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Scout
16-Jun-12, 17:59
What are thoughts having solar power like solar power farms to produce large size power to grid
Kodiak
16-Jun-12, 18:01
I think that every new house built should have photovoltaic Panels and conneted to the Grid.
Rheghead
16-Jun-12, 22:36
What are thoughts having solar power like solar power farms to produce large size power to grid

Like Kodiak says, every house should b have some solar where it is practical to have it installed.

Yes, large solar farms should be encouraged but financially prioritised where they would have the best output until costs come down.

The fact is that every form of renewable energy should be promoted until we get to the point where we are self sufficient. Only until then should we refuse planning permission for trivially aesthetic reasons.
bluechesse
16-Jun-12, 22:46
Anybody looked in to this in detail recently? (I imagine those who have fitted them will have....).

I looked at it a couple of years ago, and it appeared that you would have to have them for 10 years plus to get a return on your investment. It also seemed at the time that the life expectancy of the panels was about 10 years........ Now call me a dafty, but that just didn't seem like a very sound investment to me. Also there were no local companies able to maintain them. I see Barnies now fit them, so I imagine they can maintain them too.

Anybody had them fitted for a few years?
smithp
16-Jun-12, 22:55
I looked at the return on the gov site last week which calculates your return on the location of your roof, post code and roof elevation. Financially it doesn't provide a good return on your investment at the moment. Investing 12k would bring me 17k over 25 years, this doesn't allow for any problems etc.
bluechesse
16-Jun-12, 23:00
Yeah, that's kinda the conclusion I drew a few years ago. Possible to make a few quid, but if you have any sort of outlay for maintenance and repairs your pretty much goosed. Must be improving though, there seem to be roofs covered in them popping up all over the place.
It'll be very interesting to hear folks opinions on them in about 8-10 years time.