Solar on roofs - rough cost/income etc.

[Steevo]

I have a 100' x 100' barn, one 50' pitch facing SSW. Approx 10% roof lights, so would lose a bit of space there.

Can anyone give me a rough indication of the size/cost/rough income of a scheme on such a roof please?

Ballpark figures would be ideal.

 

[Exfarmer]

Without doing any figures, I would have thought you have room for between 30-50 kw dependent on the roof lights and whether it matters if you cover them. The pitch is very good, direction less so
If you can squeeze 50 kw on them you will be looking at cost of £35-40,000 then income of 50,000 units per year at 6p = £3,000
However if you can use this power, it will Be equivalent to 50,000 x your price , say 15p = £7,500
If you use it, a good investment!

 

[f0ster]

if one side of your roof is 100 ft by 50 ft you will get 68kw on it. assuming you are not bothered about sky lights being covered. a 50kw inverter should just about cope with this amount of panels. are you able to do most of the work your self?

 

[NI farmer]

If using the power
How many years would you say is a good investment 8 10?
can it be done on borrowed money

 

[Exfarmer]

If using the power
How many years would you say is a good investment 8 10?
can it be done on borrowed money

If you use all the power and you are paying 15p per unit it will certainly wipe its eye in 8 years dependent on interest rates.
However except in a few situations I would be surprised if the power usage is there, remember the graph of when power is produced.
you can say roughly 75% is produced in the 6 summer months and then 75% is produced in the hours 10am -2 pm
I was talking yesterday to a battery supplier who openly admitted that there is no way they can make the figures add up except in a non grid situation.
There are some schemes going in now where the installers have access to green money in the order of 2% but they are still looking for PPA's near regular prices for power supplied to make it pay since the export will never pay on roof mounted schemes

 

[Spear]

All the above is assuming you have 3ph electric

 

[Demolition Man]

I have a new caravan site which is open April to September. At present we are using 16,000 Kw year (I think). As the usage is mostly spring/summer would a solar/ battery installation be viable if we use all the production in a similar scenario to the OP? We have plenty roof space or could go ground mounted. Electricity usage will increase substantially as we expand further. Using solar would also gi down well with the campers ?

 

[Still Farming]

Big piece in National newspapers today and banks set aside millions for the mis selling of solar panels and prediction on future returns and people hit???

 

[Exfarmer]

There is little doubt that many set ups will never pay for themselves, but the banks did not sell them and the vast bulk of sellers have gone back to selling double glazing etc. You cant sue a wound up company!
If you did the research and knew what you are doing solar has been a very good investment so far.
The large ground mounts paying big rents may be struggling , but most investment in the renewable industry on a large scale was done in the back of very low interest money and the returns have been similarly low.
I have looked at wind turbines and many will never begin to make a profit, the accountants who thought they would should have been shot! This is despite FITs of up to 50pence

 

[upnortheast]

Big piece in National newspapers today and banks set aside millions for the mis selling of solar panels and prediction on future returns and people hit???

Bloke featured on telly yesterday appeared to have 6 panels - so 1.5kw on his roof. He had paid over £9k when i would have thought the price should have been well under £3k.
If you take a salesman`s word as gospel without doing your own research not sure how you can blame a bank

 

[Still Farming]

 

[upnortheast]

Odd how these companies have been charging mega prices for their installations & still go bust.
Sounds like the old wild west snake oil salesmen, making extravagent promises then riding off into the sunset with a bag full of cash

 

[Still Farming]

Odd how these companies have been charging mega prices for their installations & still go bust.
Sounds like the old wild west snake oil salesmen, making extravagent promises then riding off into the sunset with a bag full of cash

Everytime.

 

[Smith31]

There is little doubt that many set ups will never pay for themselves, but the banks did not sell them and the vast bulk of sellers have gone back to selling double glazing etc. You cant sue a wound up company!
If you did the research and knew what you are doing solar has been a very good investment so far.
The large ground mounts paying big rents may be struggling , but most investment in the renewable industry on a large scale was done in the back of very low interest money and the returns have been similarly low.
I have looked at wind turbines and many will never begin to make a profit, the accountants who thought they would should have been shot! This is despite FITs of up to 50pence

Around 7 years ago I was at a farm in Lancashire it was located at the top of a hill.The farmer had 2 turbines put up which cost him £260,000 each, he told me that they would pay back within 5/6 years and that he was locked into FIT's for 20 years? Quite rightly he smiled everytime he looked at them.

Was that ever possible?

 

[upnortheast]

Assuming the wind speed predictions were right & they did not break down too often, them yes.
Get the impression there are more disapointed wind turbine owners than solar panel owners.
Our panels are doing better than the installers prediction

 

[Exfarmer]

e

Around 7 years ago I was at a farm in Lancashire it was located at the top of a hill.The farmer had 2 turbines put up which cost him £260,000 each, he told me that they would pay back within 5/6 years and that he was locked into FIT's for 20 years? Quite rightly he smiled everytime he looked at them.

Was that ever possible?

some turbines are gold mines, its a case of “ location location location”

 

[Still Farming]

e

some turbines are gold mines, its a case of “ location location location”

Made the hill farmers around here with them.

 

[happycows]

Just had a price for 30kw solar and 20kw battery storage. About 7.5 years payback. Virtually all being used on farm as dno don't want any more in the grid.

 

[Still Farming]

Just had a price for 30kw solar and 20kw battery storage. About 7.5 years payback. Virtually all being used on farm as dno don't want any more in the grid.

Untill the beast of the east returns and the dno are scratching their heads because they have de commissioned the old Coal power stations and new nuclear ones are years off?

 

[Exfarmer]

I am very surprised at this, before the ending of FITs it is hard to see how these did not pay, perhaps not as much as some “ enthusiastic” salesmen claimed but my returns are more than satisfactory and it would have to have been an incredibly high interest rate to have made it a negative return.