jameswm

Hi
Has anyone got experience of solar photovoltaic electricity generating in Hungary? I know in the UK some people signed up to things they didn't understand and this caused all sorts of problems. How about here?
Thanks in advance

Peter_in_Hungary

I presume that you are talking about domestic solar photovoltaic electricity (PV) rather than commercial PV placed in the countryside or the grants for industrial or business related PV and my comments relate to the domestic situation.

The solar PV market here is quite different to that of the UK. There is no beneficial feed in tariff (FIT) and the metering of PV usage is also different. Here there are occasional offers from EON for e.g. half price inverters but for domestic as far as I know that's about it. Domestic PV is installed here because people see a long term saving. The current ROI on domestic PV is about 7 - 10 years. Whilst you will get paid for any production over your usage, the amount you get is so low that the PV will have life expired before the additional PV is paid for. Which is why there are no 'rent a roof' schemes here as (was?) in the UK and although the FIT in the UK has been drastically cut and has now removed a lot of the profit the lack of 'net metering' still causes anomalies.

The way domestic PV is installed here is that there is first a calculation of you annual usage and then PV is installed to match or be just under this. You get a 'push-pull' meter which measures your PV production and your usage from the grid and gives a net reading. The meter is read annually and you pay for anything on the plus side (what you have used from the grid due to insufficient PV production) and they pay you for anything minuis (due to PV over production)

If your usage is low it may not be worth installing PV because whilst PV panels go in multiples of 250 peak Watts (pW) to match the expected load the associated infrastructure will probably be much the same for systems up to 2000 pW. How much you get out of your PV depends on your location, roof orientation and angle and any partial shadowing so individual site calculations are needed.

Last I heard a 4 kWh system (fairly typical for a largish home) was about 2M huf but prices may have changed a bit.

So the bottom line is that PV here is installed for a long term saving without government incentive schemes giving short term profit. If you are thinking of solar power then IMO PV would be the way to go rather than solar thermal - but that's another discussion.

jameswm

Thanks Peter.
Yes, the quote received is similar.
As far as I understand, there is funding so you only need to pay 10% up front and 90% is interest free for 25 years? (Like the UK's original Green Deal?)

Has anyone used this?

Peter_in_Hungary

I don't think that this support is targeted at solar power rather that it is for house refurbishment for things like bringing up the insulation to current standards and solar power can be included. AFAIK the bureaucracy is daunting and the materials have to be supplied upfront by the contracted firm doing the work (so it is a supply and fit job) with the payment made after the work is finished. There aren't many firms willing to work like this, most want materials paid for by the customer as they don't want (and don't have the funds) to upfront the materials. I know of one person who went for this support and that was for insulating their house. It took about 18 months from start of the project to start of the work and part of the requirement for the support is an acceptable employment record and income. A bit like the green deal going for this support will put up the price of the job because the firm willing to do the work with the support conditions will charge a premium.
If the support you mention is targeted at solar power rather than what I detail above could you please post the link.