Solar power

Solar panels and Grid tie inverters have come down so far in price that fitting a 5Kva inverter and 16 x 250watt panels is a very viable option. During the day the sun generates more electricity than you need putting units of power back into the grid, at night you get to use what you put in during the day. If you have one of the old style meters (the one with the circular alloy wheel) you don't even need to have a 'buy back' agreement with the supplier your surplus electricity drives the meter backwards! If it's a digital meter then you have to have a 'feed in' meter and reach an agreement with your supplier.

Solar panels - in the UK?? :lol:
They might work well in the summer, but in winter, when they are covered with snow or dead leaves?
We've got a 'big' one of about 4 sq feet on our mower shed roof, to charge the battery. When I checked the output on Sunday, because the mower had to be jump-started, it was showing 52 mah at 13.5 v.
That would charge an 8 cell nimh for a transmitter in 14 hours, but not a heavy-duty Pb battery!

The old analogue meters do indeed run backwards if electricity is fed into the grid BUT in the UK at least you are in breach of your terms and conditions! It is considered a faulty meter which you are obliged to tell the supplier that it is happening.

The 'feed back' tariff is different (lower?) to the supply tariff and the company is allowed to claim back up to 6 years of incorrect meter supply.
In the UK the solar panel supplier is supposed to arrange to fit a suitable meter if the panel is to be used in a feed back contract.

Absolutely right, I had my sisters system installed in her Bude house and again when she moved to Seaton, the Bude system paid all her utility bills because of the excellent buyback tariff, the Seaton system at least pays half. Knowing how over regulated the UK is (regulations create unnecessary jobs) I made the suggestion for Tony (BB) since rumour has it that Cyprus has lots of sunshine

Indeed yes we have a LOT of sunshine and a lot of wind for one of those windmill generators
Especially at weekends when i want to go flying
Only problem is its not our house, and the lawyer friend that owns it is in hock to the banks like a lot of people here, now under EU directive they have to start getting it back ( bloody EU cannot keep its nose out of anything ) so they have started to take peoples homes as payment, so i could well lose my hanger
If that happens i will be coming back to England to live as it and the sunshine are the only things that keep me here:evil:

In most Democracies the rights of tenants is paramount and lease agreements survive both death and sale of the property. I'm sure for a costly improvement you could agree a pro rata payback agreement with the owner over say, 7 years. ie, if you get notice to quit after a year he has to pay you 6/7ths of the original cost of the improvement. Everybody wins, you get cheaper electricity and some of your money back if you don't stay the full time, he gets a worthwhile improvement that improves the value of the property beyond its face value. Having said that, some of the least trustworthy people I've ever met have been lawyers so you would need everything in writing.
When we put my sister Bude property on solar it cost 12 thousand quid, the Seaton installation cost 5. I'm sure an installation today should come in at under 3.5. Such an installation should reduce your electric bills to about 25% or less of what they are at the moment.