HI BRIAN.
THE ONLY TIME THAT ANYONE WILL TOUCH A CREDIT DES IMPOTS FOR AN INSTALLATION OF ANY RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAME. IS WHEN IT IS INSTALLED BY AN "APPROVED" COMPANY.
ALSO THE PRICE PAID PER Kw HOUR, IS NOT FIXED, AND WILL DROP IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE. JUST AS THE CREDIT DES IMPOTS HAS ALREADY DROPPED !!!.
AS I STATED IN THE REPLY TO DAVID G, IF THESE PANELS ARE SUCH A GOOD IDEA, WHY DOES A PATRON OF A VERY BIG RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANY, NOT HAVE A SINGLE SOLER PANEL ON HIS HOUSE ?????;
Hi David.
I have a renewable energy company opposite my company, and have enjoyed a BBQ and many beers at the owners house. Suffice to say. not a soler panel in sight !!, or for that matter a pompe à challeur !!!. In "his" words after a lot of beers when I posed the question. Where are your panels etc.' Don't be silly, their only good for 10/15 years, and after that you have got to change them. Which will cost the same as when you installed them, because there is no tax rebate.
Call a spade a spade. It is a CON !!
Do the sums. A house of say 100M2 with no other energy other than electricity. They say (ERDF) costs 1700 Euros a year "all in". So if you spend around 24,500 euro on installing panels etc. After 15years MAX you will have to replace the panels at FULL cost, and with no help from the Govt.
I cannot for the life of me see the attraction in installing these panels, even if you do save 50% against your electricity bill.
15 x 1700, divided x 2 = 12750 euros saved at a cost of 24,500 FOR A BASIC INSTALLATION !which = a loss of 11750 euros.
MAYBE I AM WRONG BUT IT DOES SOUND LIKE A LITTLE BIT OF A CON
Because this came up this morning and we were meeting the friends with the PV system, guess what I was talking about? OK, the EDF sell back scheme is now losing money, people do not gain anything because they pay a high tariff to have it, only beneficiary would be EDF if it paid for itself. The panels are as Jane says, it is not the panels per se, but the technology ERDF bought from China and as still using as a standard. One other acquaintance, he told us, has not only got the batteries required for night power but some that high capacity storage that are not accepted as a standard here in France but have a long life as well. However, they cost an arm and a leg. Everything we ever discusses comes back to German products from just two companies who are not cheap. It looks like any of us really seriously wanting to do this must do a lot of very serious homework and be prepared to part with a lot of money. In terms of return of investment it seems that with the best equipment a decade is not unimaginable but as charges get greater that will reduce so probably be a handful of years in the end.
It was my daughter's judo tournament, I hardly saw any combats at all, but feel I little bit better informed.
The chinese panels that EDF are pushing by nearly every 'phone call I get, are out of date and they are trying to get rid of them.
You need to have a storage system, because the main use of electricuity is at night, when the panels are not working. This usually means some form of batteries, which are expensive and have a limited life.
Also, the rate for selling back into the grid have fallen quite a lot from their initially appealing one.
We went for geothermal energy and solar panels, both of which work well. They were installed by the professionals when we were renovating our buildings and the tax rebates were more generous.
I thought that might have been the catch but I agree with David G that if it is fed into the EDF, which one might expect using a proper installer who will be ERDF approved then it is fine. I don't see that as a con but a safeguard for conformity to particular standards. However, since there might be grants rather than the TVA reduction, that is also something to look into separately.
The actual advantage in doing it yourself, is that there is a chocker of system and the ERDF preferred panels do not have a good quality rating compared to the far more sensitive ones from two German manufacturers. As for whether it would be cheaper to install oneself is a big question since the ones that feed the grid get the tax relief and subsidised installation. It is quite simply a question of whether one wants a resell power deal or be independent and whether one wants to pay for the latter.
Why is it a con that the government should insist on setting some basic conditions? It's no more a con than paying a reduced rate of TVA providing works are carried out by a properly registered artisan. If you're feeding in to the grid it seems reasonable for the ERDF to have some say in the equipment to be used. It often seems to me that the Brits are obsessed with the idea that they are continually being scammed and conned by the French or the French system.
Hi Brian.
To get the Tax credit. It HAS to "fall in " the list approved by the State/ERDF. And installed by an "approved" company. All in all a CON.
There's no such thing as a free lunch !!!
Hi Nigel.
There is a an allowence against the Impots of around 25/40% . BUT it must meet the standards imposed by the state/ERDF, and installed by a professional also approved by ERDF. All in all a CON, as they "price in" this allowence !. That is why as Brian said, that it is cheaper and also better to do it yourself.
The only thing that might be a problem is getting permission for installing them in your garden, and not on the roof. Where I am, we cannot get permission for panels, as we are in a UNESCO site.
Oh, I nearly forgot. To get the tax credit, you must be already "declaring" !.
Good luck !!
Yes, go to the mairie for a form and details of what you can get. The tax credits and some local grants are available, depending on what your district rather than commune has available. The government is encouraging them but prefers the EDF type system so forget to mention that.
Nigel, it is relative, don't be guided by number of rooms but by what you would be using. It is not just the cost of the panels and installation but all of the other equipment. Friends have done it and we want to in time, but not to resell to EDF. For their integral system that the husband and somebody with the skill self-installed, their entire work cost about €16000. They bought four high quality German panels direct from the manufacturer rather than cheaper and less reliable Chinese ones, the entire external installation to power supply is as expensive again as the panels. I am not sure how high, but they say they could not afford the quotes they had for professional installation. Along with the two solar panels for water heating they have said that their energy saving, therefore the bill, is down by over half but they still have a fair amount of work to do on insulation and other energy saving so that is well below what it might eventually be.