Re: Grants for solar power?
Some other posts
Natchessmen
Registered User
Solar Panel
I'm thinking of buying a solar Panel (for water only) the vendor is called Spectrum Energy [broken link removed]Has anyone heard of them? any experience of them? My web searches all point to it being legitimate but who better than AAM to smell a rat?
As an investment the pay-back is very much a function of energy price inflation, my estimate is that at 10% inflation it's a 6 year pay back. But as an environmental decision it makes more sense.
All useful advise welcome
heinbloed
Unregistered User
solar-panel
Hi Natchessman !
I have no experience with the company you mentioned, but I'm interested in buying and installing a solar panel myself. What would be the price and the service of "spectrum-energy"?
Natchessmen
Registered User
Re: solar-panel
What would be the price and the service of "spectrum-energy"?
The price is around GBP 700, but there are some discounts and gov. grants etc. The sales pitch revolves around personal testimonials etc. and certainly B&B's and small businesses seem to rave about it. They (sales people) tell me that the typical household uses half its energy on hot water, DOES ANY ONE AGREE/DISAGREE? The other sales pitch preys on environmental fear, a little heavy at times but hey maybe their right. As I said in the first mail its just for water heating, I understand that full electric is a bigger project moving into the GBP 20-30k mark. My feeling is that with this simple system there are less things to go wrong (one moving part) and so less maintenance-fear. Also it is portable and so can come with me should I move again. If you checked the link you will have seen that the principle is that it works on IR energy rather that the more famous thermal transfer, so UK/Irish weather is not as big an issue. Certainly the testimonials are saying that it will heat all water for 9 months of the year with minimal top up and will part heat the water for the other three months.
Nat
0
Frequent poster
Re: solar-panel
They (sales people) tell me that the typical household uses half its energy on hot water, DOES ANY ONE AGREE/DISAGREE?
I would have thought that most houshold energy would normally be used on heatin the house itself? Of course some systems (e.g. oil/gas fired central heating) may combine this with heating the water for kitchen/bathroom use too.
It might be worth cheking with SEI about solar and other sustainable energy solutions (e.g. wind convectors, mini-turbines, heat pumps etc. - I used to work indirectly with all of these but it's been a few years now...) and providers.
[broken link removed]
heinbloed
Unregistered User
solar-panel
Thanks Natchessmen!
700 GBP doesn't seem to be to bad .But I doubt very much that the standard household in our hemisphere is using half of it's energy demand for hot tap water . My information is based on my own judgment , my home is well insulated, I would say 10 %.However does that price include the pump(is it solar driven-with photovoltaik panel?)and the tank/heat exchanger ?And does the price include the installation incl.the cert to get the grant and to be insured in case of a leak ?
Gary
Unregistered User
Solar panel
Any thoughts/suggestions on the feasibility of this heating the water for the underfloor heating sufficiently to have a little heat in the summer months without having to run the boiler? Or would the volume of water used in the underfloor system be too large for this to be any use?
Natchessmen
Registered User
Re: solar-panel
Heinbloed,
A few things:
Yes that does include the pump but the system is not photovoltaik, instead it works by a series of tubes, that directly converts IR energy, to heat the water (that is it is connected directly to the hot water tank).
Yes the price includes the installation, the installation seems pretty simple.
I'm interested that you reckon that only 10% of your energy bill goes on hot tap water. Is there any way to measure what are the energy drivers in a domestic setting. My house is quite old (well half of it is) it has single skin walls with (obviously) v. poor insulation how would one go about increasing the energy efficiency of such a structure?
Nat
rainyday
Moderator
Re: solar-panel
There was some coverage on BBC's Watchdog show about sharp practices from some of those selling solar panels in the UK.
heinbloed
Unregistered User
solar panel
Hi natchessmen!
Thanks for the reply,I was thinking about the pump , if it runs on solar energy , otherwise it would run permanently -even at night time-or there must be some sensor (light or temperature based)to switch on or of .
Are there ways to measure energy drivers in the house hold ? Yes.For electric energy you can buy these gadgets that can be put between plug and socket and they give you a more or less accurate reading in watts and amps,some contain a calculator that actually tells what a spin in the washing machine or an hour TV did cost .
For heat energy -I suppose your hot water tank has been connected to the central heating - it is more difficult to calculate.I would go for estimations like those of the department of environment.or ask an engineer or a neighbour with a similar structure .But installing a solar panel in a badly insulated house seems a waste of money since pay back time for an energy saving investment is the shortest if one goes for the better insulation first .There may be exemptions,for example if that part of the building wouldn'be heated anyhow.
The tubes that you are going to buy are certainly better than the normal panels , they get more out of the sun radiation ,however they are also more prune to breaks with sudden temperature change i.e.hail .
Here is a website that will lead you further to solar energy supliers in Ireland:
www.sei.ie.When you check their pages you will get more info about the various types and qualities,they also claim that" up to 30% of energy can be saved with a hot water/solar system but - and that is important-only if the total energy bill is already low i.e. in the region of an low energy house (between 10 and 80 kw/square meter/year).That means that a building that uses a large quantity of its energy for hot tap water will save a larger sum while a building that uses most of the energy for other things like heating will save only a smaller fraction , percentages we are speaking of .However the total of saved energy -in kilowatts- will stay the same .
If you speak German or have someone to translate for you than there is
www.energienetz.com which covers all aspects of energy saving incl.solar power , its the most comprehensive I came across.
heinbloed
Unregistered User
solar/underfloor
You can use the solar panel to get some heat into your floor but since floor heatings are slower to react-the heat has to penetrate the floor-it is more advisable to install a good window large enough to cover floor to ceiling on the south side of the building .The heating effect would be immediate and not delayed,further the light would be better-natural day light.And it is cheaper.However heating can be done with solar power but you need a very large and very well insulated storage tank ."Griffner" house or their web page might be able to give you more detailed information,Dunkin had shown once a home in Austria which was heated by solar power.
fluffybottom
Unregistered User
Solar Panels
Has anyone any experience of havind solar panels installed on a south facing roof?. In terms of cost of installation, ease, return and so on?. Are there any indiginous companies who do this, or any grants available?.
TIA,
FFB
heinbloed
Unregistered User
indiginous solar companies
check [broken link removed]
Under "renewable energy" you will find some companies.
gortfad
Registered User
Re: Solar Panels
There's a company in the north the produce vacuum tubes as solar collectors and their name in Thermomax.
There's a Peter Schneider (Peter, if your reading this the forgive my spelling)
You can also try Glas.ie and I'm sure that any of the above two should be able to give you any info. that you require.
Myself, I'm in the process of building a house at present and am going to install the Thermomax system.
FDH
Unregistered User
Solar Panels for Hot water System
Hi,
Does anyone have first-hand experience of Solar water heating systems. A few website say you can save between 50-70 % of your anual hot water bills ??
Is this really true ?
Anyone got these, are they trouble-free ? worth the money ? any hidden costs ?
Did it interfere with your oil burner system or do the 2 work well together ?
Can you give your general opinion on the system, hiden costs or maintenance, & any pointers / rough prices ?
Cheers,
FDH.
Tricia
Registered User
Re: Solar Panels for Hot water System
I got a Solartwin solar panel in July. So far, so good - installation quick and painless. Have been unable to guage the amount of hot water properly because I have builders and plasterers in at the moment so more hot water than normal is being used. But there seems to be a sufficiency for a shower, washing up and the washing machine - however I'm reckoning on having to have to turn the immersion on for an hour a day in winter.
I went for Solartwin on the back of advice my mum and dad gave me - lazy, I know, but they were looking into getting one (didn't, house on the market), and had done their research thoroughly. The main advantage was the ultra green technology, the system running on solar totally and needing no mains input, and that it removes any need to have a new hot water cylinder as other systems apparently do require.
Solartwin's website is http://www.solartwin.com/ (www.solartwin.com/) and the guy who intalled it for me is Dave Gavin, his website is [broken link removed]. I get the impression I was the first paying customer of solartwin in Ireland - business manner not great on the phone and I still haven't received an invoice but the technology has (so far) borne up so I'm happy. Happy enough to feel bad that I haven't got round to telling him to tell me to pay up...
The amount, incidently, comes to £2,600 stg but Dave Gavin apparently has different (better?) prices.
Hope that helps, i'm afraid it's a bit vague because I'm busy chasing up builders rather than having a proper nosy at the solar system - that I haven't had to inspect it because it's getting on with it's own thing is positive though.
Kev
Unregistered User
Planning permission
Did you need special planning permission for solar panels? Is it likely to be given in Dublin residential area?
FDH
Unregistered User
Thanks
Thanks Tricia,
Tricia that's exacly what I wanted a more personal experience of the thing.
Anyone else out there any experiece with these - are they all what they're workedup to be ?
Tricia - is there not a heat-pump/heat exchanger plugged into the mains with your system.
Here's a link to a few irish businesses for anyone out there:
energy.sourceguides.com/businesses
Thanks,
FDH
Tricia
Registered User
Heat pump for solar panel
Hi FDH,
The heat pump on the solartwin system is solar powered too, so it has no mains connection at all. The only irony is that I need a pump to get the hot water up into the new bathroom in the attic because the hotwater cylinder is on the first floor, but that's another issue altogether.
As for planning permission for the solar panel Kev, I don't know, because when I was submitting plans for the attic conversion I had the solar panels drawn on too. I don't know if this was necessary or not - I hope not, but would be interested to find out.
By the way, my solar panel is on a west-facing roof, which obviously isn't as good as a south-facing location, but that's all my inner-city Dublin terrace would allow...
Tricia
