Hi guys,
Excuse me wading in here, and for my not 100% knowledge of the facts, but I do know a little about this system - having both considered it as an investment for next year, plus one of our clients sells this equipment themselves.
As I understand it :
- a 2kw array on a property should cost in the region of £8k installed - although the costs are on a scale ie the more you purchase the cheaper the equipment becomes, ie a 4kw array was more in the region of £13-14k to supply and fit.
- for each KW of energy produced, the Feed in Tarriff system pays 41.3p back.
- the 3p per KW "export" amount isnt actually calculated on what is put back into the main grid, as its difficult for them to calculate what is actually put back an assumption is made that 50% of all energy produced by the PV array is fed back into the grid.
So in real terms its 41.3 + (3 / 2) = 42.8p per KW paid back.
Note that the feed in tarriff figures per kwh drop if the array installed is larger than 4kw.
The figure quoted here of £933 per year seems about right, I did have a leaflet here from my client with the figures on, although its not come to hand at the moment (as usual). So to my reckoning that works out as approximately an 8 year return on my original investment, and then 17 years of guaranteed regular income after that!
I've actually seen the first statement that someone I know (who lives in the midlands) received after installing a 2kw array in March this year - he received a cheque for £305 for the period April 1st - June 30th 2010.
In terms of maintenance, it should be fairly minimal, as depending on the manufacturer of the panel of choice, the manufacturers warranty on the panels is 25 years. They guarantee that the panels will function at x% efficiency after 15 years and y% efficiency after 25 years. Either X or Y is 85% (I think its Y but again I cant be sure at this late hour!).
From a purely personal opinion, I've been seriously considering it as an idea - I have 3 properties on which these can be installed on and I'm seriously considering doing it in one go - which will bring the costs of the panels down - and as they are 3 seperate properties, none of them will be above the 4kw limit mentioned above, so will all qualify for the higher feed in tarriff.
Also, the current scheme is in place until at least March 2012, at which point it is due for review (so I wouldnt be surprised if it gets stopped then!).
As I said, purely my 2p worth, and I do bow to those with higher knowledge of the product than me - I'm just a humble web designer after all! If it would help, I can always ask my client to come on here and try to clear up any questions on the issue - but I'm reticent to just do so off my own back in case it looks like blatant advertising!
Cheers
Ewan
