Solar Panels - Worth it or not ? +'s V's -'s

Hi,

    the attached link takes you to a guide on solar panels produced by the MoneySavingExpert website in the UK. Though it is UK focused and is no help with Spanish installers/power company savings there are principles explained that apply to all solar panel installations, to help assess whether or not they are worth it for you.

Aitch.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels/

I have house "off grid" when we purchased solar system was 15yrs old and on last legs ( first week of lock down )  after numerous efforts at research on all local boards , face book groups within 50 miles etc a clear winner on recommendations was Brett at Ecosolarspain . He visited and then gave me a detailed quote for whole new system in 2020 it was 16k , 12 x 400 watt panels , controller charger,  and 5kw inverter plus 15.4kw lithium ion battery ( heavy duty commercial variant that I had selected ) roof mount at correct elevation . I have all electric 2 fridges 1 chest freezer kettle coffee machine electric oven microwave and swimming pool pump , often if sunny day battery is full by 11am - I run pool pump from sun up to sundown in summer . Also have 5 a/cs both heat and cool , we live totally normally and only when using oven for start up do we check , as the same as regular mains supply it will trip if we try to draw over 6kw at same time.  Brett has also installed many on grid systems of course cheaper as my battery accounts for half the cost.  My panels are on the roof facing south at a 35 degree elevation which is the correct elevation at my location , if I was doing again , as I have the space , I would have gone with a ground mounted system - my panels are never cleaned but periodic rain does the job :-)  If you are in Villena you would be welcome to come up to Caudete and see my system as we are probably 15min away ( Ferri - to us 15min on motorway ) . My payback of investment looks like it will now be about 6 years based on smaller house consumption before we moved here.  I love solar !

We live in the Campo and live totally  on the  solar system for 11 years

You have you think differently to how you would when using electricity) only on a build up of cloudy days ours are free standing.

If you have a big enough system you have very little to worry about.

It's a big out lay to start with but worth  it, batteries, panels etc etc 

Hubby could tell you more as he put in our system  , if you wanted a chat it's better face to face or on the phone , lots of questions 

Hope that helps Dawn

I lived in Sardinia, which has more or less the same climate as Alicante. I had photovoltaic solar panels and quite sincerely, I believe them to be a huge saving on normal grid electricity. Storage batteries and an emergency generator are necessary but well worth the initial expenditure. You will definitely save on your bills.

Of course it's worth it, I've had mine for two and a half years which was shortly after the Spanish government stopped putting a tax on  them ,I have 9 panels which cost me 6,700 euros and I have a 4 bed detached villa with pool and I basically just pay the standing charge every month as I'm still on the grid  so I don't need back up generators or storage batteries, the electricity company pay me around a third for the excess electricity I'm producing  and now I don't  even think about what I'm using anymore ie Aircon all day, pool etc etc..I used EDP and 5 of my neighbours have also used them after me, they guarantee them for 25 years and do annual maintenance I also got a years reduction on my Suma and I believe now the government are giving grants of up to 2k and with  electrify prices continuing to rise it's a no brainer and it's helping the environment too 

Hi. I have just read your post with a lot of interest. I'm thinking of having solar panels but no batteries for storage as half the cost of the total system is the batteries. So you just use the power as it's generated and then when the sun goe's down you switch over to the grid.

Is that right. Solar power to controller to inverter to sockets?

Thanks Barry

Hi Barry and yes you go on the grid when the sun goes down, they put you an app on your phone so you can see exactly when it switches over and how much your using and at what cost but tbh it still doesn't affect my bill because I'm selling back my excess electricity, EDP applied for the licence from the ayuntamiento which cost me 80 euros, I'm all electric now so I'm only paying the one bill, the waiting lists for installation are becoming longer now so I would advise to get someone out to give you a quote and if your happy with it set the ball rolling asap some of my neighbours have paid for theirs in instalments, I chose not to have a battery simply because of the expense and also they are only guaranteed a maximum of ten years so I didn't think it was worth it anyway I hope this was of some use to you and have a lovely day 

Just wanted to say "thanks" to all those who responded.

Appreciated.

Just.a short note. I installed solar on my house in the south of the UK in be Feb 2010.

Since then I have produced over 4 Gwh of electric. I will not quote the actual figures of the financial saving as these may or may not translate to the Spanish scene. The factoid to focus on is that consistently over the last 12 years I have produced about 40% of my electric through the PV panel's. This year, because technology has moved on I have changed the inverter to an edge system. I am already seeing an improvement on the efficiency. This Dec I will have a Tesla wall pack fitted to further maximize the solar usage.  If you are into green details, I am not really, I have saved the equivalent of 5000 trees since 2012.

So is it the right way to go?  For me it is a no brainer.

Recovey r of costs was completed inside 8 years. When Electricity was really cheap.

This is just my actual experience

Best of luck going forward