When the FITs were introduced I thought the rate was overly generous and unsustainable. A 10% return on investment would mean that anybody with a shed load of cash would get on the bandwagon, who cares if it generated any renewable energy, lets make some money!
My credentials, well read my other blogs, but yes, I bought 2.6 kilowatts worth, I paid £11,000 and had I delayed a year would have got the same for about £9,000 . Yes, I would have been financially better off by delaying my installation.
Which is why I welcomed the sharp drop in FIT rates, When the Feed in Tariffs started the standard 2kW system would cost about £12,000 or approaching £20,000 if you got scammed. Prices have come down to as low as just over £6,000 almost half ! So, if £12K was a great deal when FITs were 41p and index linked, why is £6K not the same great deal with FITs at 21p !! Actually its a slightly better deal!
To my mind the solar companies have really shot themselves in the foot. Rather than saying that low installation prices would make the drop in FITs match the return that early installers got, they said that solar panels were now unaffordable But they are the cheapest they have ever been! The idiots have told the public not to buy their product!
21p means the FIT scheme can be retained for far longer, it means the cost of installation can comedown and the industry retained. At 43.3 it means the scheme must close overnight when the set amount of money has run out!
Church and charity warn on solar :http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16304817
Filed under: feed in tariff, green jobs, microgeneration, solar electricity, solar energy, solar photovoltaic Tagged: | feed in tariff, FIT, money making, scam
Its true that the returns were overly generous but even DECC have concluded that the cuts don’t coincide with the actual reduction in price of PV panels. They miss calculated to begin with and let big companies fill fields with solar panels, its wasn’t thought through to begin with.