Renting your Roof to Solar Investers

Yeh saw this today. Only problem is you do not get the Feed Tariff
money from the government. So it basically
giving the company you roof to put there panels onto. They then get
the money from the government and you benefit from saving on
electricity which is not be a lot.

I refer to pay for the panels and then for example for a £10k system
you will get a return of £700 from the government and you will get to
use all the electricity in your house and if you do not then it feeds
it back to supply and you get 3p/kwh extra on top of the 41.3p/kwh
(i.e. £700/year). So you spend £10k and you get at least £1000 a year
from the money you save on the electricity and the £700.

The £700 is guaranteed and index linked (i.e. increase with inflation)
for 25 years. So you will end up with about £25,000 which is all tax
free and will probably be more if inflation increase (which it will).
Also note that the cost of electricity form the supplier will also
increase over time and so you will be saving even more as you will be
using the electricity your solar panels generates.

I am taking money out of my ISA's and putting about £15k into a 3kw
solar panel system which I am going to install on my roof. This will
result in about £1050/year from the government and also save me about
£500/ year
on my electricity bill which is currently about £1000/year.

So for my investment of £15k
I get £1050 + £500 + £45(3p extra for feeding back to the grid) = £1595
Break even in about 9.4 year will be quicker due to inflation and also
price of electricity from supplier will go up so I will save more.

Over 25 years = £39,875 total payback tax free.

So my return is 10.6% a year on my investment compared to my 2.75% on my isa.

The icing on the cake is that adding solar panels on you house added
about 5% value to your house.
So even if you sell it you can add this value onto it.

UK solar installation figures revealed

• Posted in News, Installations by Emma Hughes
• Published on 03 August 2010
• Updated on 03 August 2010

Residential installations are dominating at present, with 4,429 systems benefitting from the feed-in tariff

Electricity and gas regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, has officially released figures for the amount of solar photovoltaic installations in the UK since the feed-in tariff was introduced. The figures show that PV has significantly overtaken any other renewable energy source in the past four months, hitting a total of 11.266MW since April 1^st.

The data made public runs from the first day of the feed-in tariff (FiT) introduction, April 1, to July 31, 2010. The total figure for solar PV installations for this period was 4,457, 4,429 of which were domestic, six commercial, and one community. This outlines the dominance of the domestic sector for this period.

The growth of the UK photovoltaic market is also clearly outlined by Ofgem’s figures. From April 1 total PV installations were 409 (0.979MW), for the same period in May they reached 942 (2.290MW), in June 1,406 (3.524MW) and by July the figures had climbed to 1,753 (4.592MW).

The lion’s share of the installations and thus megawatt figures from the period April 1 – July 31 were of course residential, yet this is something that is liable to change in the next few months. Research analysts, iSuppli said just last week that the UK is the fastest growing market for solar, projecting 96MW of installations by the end of 2010. This figure may seem far-fetched in comparison to current growth patterns, which point towards Sharp’s more conservative, yet reflective predication of 43MW by the end of April 2011. However, if we expect that more large-scale, utility installations will be added into the mix over the coming months, as well as assuming that the supply issues concerning the UK PV market will improve, then iSuppli may not be far off the mark.

Represented in the pie chart (below) are the regional figures for installations. This data shows how these installations are divided up over the country. You can see by representing the figures in this way, that (unsurprisingly) the installation amounts are higher in the south than the north. This is due to the solar irradiation levels being higher, but also due to the amount of available installation space. You can also see the effect of solar promotions, such as that offered by ‘A Shade Greener,’ as the share of the pie in the Yorks and Humber region is much higher than would be ordinarily expected.

UK Solar PV market could grow five fold in 2010, and 30 times over to 2015

UK Solar PV market could grow five fold in 2010, and 30 times over to 2015

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On the brink of a bright future? Insights into the UK solar photovoltaic market

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04 Jun 2010 06:30

• Five fold increase in solar photovoltaic (PV) installations expected in 2010
• Britain currently lagging a decade behind other leading European countries on solar installation

The UK’s solar PV market could grow five fold in 2010 as a result of feed in tariffs according to new analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers into the prospects for the UK solar PV market.

PV cells capture and convert sunlight, even on a cloudy day, into electricity, which can be used to run household appliances and lighting. By 2015, the report estimates that the country’s solar PV energy capacity could have grown over 30 times to reach 1,000 MW. However, even with this growth, the UK’s capacity in 2020 would only reach the levels already achieved by Germany today.

The analysis finds that the widespread roll out of solar PV has been slowed by a number of factors such as the lack of incentives for small scale domestic installations, complexity of funding, and planning restrictions. The majority of existing UK installations are small domestic panel, similar to France and Germany.

However, feed in tariffs in continental Europe have driven rapid increases in solar PV installations, with annual increases in excess of 300% in many countries during the first year of the tariffs availability. The coalition government recently announced plans to implement a full programme of feed-in tariff systems for electricity in the UK.

Daniel Guttmann, renewables director, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said:

"The significant expansion that may be just around the corner will change today’s 'cottage industry' into a much more professionally organised sector. The PV market will become more sophisticated with more complex products and a greater focus on accountability for system performance.

"The industry will need to adapt and develop quickly to ensure that as much of the opportunity in terms of job and value creation is captured within the UK. Companies that have been successful so far have benefited from investment in order to fund expansion. Further investment will be required in order to train for and fund the rapid expansion expected. New entrants are likely to expand into the UK in coming years. We believe that this will be true across much of the value chain, but particularly downstream around installations."

The PwC study, ‘On the brink of a bright future? Insights on the UK solar photovoltaic market’ also found:

• Solar PV represents only 0.3% of renewable energy in the UK installed today
• Current solar capacity in the UK is 32MW – this makes the UK 11th out of 27 European countries and means the UK is a decade behind the largest European countries
• The majority of UK installations are small domestic panels - (no larger than 3Kw)
• In France and Germany, like the UK, domestic installations dominate PV capacity, while in Spain and Italy, large-scale solar farms are more common
• UK industry observers interviewed for the analysis anticipate a potential five fold rise in solar PV installation in the UK in 2010 as a result of FiT
• Respondents to the market survey expressed concern that there are too few certified installers to meet potential demand
• The industry will professionalise, consolidate and new entrants (including overseas companies) will drive the sector forward

In order for the UK to fully benefit from solar potential, investment in infrastructure, skills and training will be required

Gus Schellekens, sustainability & climate change director, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP commented:

"The focus on PV is timely with recently published roadmap documents outlining the future global potential for PV technologies. While its use in the UK is small today, PV has a promising future if supported by strong government policy that sustains early deployments and supports the technology’s transition to cost competitiveness."

Notes to Editors:

1. Over a period of 3 months, PwC interviewed 25 companies across the UK solar value chain, conducted research into the UK and European solar markets and formed a view on the future potential of the sector for the UK
2. DECC forecasts that by 2020 98% of total installations will be domestic.
3. The payback achievable on solar PV installation sin the UK compares favourably with levels know to have stimulated markets in other countries. In the UK:
a. A typical homeowner can expect to achieve an average IRR of 7-9%. Higher levels are achievable when combined with grants or for particularly efficient systems or locations
b. Commercial building owners or investors in small installations will achieve lower rates of return in the region of 5-7% with correspondingly longer payback periods.