A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM

In message , MM
writes
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM
There's just been a long discussion on this group on this subject.

If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is - and in
this case it definitely is.

I bet your neighbour also thinks he's won the Spanish Lottery.

Most companies offering this service at least have the decency to offer
to lease your roof from you for about £79 p.a.
--
hugh

On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:47:02 +0100, MM wrote:

A neighbour pointed me to the web site at http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels

Which sort of "solar panels", photo-voltaic or thermal?

The neighbour appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I
await to see what happens.

Can't be arsed to read the scam they are pulling but I expect that
the free installation and maintenace for 25 years is dependant on
them getting all the FIT payments. All the householder gets is a
slightly reduced electricity bill. If they are at work all day it
will only be a slight reduction as well.

There is also the unknown effect that having a PV installation on
house, with the FIT payments not going to the householder, will have
on the value of the property. I wouldn't be interested in buying such
a place at all. PV and the householder getting the FITs is another
mater and may slighly enhance the value.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Jul 15, 3:47*pm, MM wrote:
A neighbour pointed me to the web site athttp://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM

This the rent a roof business.
It's probablty a legit offer. They put a PV array on your roof. You
get free electricity. They collect the FIT payment. Your electricity
supplier will probably be one of these people.
However unless you are at home to take advantage of the best
generation period, (four hours around midday) not actually much help.
Also going to make your house hard to sell when you have to explain
the position to the purchaser.

So,not an offer I'd go for.

"hugh" ] wrote in message
...
In message , MM
writes
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM
There's just been a long discussion on this group on this subject.

If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is - and in this
case it definitely is.

I bet your neighbour also thinks he's won the Spanish Lottery.

Most companies offering this service at least have the decency to offer to
lease your roof from you for about £79 p.a.

do they?

Care to point us to one

tim

"MM" wrote in message
...
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

It's a legitimate offer. The owner of the roof gets to use the "free"
electricity that the panels generate and the company owing the installation
get the FIT payments.

Whether it is worth the aggro or nor for under 100 pounds of leccy per year
is another matter.

tim

On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:38:43 -0700 (PDT), harry
wrote:

On Jul 15, 3:47*pm, MM wrote:
A neighbour pointed me to the web site athttp://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM

This the rent a roof business.
It's probablty a legit offer. They put a PV array on your roof. You
get free electricity. They collect the FIT payment. Your electricity
supplier will probably be one of these people.
However unless you are at home to take advantage of the best
generation period, (four hours around midday) not actually much help.
Also going to make your house hard to sell when you have to explain
the position to the purchaser.

So,not an offer I'd go for.

Yes, I was very dubious myself, but now I am in an awkward position
where I have to let him down gently, because I think he thinks it's
totally above board, i.e. he'll get free lecky AND get paid for
supplying surplus to the grid.

MM

On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:30:29 +0100, MM wrote:

Yes, I was very dubious myself, but now I am in an awkward position
where I have to let him down gently, because I think he thinks it's
totally above board,

It is above board in being leagl.

i.e. he'll get free lecky AND get paid for supplying surplus to the
grid.

One would have to read the terms of the contract, you may need a
strong magnifiying glass. As I see it there are a few options:

1) Householder pays for the install and gets the FIT payments, the
little extra for actually feeding the grid and reduces their grid
electricty bill.

2) Householder gets a "free" install. Installer gets the FIT payments
but the householder gets the little extra and reduces their grid
electricity bill.

3) Householder gets a "free" install. Installer gets to keep the FIT
payments and the little extra. Householder only gets a reduction in
their grid electricity bill.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Jul 15, 9:21*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:30:29 +0100, MM wrote:
Yes, I was very dubious myself, but now I am in an awkward position
where I have to let him down gently, because I think he thinks it's
totally above board,

It is above board in being leagl.

i.e. he'll get free lecky AND get paid for supplying surplus to the
grid.

One would have to read the terms of the contract, you may need a
strong magnifiying glass. As I see it there are a few options:

1) Householder pays for the install and gets the FIT payments, the
little extra for actually feeding the grid and reduces their grid
electricty bill.

2) Householder gets a "free" install. Installer gets the FIT payments
but the householder gets the little extra and reduces their grid
electricity bill.

3) Householder gets a "free" install. Installer gets to keep the FIT
payments and the little extra. Householder only gets a reduction in
their grid electricity bill.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Don't these 'rent a roof' schemes often involve lengthly (25 year?)
contracts, which could make it very awkward selling the house in the
meantime.

On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:00:37 -0700 (PDT), airsmoothed wrote:

I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

ATM the FIT payment you start on is what you keep for the duration
but linked to one of the price indexes (RPI or CPI I forget which).
The FITs that apply to new installations in the future are going to
be lower.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:22:10 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

On 15/07/2011 23:00, airsmoothed wrote:

I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

They are supposedly guaranteed and index linked. So you ought to
continue to get what you signed up for[1]. However they are likely to be
reduced for new customers as the scale of the cost to other bill payers
becomes ever less palatable.

[1] Being cynical, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that the
contracted payer of the FiT is a subsidiary company of the main energy
company... just in case it "needs" to go bust!

What's the life expectancy of these PV panels? If they should need
replacing would you maintain the same FiT as you got with the
originals?

In fact, how does the installation and maintenance/replacement of
these PV wotsits fit in with carbon-type considerationss?

--
Frank Erskine

On Jul 15, 7:47*pm, "tim...." wrote:
"hugh" ] wrote in message

...





In message , MM
writes
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM
There's just been a long discussion on this group on this subject.

If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is - and in this
case it definitely is.

I bet your neighbour also *thinks he's won the Spanish Lottery.

Most companies offering this service at least have the decency to offer to
lease your roof from you for about £79 p.a.

do they?

Care to point us to one

tim- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Theres a lot want some money off of you to aid the installation cost
too.

On Jul 15, 9:34*pm, airsmoothed wrote:
On Jul 15, 9:21*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:





On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:30:29 +0100, MM wrote:
Yes, I was very dubious myself, but now I am in an awkward position
where I have to let him down gently, because I think he thinks it's
totally above board,

It is above board in being leagl.

i.e. he'll get free lecky AND get paid for supplying surplus to the
grid.

One would have to read the terms of the contract, you may need a
strong magnifiying glass. As I see it there are a few options:

1) Householder pays for the install and gets the FIT payments, the
little extra for actually feeding the grid and reduces their grid
electricty bill.

2) Householder gets a "free" install. Installer gets the FIT payments
but the householder gets the little extra and reduces their grid
electricity bill.

3) Householder gets a "free" install. Installer gets to keep the FIT
payments and the little extra. Householder only gets a reduction in
their grid electricity bill.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Don't these 'rent a roof' schemes often involve lengthly (25 year?)
contracts, which could make it very awkward selling the house in the
meantime.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Correct. After that they usually give you the array. It's by then
generating less electricity and possibly needing significant
maintenance.

In message , Frank Erskine
writes
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:22:10 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

On 15/07/2011 23:00, airsmoothed wrote:

I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

They are supposedly guaranteed and index linked. So you ought to
continue to get what you signed up for[1]. However they are likely to be
reduced for new customers as the scale of the cost to other bill payers
becomes ever less palatable.

[1] Being cynical, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that the
contracted payer of the FiT is a subsidiary company of the main energy
company... just in case it "needs" to go bust!

What's the life expectancy of these PV panels? If they should need
replacing would you maintain the same FiT as you got with the
originals?

In fact, how does the installation and maintenance/replacement of
these PV wotsits fit in with carbon-type considerationss?

Not so much the panels you have to worry about, but the inverter which
has an estimated life time of about 10 years and costs about £1k.
All this was dealt with in a previous thread less than a month ago.
--
hugh

In message , tim....
writes

"hugh" ] wrote in message
...
In message , MM
writes
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM
There's just been a long discussion on this group on this subject.

If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is - and in this
case it definitely is.

I bet your neighbour also thinks he's won the Spanish Lottery.

Most companies offering this service at least have the decency to offer to
lease your roof from you for about £79 p.a.

do they?

Care to point us to one

tim



See previous thread.
--
hugh

On Jul 15, 11:22*pm, John Rumm wrote:
On 15/07/2011 23:00, airsmoothed wrote:

I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

They are supposedly guaranteed and index linked. So you ought to
continue to get what you signed up for[1]. However they are likely to be
reduced for new customers as the scale of the cost to other bill payers
becomes ever less palatable.

[1] Being cynical, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that the
contracted payer of the FiT is a subsidiary company of the main energy
company... just in case it "needs" to go bust!


Now that is a point but it would alway be loss making from day one so
what would change?
I think the law is that the "big five" have to buy X amount of green
electricity.

On Jul 15, 11:27*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:00:37 -0700 (PDT), airsmoothed wrote:
I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

ATM the FIT payment you start on is what you keep for the duration
but linked to one of the price indexes (RPI or CPI I forget which).
The FITs that apply to new installations in the future are going to
be lower.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Correct.

On Jul 16, 12:41*am, Frank Erskine
wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:22:10 +0100, John Rumm

wrote:
On 15/07/2011 23:00, airsmoothed wrote:

I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

They are supposedly guaranteed and index linked. So you ought to
continue to get what you signed up for[1]. However they are likely to be
reduced for new customers as the scale of the cost to other bill payers
becomes ever less palatable.

[1] Being cynical, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that the
contracted payer of the FiT is a subsidiary company of the main energy
company... just in case it "needs" to go bust!

What's the life expectancy of these PV panels? If they should need
replacing would you maintain the same FiT as you got with the
originals?

In fact, how does the installation and maintenance/replacement of
these *PV wotsits fit in with carbon-type considerationss?

--
Frank Erskine

There is no maintenance. They are guaranteed to reduce in
electricity output by less than 1%/year.

On Jul 16, 12:41*am, Frank Erskine
wrote:

SNIP

company... just in case it "needs" to go bust!

What's the life expectancy of these PV panels? If they should need
replacing would you maintain the same FiT as you got with the
originals?

In fact, how does the installation and maintenance/replacement of
these *PV wotsits fit in with carbon-type considerationss?

--
Frank Erskine

As long as the replacement panel is of the same output the FIT
payments would remain exactly the same as there would be no
involvement, or notification required at all (unless you chose to use
one of the FIT company services to do the replacement). Since most
folks will use their original solar installer if under warranty, or a
similar independant no one is likely to be any the wiser.
As far as I personally am concerned the carbon considerations are a
load of bollox but the economics considerations are a clincher.

On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:41:57 +0100, Frank Erskine wrote:

What's the life expectancy of these PV panels?

No one really knows. Define "life expanctancy", is it when they stop
producing any electricity, when the out put has droppped by 50%, 25%
5% (for the same illumination level). I'd say anything from 10 to 20
years, though it's strange that a lot of the marketing uses 25
years...

If they should need replacing would you maintain the same FiT as you got
with the originals?

Now that is a good question. I can see that being used as a hook to
get the FIT paid to agiven installation chnaged to be the same as a
new installation at that time. That isn't written down anywhere yet
but then very little about maintenance and/or changes to the
installed system is mentioned.

In fact, how does the installation and maintenance/replacement of
these PV wotsits fit in with carbon-type considerationss?

I very much doubt that they are carbon positive.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:45:57 -0700 (PDT), harry wrote:

There is no maintenance.

I reckon that they will need cleaning occasionally and possibly
weeding depening on how many nocks and crannies there are in the
installation. Moss doesn't need much of a foothold, neither do some
plants.

They are guaranteed to reduce in electricity output by less than
1%/year.

Is that 1% of rated output per year or 1% of the current output per
year. The former means a 3kWp installation will be down to 2.73kWp at
10 years and 2.28kWp at 25. The former is a taper so is slighly
better 2.74 and 2.36kWp. ie nearly 25% down after 25 years.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"MM" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:38:43 -0700 (PDT), harry
wrote:

On Jul 15, 3:47 pm, MM wrote:
A neighbour pointed me to the web site athttp://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM

This the rent a roof business.
It's probablty a legit offer. They put a PV array on your roof. You
get free electricity. They collect the FIT payment. Your electricity
supplier will probably be one of these people.
However unless you are at home to take advantage of the best
generation period, (four hours around midday) not actually much help.
Also going to make your house hard to sell when you have to explain
the position to the purchaser.

So,not an offer I'd go for.

Yes, I was very dubious myself, but now I am in an awkward position
where I have to let him down gently, because I think he thinks it's
totally above board, i.e. he'll get free lecky AND get paid for
supplying surplus to the grid.

HE probably will.. but at 3p per unit its not going to be a lot.

There is always the option to buy out the panels and get the fits himself
latter.
Prices vary so it may or may not be worth doing.

MM

"airsmoothed" wrote in message
...


I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

That would require an act of parliament and the government would be
condemned as being anti green. Something that isn't likely to happen even if
some people around here think it should.

harry wrote:
On Jul 16, 12:41 am, Frank Erskine
wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:22:10 +0100, John Rumm

wrote:
On 15/07/2011 23:00, airsmoothed wrote:
I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.
They are supposedly guaranteed and index linked. So you ought to
continue to get what you signed up for[1]. However they are likely to be
reduced for new customers as the scale of the cost to other bill payers
becomes ever less palatable.
[1] Being cynical, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that the
contracted payer of the FiT is a subsidiary company of the main energy
company... just in case it "needs" to go bust!
What's the life expectancy of these PV panels? If they should need
replacing would you maintain the same FiT as you got with the
originals?

In fact, how does the installation and maintenance/replacement of
these PV wotsits fit in with carbon-type considerationss?

--
Frank Erskine

There is no maintenance. They are guaranteed to reduce in
electricity output by less than 1%/year.


Bwahahaha!


My wife was shrieking with laughter at a post elsewhere in the
blogosphere from a man who lives in Cyprus. He was commenting on these
PV arrays they propose building in the Sahara. 'I live in Cyprus. I
washed my car two days ago. We had a strong dry wind, and now my car is
not drivable because its covered in dust from - the sahara!' I will need
to clean it again before I can see out of the windows!.

And if it rains its more lie a crumbly cement dust...and if it hails..I
have seen paint stripped off car roofs in Africa in a hailstorm.

Harry, you are a dear innocent card.

You believe whats in glossy brochures more than you believe what's in
the real world.

dennis@home wrote:


"airsmoothed" wrote in message
...


I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

That would require an act of parliament and the government would be
condemned as being anti green. Something that isn't likely to happen
even if some people around here think it should.


I would not bet on it, especially when its demonstrable fact that such
installations cost the taxpayer one way or another a lot of money and do
almost nothing to change the actual national carbon footprint.

In short PV paness are at best, only a pale duck egg blue, not green.
I.e they are lot better at making profits than reducing carbon.

Viewed from elsewhere, they are a dirty brown. The red of socialism and
national cost, with a smattering of green thrown in.

You cant fool all of the people all of the time.

Even if you have managed to successfully fool yourself.

On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:20:49 +0100 John Rumm wrote :
They are unlikely to offset any carbon in real terms anyway since you
need the standby generation sat there ready to go anyway - and that
assumes they need no maintenance.

... and the salesman spent his commission on a 4x4!

--
Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on',
Melbourne, Australia www.greentram.com

"hugh" ] wrote in message
...
In message , tim....
writes

"hugh" ] wrote in message
...
In message , MM
writes
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

MM
There's just been a long discussion on this group on this subject.

If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is - and in
this
case it definitely is.

I bet your neighbour also thinks he's won the Spanish Lottery.

Most companies offering this service at least have the decency to offer
to
lease your roof from you for about £79 p.a.

do they?

Care to point us to one

tim



See previous thread.

"expanding foam alone for fixing UPVC windows in place?"

Don't see the relevance

tim

On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 10:52:18 +0100, "dennis@home"
wrote:



"airsmoothed" wrote in message
...


I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

That would require an act of parliament and the government would be
condemned as being anti green. Something that isn't likely to happen even if
some people around here think it should.

Almost certainly not. Most of this sort of legislation is done with
S.I.s.

A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

i wonder what the terms of the contract are if they get damaged or
stolen....

will the house insurers put up the premiums for people with solar panels on
the roof, that's if you tell them in the first place,

but say you fall out with a neighbor, who then gets his kids to
'accidentally' lob cricket balls onto the solar array, or even just chuck
rocks on them.

what happens when the scrap metal marked comes back down to a sensible
level, and it's no longer worth the pikeys trouble going on roofs to nick
lead, (or the copper from the cables from the solar panels and they turn
to nicking the solar panels?

Gazz wrote:

A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

i wonder what the terms of the contract are if they get damaged or
stolen....

will the house insurers put up the premiums for people with solar panels
on the roof, that's if you tell them in the first place,

but say you fall out with a neighbor, who then gets his kids to
'accidentally' lob cricket balls onto the solar array, or even just
chuck rocks on them.

what happens when the scrap metal marked comes back down to a sensible
level, and it's no longer worth the pikeys trouble going on roofs to
nick lead, (or the copper from the cables from the solar panels and
they turn to nicking the solar panels?

Not much because by that time everyone will realise their true
worthlessness.

On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:49:59 +0100, tim....
wrote:


"MM" wrote in message
...
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

It's a legitimate offer. The owner of the roof gets to use the "free"
electricity that the panels generate and the company owing the
installation
get the FIT payments.

Whether it is worth the aggro or nor for under 100 pounds of leccy per
year
is another matter.

tim



Depends on if you are aroung during the daylight hours it's producing, as
if you aren't the installers will be getting all the benefit and not you,
you will be paying regular price for the leccy when you get home from work
and have to suffer the following other downsides.

1/ Problems selling your house
2/ Noise from the panels when it rains (which is VERY loud I am told, like
living in a conservatory when it's raining).

--
Using Opera's revolutionary email client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:10:29 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Not much because by that time everyone will realise their true
worthlessness.

Are they? This is a serious question; I'm not being sarcastic. Do you
consider solar panels not worth the money? If so, I'll think of other
alternatives, one being a wood-burning stove. (By the way, I'm no
interested in saving the environment, only in saving money. Anything I
do that saves me money AND saves the environment, well, that's just a
bonus.)

MM

On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:34:50 +0100, MarkG wrote:

2/ Noise from the panels when it rains (which is VERY loud I am told, like
living in a conservatory when it's raining).

Oh! Oh! No that's something new I learn!

MM

Gazz wrote:

will the house insurers put up the premiums for people with solar panels on
the roof, that's if you tell them in the first place,

No change to the premium from my insurer.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
harry wrote:
On Jul 16, 12:41 am, Frank Erskine
wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:22:10 +0100, John Rumm

wrote:
On 15/07/2011 23:00, airsmoothed wrote:
I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.
They are supposedly guaranteed and index linked. So you ought to
continue to get what you signed up for[1]. However they are likely to
be
reduced for new customers as the scale of the cost to other bill payers
becomes ever less palatable.
[1] Being cynical, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that
the
contracted payer of the FiT is a subsidiary company of the main energy
company... just in case it "needs" to go bust!
What's the life expectancy of these PV panels? If they should need
replacing would you maintain the same FiT as you got with the
originals?

In fact, how does the installation and maintenance/replacement of
these PV wotsits fit in with carbon-type considerationss?

--
Frank Erskine

There is no maintenance. They are guaranteed to reduce in
electricity output by less than 1%/year.


Bwahahaha!


My wife was shrieking with laughter at a post elsewhere in the blogosphere
from a man who lives in Cyprus. He was commenting on these PV arrays they
propose building in the Sahara. 'I live in Cyprus. I washed my car two
days ago. We had a strong dry wind, and now my car is not drivable because
its covered in dust from - the sahara!' I will need to clean it again
before I can see out of the windows!.

There is a big difference between stopping the light so the panels don't
work and being able to see through the dust on a window.
A big hint is the fact that the interior of the car is still light even when
the windows are dirty.


I have a more interesting question..
is it possible to add diy panels and get paid for the energy generated once
you have an array fitted.
I am sure they will fit a bigger inverter if you ask them so an extra string
of diy fitted panels should be quite cheap in a couple of years.

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
dennis@home wrote:


"airsmoothed" wrote in message
...


I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.

That would require an act of parliament and the government would be
condemned as being anti green. Something that isn't likely to happen even
if some people around here think it should.


I would not bet on it, especially when its demonstrable fact that such
installations cost the taxpayer one way or another a lot of money and do
almost nothing to change the actual national carbon footprint.

In short PV paness are at best, only a pale duck egg blue, not green. I.e
they are lot better at making profits than reducing carbon.

Viewed from elsewhere, they are a dirty brown. The red of socialism and
national cost, with a smattering of green thrown in.

You cant fool all of the people all of the time.

Even if you have managed to successfully fool yourself.

What makes you think its about saving carbon?
Its more likely to be about decoupling our energy supplies from imports.
We can't keep importing energy, at some point we have to be self sufficient
and solar panels are a way of doing a bit of it without spending government
funds.
Its not all bad.. you generate electricity when you aren't at home, it gets
exported and you use it at work.

dennis@home wrote:


"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
harry wrote:
On Jul 16, 12:41 am, Frank Erskine
wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:22:10 +0100, John Rumm

wrote:
On 15/07/2011 23:00, airsmoothed wrote:
I wonder what happens with these schemes if the artificially inflated
FIT is reduced in a year or two.
They are supposedly guaranteed and index linked. So you ought to
continue to get what you signed up for[1]. However they are likely
to be
reduced for new customers as the scale of the cost to other bill
payers
becomes ever less palatable.
[1] Being cynical, but I would not be at all surprised to learn
that the
contracted payer of the FiT is a subsidiary company of the main energy
company... just in case it "needs" to go bust!
What's the life expectancy of these PV panels? If they should need
replacing would you maintain the same FiT as you got with the
originals?

In fact, how does the installation and maintenance/replacement of
these PV wotsits fit in with carbon-type considerationss?

--
Frank Erskine

There is no maintenance. They are guaranteed to reduce in
electricity output by less than 1%/year.


Bwahahaha!


My wife was shrieking with laughter at a post elsewhere in the
blogosphere from a man who lives in Cyprus. He was commenting on these
PV arrays they propose building in the Sahara. 'I live in Cyprus. I
washed my car two days ago. We had a strong dry wind, and now my car
is not drivable because its covered in dust from - the sahara!' I will
need to clean it again before I can see out of the windows!.

There is a big difference between stopping the light so the panels don't
work and being able to see through the dust on a window.
A big hint is the fact that the interior of the car is still light even
when the windows are dirty.


I have a more interesting question..
is it possible to add diy panels and get paid for the energy generated
once you have an array fitted.
I am sure they will fit a bigger inverter if you ask them so an extra
string of diy fitted panels should be quite cheap in a couple of years.
No Dennis.

When the system is registered you have to submit details of the
installation, inverter fitted, no of panels, power output etc

To get what you suggest to work, the installer is risking his MCS
approval and you would be committing fraud in registering a system with
a greater capacity.

Just be a good boy and play by the rules eh?

Bob

MM wrote:
On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:34:50 +0100, wrote:

2/ Noise from the panels when it rains (which is VERY loud I am told, like
living in a conservatory when it's raining).

Oh! Oh! No that's something new I learn!

MM
I can't hear any difference with mine fitted.

Bob

On Jul 16, 2:08*pm, "Gazz" wrote:
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

i wonder what the terms of the contract are if they get damaged or
stolen....

will the house insurers put up the premiums for people with solar panels on
the roof, that's if you tell them in the first place,

but say you fall out with a neighbor, who then gets his kids to
'accidentally' lob cricket balls onto the solar array, or even just chuck
rocks on them.

what happens when the scrap metal marked comes back down to a sensible
level, and it's no longer worth the pikeys trouble going on roofs to nick
lead, (or the copper from the cables from the solar panels and they turn
to nicking the solar panels?

There was no additional charge on my house insurance. They just noted
they were there. So they are covered for theft/damage etc. They are
guaranteed for five years against defect.
I think I will have paid off most of the cost by then with the way
inflation is likely to go.

On Jul 16, 3:34*pm, MarkG wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:49:59 +0100, tim.... *
wrote:







"MM" wrote in message
.. .
A neighbour pointed me to the web site at
http://www.homesun.com/
which supplies and fits solar panels and claims some installations can
be done for free, the costs borne by the government green energy
scheme.

Now this all sounds too good to be true, so I'm wondering whether
anyone has any experience of this or similar companies? The neighbour
appears to have signed up for his free installation, so I await to see
what happens.

It's a legitimate offer. *The owner of the roof gets to use the "free"
electricity that the panels generate and the company owing the *
installation
get the FIT payments.

Whether it is worth the aggro or nor for under 100 pounds of leccy per *
year
is another matter.

tim

Depends on if you are aroung during the daylight hours it's producing, as *
if you aren't the installers will be getting all the benefit and not you, *
you will be paying regular price for the leccy when you get home from work *
and have to suffer the following other downsides.

1/ Problems selling your house
2/ Noise from the panels when it rains (which is VERY loud I am told, like *
living in a conservatory when it's raining).

--
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The noise of rain is reduced. Why should it be more?