"Nightjar" wrote in message
...
On 18/01/2014 17:05, harryagain wrote:
"Nightjar" wrote in message
...
On 18/01/2014 07:50, harryagain wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
It is Arfa who has missed his chance.
However it still pays (though less) due to the fall in installation
cost
so
he should look into getting his own system...

Just to check your claims and because I will need to re-roof my house
soon. I have run a few figures. My house faces SW, so the roof is not
ideal. However, my garage runs east to west and that would allow me a
south facing array 8m x 4m at an angle of 42 degrees, the ideal year
round
angle at my latitude. I rather doubt I would get planning permission to
put a two angle array on the garage, as the winter angle would add more
than 3 metres to the height of the building.

According to this site:

http://www.solarguide.co.uk/solar-pv...tor#bestresult

That would give me a 4kWp system, which would cost, on average, £6,561
and
give me a return of £861.83 per annum. According to the site, that would
recover my money in 6 years 9 months.

However, that ignores the cost of not investing the money elsewhere.
Assuming a return of 9.03% on capital, which I achieve from rental on
property I own, it would take 14 years for the solar installation to
return more than an investment of the same amount at 9.03% and, after 19
years, I would make a total profit of £969.79 from the solar panels.
However, unlike the solar PV system, the capital invested in the
properties is not only still available to me, but has actually increased
in value by 32% in the past 20 years, equivalent to £2,099 on an
investment of £6,561. As I have said before, my money is better invested
elsewhere.

Would I have been better to get in early, as you claim? According to
other
posts by you, you have a 4kWP system, which cost you £14,000 to install.
Running the same calculations on that investment and the higher rates of
FIT, I would not do better than a 9.03% investment by the end of 20
years,
so buying now would actually be slightly better.

In case you think my rate of return is unrealistically high, a cousin of
mine has just bought a couple of buildings rented to a garage and a tyre
fitting business for £140,000 and his rental income from those is
£17,000
pa, or 12.14% return on capital.

Colin Bignell

36 deg is the ideal inclination for UK. do you live in Iceland?

As I have pointed out to you before, the ideal angle depends both upon
your latitude and what you are optimising for. 42 degrees gives a better
winter yield than 36 degrees.

If you are going to deduct for loss of income on capaital on solar panels
you have to do it on property to give a proper comparison.

As I have said before, you don't seem to understand discounted cash flow.
The principle is that you have a given sum of money; You then compare the
returns on using that sum of money in different ways and see what the
current net value of each option is.

If all the above was true, why are so many commercial premises standing
MT?

It depends upon what you class as a commercial premises. The sort I own,
small industrial units, are in high demand and rarely stand empty for any
length of time.

What about repairs?

Those are the tenants' responsibility. They lease the property in a
specific condition and have to return it in exactly the same condition.

FIT is tax free.

I feed the rental income into a pension scheme, so that is also tax free.
Not that it matters much. Even if I had to deduct tax from the rental
income, the figures are still in favour of keeping the capital.

There is the reduction on electricity bills to take into account.
(Increasing amount)

If you look at the web site I linked to, you will see that is included.

Also the projected FIT return is kept conservative by the rules they have
to
abide by. I have exceeded it even in bad years.

Financial projections can only be based upon demonstrable returns, not pie
in the sky claims.

And it adds value to the house.

I would have thought the opposite, but, again, if you want to claim that,
it needs to be quantified to be included as a factor.

You can't get a benefit of £2000/yr any
more.
It means in effect you have a more than fuel bill free house.

A 4kWp array would not cover my electricity use.

A 4KWp array covers my electricity needs including the (electric) car.
I export a lot in Summer and import in Winter
And the FIT payment would cover my electricty bill by a factor of four.

You must have a very wasteful and inefficient house.
(Oh you said it was uninsulated and heated by electricity.)
You must be mental.



It is a permitted developement in most cases, no Planning Permission
required.

Mounting an array on an existing roof may be a permitted development.
Mounting them on an outbuilding and increasing the height by a few metres
almost certainly is not.

How are you going to increaset he roof height by metres?


And not everyone has £140,000 to invest.

That bought quite a large unit in North Wales. You could probably have
bought a fairly small industrial unit for what you spent on converting
your house.

Colin Bignell