WEBVTT NOTE Transcript 2024-05-24 from MP3 by https://elvery.net/prototypes/transcribe/ on my MacBook Air M1 on maximum quality setting. NOTE Body significantly edited. 00:00.000 --> 00:08.560 Okay, good morning everybody, thank you for coming along. I want to try and inspire you to go solar, 00:08.560 --> 00:17.120 but equally give you a few lessons and what to watch out for, especially on sales tactics and 00:17.120 --> 00:27.680 what lessons I've learned. So basically we've got two technologies, one is based around thermal 00:27.680 --> 00:35.360 for water, or photovoltaic generating electricity. Slightly different technologies, we're definitely 00:35.360 --> 00:44.640 going down the photovoltaic route. So benefits of it, meeting your electrical needs for quite a bit 00:44.640 --> 00:51.920 of the year and a little bit for other parts. Storage of power and a battery, so if you go 00:51.920 --> 00:59.360 for electric vehicle ... for example, or just generally meeting your overnight demands for 00:59.360 --> 01:10.320 electricity most of the year. Then otherwise excess energy gets fed into the grid and you can even, 01:10.320 --> 01:17.280 depending on the power you're generating etc, use it for immersion heaters and so on. 01:20.640 --> 01:28.800 First thing to consider is the quality of your roof - it needs to be in fairly good 01:28.800 --> 01:40.080 nick, not going to struggle under the weight of panels. And you may have 8, you may have 12, 01:40.080 --> 01:46.800 you may have 16 panels. But hopefully, whoever you choose to come and do the installation will very quickly identify if there are any things to be concerned about.  Optimum pitch (the angle of of the roof) 36 degrees - but don't let that put you off at all.  Direction of the roof facing optimum is south again but 02:08.160 --> 02:15.680 it will produce almost any direction it's facing. Going back to the pitch, if you have to use a flat 02:15.680 --> 02:24.640 roof for all, you can do. One thing is that a lot of installations are done with panels in 02:24.640 --> 02:33.120 series and so you may have (say) seven panels on a string. If a shadow gets onto one of those 02:33.120 --> 02:43.280 panels it's the weakest link in principle that applies. There are ways round that don't worry. So this is to 02:43.280 --> 02:53.840 give you a quick idea of what your panel productivity may be reduced by based on the 02:53.840 --> 03:03.200 direction and tilt etc. My roof is actually west facing so I get about four fifths of what I might get if it were due south. 03:03.200 --> 03:10.640 Somethings you can do something about it, others you can't. But don't let that deter 03:10.640 --> 03:21.680 is the reason I've put that on. As I mentioned, shadows are something to be wary of, but if predominantly 03:21.680 --> 03:33.200 you have none during the 10 'til 4, you've really nothing to greatly worry about. Technology can actually 03:33.200 --> 03:41.760 get around as a problem. You can have what are called panel level optimisers. So basically that's 03:43.040 --> 03:52.400 super duper technology which up at the panel level optimises and then sends the direct current down to your 03:52.400 --> 04:01.440 inverter device. An inverter device is a fairly chunky piece of metal that you will have typically in a 04:01.440 --> 04:09.440 garage, that you might have elsewhere; what I don't recommend is the roof. Microinverters: 04:09.440 --> 04:15.840 a little bit more sophisticated because they don't actually have, you don't need to have the 04:15.840 --> 04:23.760 inverter in the garage or elsewhere. The inversion to AC is actually done at the panel level and 04:23.760 --> 04:31.120 there's further technology; smart panels but that's going well beyond what any of us would need. 04:31.120 --> 04:38.560 Good news on the weight side, just in case you do have any qualms on that. There is 04:38.960 --> 04:47.440 a lightweight panel coming now through the Dutch firm that invented them, that is also made of 04:47.440 --> 04:55.280 recycled material. They are introducing something for commercial installations already, 04:55.280 --> 05:04.320 and a residential premise installation is planned for next year. But only if you need to worry about 05:04.880 --> 05:12.320 the weight of your panels would that be of any interest. So you'll find the last two 05:12.320 --> 05:20.080 slides here that there are a raft of Web sites. They are brilliant for going and doing your own 05:20.080 --> 05:26.720 homework.  Read through it at your own pace rather than trying to absorb it all from people like me, 05:26.720 --> 05:33.760 or especially salesmen trying to push things. First things first, check if you're 05:33.760 --> 05:39.920 likely to need any planning permission, but generally speaking that's unlikely to get in the 05:39.920 --> 05:48.560 way. If there are any people who happen to be on Universal Credit or Pension Credit, there are 05:48.560 --> 05:59.600 significant grants available under what's called ECO4. Otherwise though [you'll] be struggling to get any 05:59.600 --> 06:08.480 grant support for it. Another very important thing is the installation. Make sure that you're 06:08.480 --> 06:17.920 using a Microgeneration Certification Scheme accredited installer. I mean deep difficulty 06:17.920 --> 06:26.000 trying to get any of the benefits you can get if you haven't got an accredited installer. Another lesson: 06:26.720 --> 06:33.440 do due diligence - word of mouth - do a bit of research [of] the installers you choose. 06:33.440 --> 06:43.520 And while some Web sites say three quotes I would recommend five. If you have a good idea 06:43.520 --> 06:49.360 and you perhaps don't necessarily go for the cheapest one, the next one you have to judge 06:49.920 --> 07:00.160 the quality of the individuals that come along. A pleasant surprise for me. I had mine 07:00.160 --> 07:10.000 installed in 2010, and I thought four percent decrease per annum productivity of the 07:10.000 --> 07:18.880 panels. It is nothing like as severe as that. You may find that between a quarter of a percent and one 07:18.880 --> 07:29.200 percent with a certain type would be the decreasing productivity, to quash that. And duration... lovely 07:29.200 --> 07:39.440 story. It's the AMSAT-OSCAR 7. That lost communication in 1981, about seven years after; 07:39.440 --> 07:47.520 corrosion, went open the circuit in 2002, suddenly communicating again. And here you are, 07:47.520 --> 07:55.200 2023 it is still functioning. IE the best part of 50 years getting panels still working. 07:55.200 --> 08:02.640 What is it? Is it some space thing? Yes, low orbit satellite. But there are plenty of stories 08:02.640 --> 08:08.240 of people who have got PV which has been working 40 years after it has gone up, so it's not 08:08.240 --> 08:15.440 out on a limb. No, that sort of message is - it is probably not likely we are going to 08:16.320 --> 08:27.040 get into issues, and productivity is pretty good. So typically say the inverter would 08:27.040 --> 08:34.960 be housed in the garage as I mentioned, or a utility room, and not the loft. But the reliability of the inverter - I was very much warned [that] after 6 or 7 years I would need to get a replacement, but that's not the general experience now. And many come with a decade plus or even a 25 year 08:49.600 --> 08:59.360 guarantee with some of them I believe. ... . Something you are generally 08:59.360 --> 09:07.360 not warned about are pigeons, and they can be a real nuisance. Certainly, once they find they can 09:08.400 --> 09:17.120 get under and nest there you will be bothered by them. And a couple of images on the top as to what they can 09:17.120 --> 09:31.120 do to your panels over time. Common remedies for this. Make sure you install some very robust sturdy 09:31.120 --> 09:39.680 wire. I've just had to have mine replaced and the firm that did it has given me a 15 year guarantee and I trust them. 09:39.680 --> 09:50.400 Make sure it's sturdy stuff. Spikes: most Web sites say to put spikes, and spikes work.  They don't! 09:50.400 --> 09:58.720 At least two people in the profession I have spoken with, say it's common knowledge and 09:58.720 --> 10:04.000 there's a lot of people in the trade. You will find hundreds of sites that say they do. 10:04.000 --> 10:11.520 Under that "the customer is often confused as to why the spikes they've paid someone else to put 10:11.520 --> 10:16.880 on the roof didn't keep the pigeons away. The answer is actually pretty simple. Those bird 10:16.880 --> 10:23.360 spike strips don't move and they can't cover the entire roof. Therefore it just didn't work." 10:24.000 --> 10:33.600 So like I said, get some sturdy wire. The other thing, early sales tactics, 10:33.600 --> 10:42.240 nice lovely rectangles if it's all level and you benefit all year: you don't. One day in summer 10:42.240 --> 10:46.400 you'll produce as much panelling as you would in about two months. 10:48.000 --> 10:56.080 So I said to people eight / nine months of the year you will find that you'll generally get 10:56.080 --> 11:02.560 self-sufficiency of the amount of energy you produce from your panels but not 12 months of the year. 11:02.560 --> 11:16.880 And to give you an example right, the top one is based on about 12 years of metrics. The bottom 11:16.880 --> 11:31.600 one which is a direct south facing is about five years. Obviously it's a sizeable investment to be 11:31.600 --> 11:40.720 interested in what you can do to recover the the outlay. And savings on energy bills obviously 11:40.720 --> 11:48.880 fluctuate according to prices, and that can and your usage profile, so you can save anything from 11:48.880 --> 11:53.440 £160 to £350 a year. 12:02.880 --> 12:12.400 Well the utilisation of the panels and what they produce is generally 20 - 25 percent. 12:12.400 --> 12:18.080 The savings depend on the size of the panels and the productivity you get. 12:18.080 --> 12:26.640 The other thing is what's called the Smart Export Guarantee. 12:26.640 --> 12:35.520 Years gone by we had what was called Feed-in tariff. That was a perk / rebate from the government to 12:35.520 --> 12:43.680 encourage people to have it. Now you have to export your excess electricity and you can get 12:43.680 --> 12:52.800 prices. Now the Smart Export Guarantee rates vary greatly. You might get a penny a unit up to 12:52.800 --> 13:00.800 as high as 40 pence. So you need to do a bit of research and find that who're offering schemes 13:00.800 --> 13:11.280 and watch out for some of the terms and conditions often. But if things move to a more Time-of-Use 13:11.280 --> 13:17.920 for charging for electricity, obviously you're likely to gain significantly. So your panels 13:17.920 --> 13:25.200 are producing in the afternoon around the peak time for fair bits of the year. Obviously winter 13:25.200 --> 13:35.920 doesn't make a great deal of energy. The next one, the root point is regarding the 13:35.920 --> 13:45.440 Energy Performance Certificate. Your score will go up for sure, but here we are I think they 13:45.440 --> 13:53.760 created in about 2007. Say four years ago some articles in the paper explaining the government 13:53.760 --> 14:02.800 because metrics and measurements parameters haven't been changed in 15 years. So you had examples 14:02.800 --> 14:11.680 where responsible people were put in batteries and then the score have actually decreased and 14:11.680 --> 14:18.080 heat pumps as well, especially with the high usage of electricity by the heat pumps, there 14:18.080 --> 14:29.920 were some perverse impacts. Lord Deben is still trying to get something satisfactory. So be warned. 14:29.920 --> 14:40.000 I emphasize the MAY increase property value, because if you've got (say) something from the 14:40.000 --> 14:47.360 feed-in tariff and generating a lot of income stream each year that will definitely be a big 14:47.360 --> 14:54.080 appeal and the feed-in tariff is transferable. Smart export isn't, what you can obviously do 14:54.080 --> 14:59.920 it for the next person who can use it and gain it, but you're not quite getting the 15:00.000 --> 15:04.000 guaranteed regular income stream that feed-in tariff gave. 15:04.000 --> 15:17.000 So that's why I said "MAY", you may get 15-20% of what we put on the balance, you may get 50% for demand in the market. 15:17.000 --> 15:28.000 Basically in terms of optimising it, try to adjust your usage patterns in terms of recharging things during the day. 15:28.000 --> 15:38.000 I mentioned immersion heat, so you may want to put that on in the early afternoon when the system is producing heavily. 15:38.000 --> 15:48.000 So a few conditions, as I mentioned, Smart Export Guarantee, you must have the Microgeneration Certification Scheme qualification. 15:48.000 --> 16:00.000 And that also necessitates a smart meter. There are various issues with that technology, and rolling that out, as we know. 16:00.000 --> 16:08.000 As I mentioned with the Energy Performance Certificates, net zero targets for Energy Performance Certificates... 16:08.000 --> 16:16.000 Quite where we're going to head with that in five, ten years' time is difficult to see. 16:16.000 --> 16:28.000 Another thing is it could potentially even affect mortgage rates, maybe incentives going: all sorts of possibilities. 16:28.000 --> 16:39.000 So, indirect benefits: the government has cut VAT on products. 16:39.000 --> 16:51.000 I assure you that a mid-life upgrade of a battery, until recently, ..., you paid 20% VAT on the battery. 16:51.000 --> 16:55.000 That happened to me, but thankfully it has been removed. 16:55.000 --> 17:03.000 Panelling, insulation, all these sorts of things have now been zero VATted, so that's a good incentive. 17:03.000 --> 17:10.000 Obviously from a responsibility perspective, reducing your carbon footprint, 17:10.000 --> 17:29.000 there's some various numbers in terms of the reduced emissions, and generally per kilowatt of your system, you'll get back 900 kilowatt hours per annum. 17:29.000 --> 17:36.000 The thing with panels, of course, they're getting better as the years go by. 17:36.000 --> 17:39.000 For instance [when] my system was installed, 17:39.000 --> 17:50.000 each panel was 285 watts. You will now get the normal 360, around 400 plus watt panels that are available. 17:50.000 --> 17:58.000 The other nice thing is to always consider local employment, depending on who you've select. 17:58.000 --> 18:09.000 The last two slides are some Web sites where you can go and do your own research. 18:09.000 --> 18:19.000 Some very good quality ones. Federation of Master Builders, comprehensive step by step, all the things you need to do. 18:19.000 --> 18:30.000 Centre for Sustainability, sustainable energy, not just solar batteries. There are lots and lots of ideas to make your place greener. 18:30.000 --> 18:35.000 Friends of the Earth, saving on [...] 18:35.000 --> 18:42.000 Here you go. Something about the microinverters and optimisation configurations. 18:42.000 --> 18:49.000 Just to help you with the DC/AC aspects I mentioned earlier, and cost-effectiveness. 18:49.000 --> 18:57.000 It's a bit of a misleading end of that Web site address "free" solar panels! 18:57.000 --> 19:17.000 What I would say is that, don't take up any of these offers where they will install and offer you, bait you with, free electricity: there are pitfalls with that as [folks] in Stoke on Trent and elsewhere have found. 19:17.000 --> 19:29.000 I emphasise the diligence because of the firm Green Energy Together, rather recommended by government, 19:29.000 --> 19:38.000 and they went bust last year, and folded, so you have to do your due diligence.