UkSolarCaseStudy

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This Site features live data from 8 Domestic Solar PV power plants situated around the UK and aims to allow prospective buyers of PV systems to make an informed descision of whether or not to invest. It may also enable prospective Solar Electric buyers to get an indication of what they can expect to generate based on location, installer, manufacturer, roof pitch, direction faced, etc.
 
Check out news links at the bottom of this page..
 
Data last updated :- 06th Sept 2012. Next update due  09th Oct 2012 
 
Overview
 
With the government now providing excellent rates for electricity generated though domestic solar installations. We took a leap and invested a considerable outlay in the purchase and installation of a 4 KW PV system for our home. 
 
This website is intended to answer the question:- 

Is Solar Generation a good / viable investment for a home owner living in the UK? 

Background

We bought a 4 KW solar installation from Ploughcroft Solar (www.Ploughcroft.co.uk) in the summer of 2010. It was installed on the roof of our house in the UK, Killamarsh, North East Derbyshire. 

We have a large almost completely south facing flat roof on our house and so we were told this was almost perfect for this type of installation. 

 

The system consists of 20 x Kiyoto 200w panels attached to a SunnyBoy 3800. The system on full load will generate 3.81 kwatts. 

Subsidies and grants

Feed in Tariffs

Are 41.3 pence per kwatt for a solar installation of >2 kw and <4kw. This is paid on the generation of the electricity i.e. you get this payment even if you use the electricity yourself.

Export Tariffs

This is an additional payment of 3 pence for what you export on to the grid. Currently your energy provider will assume you use one half of all the electricity you generate so it makes sense to use as much of your own electricity as possible

Grants

We could not find any grants available for this so we had to pay for the entire installation ourselves.

Additional financial benefits

An additional benefit of the system is that you do not have to buy a lot of your electricity (because you are making it yourself) and therefore make savings.

Installation

Scaffolding goes up .5 days 
Panels go up on roof and wiring from panels to inverter and inverter to fuse box. 1 day 
Inverter installed. 2 hours 
Inverter connected. 2 hours 
Scaffolding comes down. .5 days 
Total 2.5 days 

Progress

I will update these charts so people can see how effective the system is at both creating electricity and generating income. 
 
Kw hours created and daily income since installation. 

 
 
Total income since installations in export and Generation Tarrif (FITS) in UK £ 
 
 
This graph shows my progress in terms of paying off our original investment.
 
 
 

Contact

If you have any questions please mail me on "uksolarcasestudy@hotmail.co.uk" 
Subpages (1): Solar PV News