has been reduced but its not feeble at all.

 

[SRE]

Ian you forgot to mention too that Immersun would result in 100% home usage of electricity generated and combined with pv is a far better buy than solar thermal Best isa rates 2.25% pv has the potential for 5 0 7% after tax and so comparable to ISA rates. No you can't get your money back but then show me an ISA that gives you free electric for 40 years.

 

[Gavin A]

Ian you forgot to mention too that Immersun would result in 100% home usage of electricity generated.

no it won't.

the hot water tank has limited capacity to absorb excess summer energy, so only very small solar system will get 100% energy consumption via an immersun, most will have the tank charged by mid day to early afternoon in summer, then will export after that.

Not that I'm disputing the benefits of Immersun, just trying to inject a note of accuracy into the statements.

 

[Gavin A]

ps I'm just finishing a quote for a 75kWp commercial install showing just over 20% IIR on the system without even taking account of capital tax allowances... We couldn't offer anything like those returns on an IRR basis even in Spring of 2012 or Autumn 2011 at the old FIT rates. This is even taking account of recent panel price rises.

Rumours of solar's demise have been greatly exaggerated IMO.

 

[SRE]

If you have a look at op it looks like he can only get 2kwp on his flat roof & he could always increase the size of his cylinder. I'd suggest it's entirely possible on a 2kwp system

 

[john999uk]

Thanks very much for all the posts.
I kept my OP simple as it is a little more complicated in reality.
The building is actually 5 holiday apartments and our residential apartment. So we work from home.
The immersun looks interesting although we always need hot water in the tank as it feeds all the sinks (electric showers). I can't seem to find out if it can control an alternative source of water heating like gas boiler? Maybe thinking of using relay to control hot water tank thermostat to make boiler kick in?
I don't think we can have cavity wall insulation as we have a basement and the cavity goes all the way down.
We do have compact fluorescent lamps in most fittings and TRV's on all rads.
We do also have a normal pitched roof in addition the the flat one but it is 3 stories up and not that big as building is L shape and it's the small bit of the L that faces South. So could be worth getting a split system?

Looks like it will be best to get an expert to come and have a look. Difficulty is going to be finding an expert who is not only interested in his commission

Thanks for all your help it's great info to help me learn.

 

[danesol]

If you don't know what price PV has currently dropped to then please don't post on public forums saying Solar PV is only worth it for the most suitable houses, companies are trying to make a living on this forum and making general statements won't help . The finances still stack up for low electric consumption houses due to the lower costs of Solar PV now but I agree its not for everyone but still one of the best investments currently out there. The FIT rate has been reduced but its not feeble at all.

So having an opinion based on fact, personal experience and intelligence is not allowed is it not ???

You want to lie or keep quiet do you ??

Well I'm not and if the OP could get say a 3Kw system on his roof for say £ 5K - it wouldnt be worth it IMO compared with other more favourable schemes for his particular property. This isnt to say that PV wouldnt be a good investment for others, but based on what he's said so far on this thread - my reply is just !

 

[Gavin A]

If you have a look at op it looks like he can only get 2kwp on his flat roof & he could always increase the size of his cylinder. I'd suggest it's entirely possible on a 2kwp system

ah, fair play then

 

[danesol]

Looks like it will be best to get an expert to come and have a look. Difficulty is going to be finding an expert who is not only interested in his commission

Thanks for all your help it's great info to help me learn.

Very good idea and its a real shame, the industry bodies cant supply someone like this independant of installers etc to advise accordingly !