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Thread: free panels in the UK

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    Default free panels in the UK

    Hi
    Have just returned from the UK. Lots of houses with a southern roof covered with PV panels ( 16 +). Asked the friends I was staying with and was told that the electricity companies are installing them for nothing the only catch is that they receive nothing for any excess fed back into the grid.
    The way of the future for Australia?
    Regards Geoff

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    I remember being in london in the mid nineties and saw them giving phones away with 12mth plans and couldn't believe it. We were still paying $1000 for phones at the time. So it could happen here.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dixons View Post
    Hi
    Have just returned from the UK. Lots of houses with a southern roof covered with PV panels ( 16 +). Asked the friends I was staying with and was told that the electricity companies are installing them for nothing the only catch is that they receive nothing for any excess fed back into the grid.
    The way of the future for Australia?
    Regards Geoff
    So I'm guessing that they would be 3kW systems. Would there be anything left to export to the grid in "sunny" England?

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    With a gross population near 3 times ours, a Land mass approximately 1/5th, high density city areas and the need to import large volumes of fuel to be used in power generation no doubt makes this a very viable option seeing there is still a very strong public resistance to using Nuclear energy.
    No industry or business ever does anything without doing a lot of 'Bean Counting' and I think its a safe guess that the 'Beans Counted' were in favour of the free panel installation.
    London is still a major city and over 100 years ago boasted a population of 1 Million people in ONE square mile and I doubt that figure has dropped any since.
    I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!

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    This was in a rural town near Sheffield ( Northern England ). Sunrise was 5am, sunset 10pm. With lots of clear days they would generate lots of energy. Unfortunately while we where there it rained a lot!!.Summer solstice June 21 so still time to produce lots of energy from the sun. People forget that its not heat that produces the power.
    As was said if it didn't make economic sense they wouldn't be doing it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dixons View Post
    This was in a rural town near Sheffield ( Northern England ). Sunrise was 5am, sunset 10pm.
    I doubt that would be the norm for the majority of the year.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dixons View Post
    As was said if it didn't make economic sense they wouldn't be doing it.
    Don't know about that. The Pink Batt fiasco didn't make any sense but it was done

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    It makes economical sense if the company is charging the customer for all the energy the solar system is generating.

    It also makes sense if they can install the panels at a wholesale price of less than 1$ per watt, unlike here where all the middle men rip us off.

    England also has the advantage that they hardly need aircon and heat with coal or oil their well insulated houses, so the peak demands are not so challenging as here.
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    Quote Originally Posted by watchdog View Post
    Don't know about that. The Pink Batt fiasco didn't make any sense but it was done
    Insulation batts make a lot of sense. The fiasco was the way it was performed.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 02-06-13 at 04:33 PM.
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    It would make economic sense to be installing massive solar arrays in the sunniest parts of Australia. They seem to have no problem with this in California, they even got the help from an Aussie scientist so pissed off with the government that he left to do just that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dixons View Post
    It would make economic sense to be installing massive solar arrays in the sunniest parts of Australia. They seem to have no problem with this in California, they even got the help from an Aussie scientist so pissed off with the government that he left to do just that.
    That's why companies like GE are doing just that. . The know the government is too tied up in taxing carbon rather than investing in sustainable energy. I dare say it won't be long before other big business follows. By comparison, here's the governments contribution. .

    Unless you have an interest in sustainable energy, most wouldn't even know about the GE(Verve) project which is much larger than the Perth Zoo system. Yet its very hard to miss the solar panels outside of the zoo and all the signage about it praising the government for being so ecoconcious. Every little bit counts for sure however the system is only enough to offset a third of the zoo's total power requirements let alone distribute any surplus. The GE solution is enough to power 3000 homes.

    This government is too interested in tax increases and spending cuts to even consider something like this that will be of more environmental benefit than applying a tax to carbon.

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    Australian companies giving away stuff, you got to be kidding. They are the meanest arsed in the developed world. We are the most ripped off poor sods around. Just look at the music industry, electronics,power,motor industry & don't start me on all tiers of Government.

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    Quote Originally Posted by watchdog View Post
    So I'm guessing that they would be 3kW systems. Would there be anything left to export to the grid in "sunny" England?
    Our system preforms very well now and I'm happy with it but I have always wondered about un-sunny England and how poor their systems would have to work due to the lack of sun.
    Well we have done our bit 1/ solar PV 2/ Solar Hot Water 3/ Solar Drying room 4/ Induction cook top that the Wife if very happy with.
    Last edited by Mr 672A; 04-06-13 at 06:41 PM.

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    Hi
    I am currently touring the UK and I think free panels must be a thing of the past. You see adverts on buses, in shopping centres and flyers handed out in the street saying we will give a free quote on supplying your new solar system. Cannot see many sales if the supply authority is giving away systems to users. Finally the place of all knowledge, the local pub, I was talking to some customers about solar and they knew another friend in the village who had installed solar and was working at a credit at this time and expected to recoup his outlay in time.

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