With the government now providing excellent rates for electricity generated though domestic solar installations, Andy Barbour took a leap and invested a considerable outlay in the purchase and installation of a 4kW photovoltaic system for his home. Andy runs a blog to inform others as to whether this constitutes a good investment for the home owner.
Andy aims to hit the target of generating £17,000 worth of energy in 10 years, his website will monitor out progress against that target.
The 4kW system was bought from Ploughcroft Solar in the summer of 2010. It was installed on the roof of the house in the UK, Killamarsh, North East Derbyshire.
The roof is almost completely south facing so the family was told this was almost perfect for this type of installation.
The system consists of 20 x kiyoto 200W panels, attached to an SMA SunnyBoy 3800 inverter. The system on full load will generate 3.81kW.
Andy is paid 43.1p per kilowatt hour of energy he produces for his own use, and 3p per kilowatt hour of energy he feeds back into the grid. Andy paid for the system himself.
You can view Andy’s blog here, which keeps track of the amount of energy the system produces as well as any other developments.
