solar panel removal

DSCN1669One question that no one has ever asked me is about solar panel removal.  To be honest its not a question I’ve asked myself very much.  But the issue has been raised for me by a house I cycle past on my way to work.  And another around the corner on a neighbouring road.  Both have had are having major work done on their roofs.  Both had solar PV systems and in both cases the panels have been removed to fit dormers.  In the first case they have not been put back in the second case the work is ungoing, but it does not look they will be (although they might be on the proposed plans on a rear extension although they they are not itemised).  One of the advantages of the internet and our democratic planning system is that I can poke around the plans online.  In the first case that I pass where the panels were on the front I could see they have been removed.  In the second I can just see them from my rear window in winter but had noticed them from a visit to my kids school for a parents evening.  I spoke to the owner about our joint experiences of putting them up.  Both houses have changed ownership.

Solar panel removal is such a strange thing to do.  The first system wasn’t that big but my near neighbours was.  Under the FIT you can only fit new equipment.  This has meant no second hand market and very little reason to steal systems.  What do you do with the kit?  Did the owners take them with them?  Is that possible under the FIT?  It also raises questions over the planning system.  It seem strange planning takes no account of the existence of the systems with a resource and climate emergency and you can strip systems off and least not them back somewhere else on your property.

Neil

 

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