I've been considering it myself. By gov. edict you get £0.53/unit
even if you use it yourself plus there is more money for what you
export plus what you save. It works out to about 8% return on
capital. Which is good compared with getting bugger all interest for
any money the bank stores for you.
However PV panel efficiency is going up all the time, is it better to
wait?
People are trying to beat the 20% VAT deadline too.

I think it's much too soon. The present cost and efficiencies don't make
it viable. You can't rely on governments to maintain subsidies. The
technologies and the sums are changing all the time however. That's why
I suggested a couple of decades for maturity. We need both more
efficient and cheaper (probably non-silicon) cells and better batteries.
A lot of work is going into batteries for cars, which at the moment are
hopeless. This will spin-off into PV installations. As we insulate our
houses *much* better and a lot of our electrical equipment becomes less
energy demanding we can make new judgements about the viability of PV.
There probably never will be one source that will satisfy all of our
needs. A mix is inevitable, but I still think PV will be a major one.
Yes, there is a problem for northern countries in the winter. Who knows,
perhaps they will top up with PV energy from the Sahara carried by
superconducting cables? There is a pilot there at present with a
conventional cable to be built across Tunisia to Europe. The last of the
hundred historical objects is a solar lamp and phone charger that is
revolutionising life in off-grid communities in Africa and India.



Peter Scott