Solar advice.

[Lawless]

Good morning all.

Looking for a bit of advice.

Can some one tell me approximately what return £/year I should expect to get of an 82.25kwp roof mounted installation with all electric generated exported.
I have a quote that states the estimated annual energy production (kWh/year) will be 77,073. And my year 1 return would be just over £11000 - this figure is based on everything being exported. It this correct?

Also will the FiT be safe. I understand the government are looking into all this. Once you are locked in so to speak can the government take them away?

What would you expect to pay for a fully installed 82.25kwp system.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Richard.

 

[jamj]

I think solar is just over £1000/ kW. So expect 82kw to be about £90k.

 

[mikelaluz]

Hi Lawless

Working on your figures on an 18 degree pitch facing south that equates to 937 in the irradiance figures. Based on the DECC irradiance tables that would be somewhere in the south west but if your installer has used PVsol or other PV software you could be as far north as Shropshire. My advice although DECC is very conservative is to use that as your worst case scenario

Based on 100% export which would be unusual the figures would be FIT £7051.00 and Export £3551.00.

Your cost on a roof mount of that size assuming decent access and average cable run would be £800 per kW installed (65,500) this of course does not take account of any DNO costs

In terms of the FIT I'm pretty pessimistic about the next quarters reduction on October 1st and there is a review running currently (see here). But as you are over 50 kW you fall into ROO - FIT and with a Connection Agreement in place you can lock in the current 9.64p tariff.

Once you have the Tariff however you are safe for 20 years and it is a 100% irrevocable binding contract and both the Feed in Tariff and Export payments are index linked for the period.

It's still a great investment and anyone considering should not take too long.

If you need any further advice or assistance please feel free to get in touch.

Kind Regards

Mike Smith

 

[pbg somerset]

DNO costs , e.g. for putting in the required transformer can be huge .

 

[Lawless]

Thank you all for your help.
At what size does the FiT drop again?
Where do I stand with capital allowances on solar?

 

[Lawless]

Can they be allowed under the annual investment allowance?

 

[Exfarmer]

An industrial solar install , is fully allowable against investment allowances.
However care must be taken if your house is being supplied as well.

You do mention that all generation is to be exported, do be careful that this system will not be judged to be stand alone, since this will reduce FIT income dramatically.
Also be aware that LECs are coming to an end, this will reduce export income by up to 1.2 pence per unit , if you have factored this in.

 

[Lawless]

What are LECs?
Bit more project info:

We have light industrial buildings on site and one particular tenant uses a lot of electric.
We are looking into fitting a solar system on to the buildings they rent from us and then selling the electric back to them at a discounted rate say half of what they pay now.
We want to base our figures on the worst case scenario - being the buildings become empty or they become empty and new tenants are low energy users.
We have had brief discussions with one solar company and I don't have a huge amount of knowledge on this matter.
If the system is fitted ASAP will we qualify for these LECs for the duration of the agreement or are they being removed of all installations regardless of when they were installed?

 

[Lawless]

@Exfarmer

 

[Exfarmer]

LECs are certificates issued by DECC ( the department of climate change ) to certify electricity produced is not subject to the climate change levy. This means people buying the certificates need not pay this levy on the equivalent electricity used.
This is going to be abandoned and the levy must be paid on all power used regardless of source except that generated by renewables directly on site.
The LECS are going in August for one and all.
Your scheme looks very good and will give a very good payback. However one of the buildings fed by the panels will require an EPC may be difficult for an older building. Modern buildings should have no problems.
You can of course charge your tenant what you like within. Reason

 

[Stephen E]

Not sure why you would only charge your tenant half price. You will have a better return if they pay you what they pay their current supplier. It's you with the outlay for the panels after all.

 

[Lawless]

Not sure why you would only charge your tenant half price. You will have a better return if they pay you what they pay their current supplier. It's you with the outlay for the panels after all.

This all started as they were offered a deal where by a company would put the solar system on our roofs for free and then sell discounted electric back to them. I was not happy with having a third party having access to our roofs while making a few buck out of me.
I get on very well with with this tenant and I don't want to screw them! So I am looking into offering them the same deal.