Photovolts is a solar PV installer based in Surrey. We also service all the home counties to the South and West of London, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Middlesex, Hampshire, as well as London itself.

Our approach to Solar PV installation is somewhat different to our competitors in that we provide you as much information as we possibly can before you even meet us.

We believe that the returns available from solar PV so good that they will not be around for much more than 18 months.

If your looking afor a great deal on Cleotex and Kingspan you should visit planetinsulation.co.uk

To better clarify the potential returns to a householder we have offered a few worked examples that include specifics rather than averages. Below we provide an interactive calculator which wail allow you to estimate your own roof potential. We have other calculators for different panel brands.
ET solar, Schott, Sanyo, Hyundai ( click on brand for calculator) Below we offer a calculator incorporating ET solar Panels.

The working assumptions we make
1) A 3 Kw installation
2) 25 year inflation at 2.5% on average
3) Solar radiation level in Surrey at 1076 kWh/m2
4) Panels on south facing roof with normal pitch ( about 30-40 degrees)
5) No shading Issues
6) Installation cost £10,000

Firstly let us look at what the system should yield each year.
This is broken down into three parts
a) The electricity generated
b) The amount of electricity exported
c) The amount consumed

The amount of energy produced in kWh is calculated by SAP ( Standard Assessment Procedure)
In the above example the SAP calculation would produce a figure of 2575kWh of electricity.

The government then currently pays 41.3 pence per kW/h produced.

Thus minimum benefit to a Surrey householder if all the electricity is exported is 44.3pence per Kwh or in this example £1140.70 in the first year. ( or a payback of 8.7years)

However if all the energy was consumed the net benefit would be higher as the cost per unit of electricity is closer to 12.9p/kWh. In this case the net benefit would be 41.3P + 12.9p or a first year benefit of £1395.50 or a minimum payback on the system of 7.1 years

However what most people tend to over look is that there is another major effect occurring and that is the effect of inflation. Let us assume that inflation runs on average at 2.5%. This means that in the first year the tariff is 41.3pence. In year two however it rises to 42.37p, and year three to 43.4, year 5 to 45.5 and year 10 to 51.5 pence. In this way the yearly return ( assuming modest inflation) is also rising. In this scenario the minimum return from the system will rise to well above £1250 per year by year 5. The return benefit to you if you used all the energy you generated would in in excess of £1525 per year. If you want to better to understand the effect of inflation over the life of the system please see our calculation on inflation scenarios and PV returns.

A really helpful tool to get an independent estimate of what a system might return you can be found at The Energy Savings Trust web site which offer slightly higher returns than us.

With the new feed in tariff the government pays you 41.3 pence Kw/h. The government pays a further 3p for any electricity exported to the grid.

Remember that within your calculation you should remember that any electricity that you consume actually saves you the cost of buying that energy which costs roughly 12p/kwh. Below we will give a worked example for you to better understand your savings.

Depending upon your geographic location, we are assuming London and Surrey here, we hope that your system would produce on average about 780Kw/h per year per KWp installed. In simple terms this means for every KWp put on your roof you should make about 41.3pence x £780 - or about £319 pounds. In action to the export tariff and any saving you make.

In terms of payback on the system you would hope the system would pay back in less than 9 years. Or perhaps in more exciting terms we would put the return on your investment at about 11.5%+ which compared to other investments in the market looks very attractive. A 5Kw system would return about 8.4% return and about 12 years.

Don't Forget Inflation!

Something most people overlook when making a PV decision is inflation. You must not forget that the government increase the size of the feed in tariff payout so that you make even more from your panels. Fro example were inflation to rise by 3% per year for the next ten years your tariff would be sitting at 53.9 pence so you would be making £420 per Kw as opposed to the £319 currently being paid.

In addition your savings should increase further if you use the energy you generate. Here the inflation price in recent years has been well in excess in excess of the rate of inflation.

We can offer two types of system the top of the range and most economical.
It is important to understand that with both systems the panel and inverter guarantees are identical. What is different is the brand name and the efficiencies of PV panel offered.

3KW system - The Numbers based on a sussex installation

All Figures based on The Energy Savings Trust web site, produce by the government.