Solar power

no sun on this house so it wouldnt work here but i did hear something on the radio only two days ago that the government/national grid were considering giving less money for the power you might want to sell to them.

Just putting a comment, Kay, because I'm interested to see the response you get below ..

thanks.. :o)

My boyfriend works for a home improvements company and up until recently he was selling solar panels until they stopped it within his region, i will show him your question and see what advice he can give you.

I believe if you have the solar panels installed and the system registered before april 2012 you will always have for ever the higher rate from the government. After April it will go down considerably.

We considered this but the figures long term,just dont add up also the subsidies seem to be dropping and could drop even more.

There has been a similar subsidy from the government here, but through your tax code, to encourage people to install solar panels, but the take-up hasn't been very high. The cost, even with that subsidy is so high that it would take about 35 years to recoup it, apparently, and we were advised to wait until technology had improved to the point where teething troubles are properly ironed out.

Gattina - this does seem to be the general feedback - also you have to change what you are doing eg use all appliances during the day only and avoid having them on at the same time so the solar power can cope with the demand.

I got them - 20 panels fitted 7.12.11 :-)0

Kay - the Italian grid is so underpowered that we already have that system! Can't use oven or dishwasher or hairdryer, tumbledryer, or fan heater, or washing machine or vacuum cleaner more than one at a time. You do get use to it, honest, but you have to use a timer and do stuff overnight.
We asked for quotes to have a good, comprehensive system installed, and it would have cost us in excess of €23,000. (about £20,000) We get a LOT of sunshine here, even in winter, but it would take an awful long time to recoup THAT! I doubt we'll live that long.

Dawn - it'll be interesting to see if your electricity bill does drop by a considerable amount, would love some future feedback if you don't mind.

Hi Kfunsters. We've done so much research into them I can hopefully answer queries you have, you are more than welcome. Probably the most important factor is that you really need a south facing roof. The other important thing is that the good old government havent kept to their April 2012 date for the feed in tariff at something like 36p per kwh, for the energy you generate and sell back to the national grid - they reduced it by 50% on 12th December.

When you're producing electric from the panels your appliances will use that first and if you go over, your electric will come from your supplier as normal, so yes, best to use washer, dishwasher etc. One at a time.