olar power – an array of misconceptions

 The installation ‘has to be seen as a long-term investment, something this government seems unable to contemplate’. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
Geoff Moore (Letters, 28 July) seems very poorly informed as to how the payments for rooftop solar arrays are calculated. If nothing is generated and therefore there is no export to the grid, the payment would be nil.
We have a solar array and in four years have generated over 13,500 kilowatt-hours. In summer we could generate up to 350 kilowatt-hours a month, in winter maybe a tenth of that, and payments reflect this.
The only time I see nil generation is when there is fog or the panels are covered in snow.
The installation costs £12,000 and at present generation it will take nine to 10 years to pay this back, and only then will a profit be made. If the money had been invested elsewhere then it would be earning from day one, so it has to be seen as a long-term investment – something this government seems unable to contemplate.
Bob MacQueen
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
• Dr Sue Roberts (Letters, 28 July) refers to the high running costs of the Green Deal Finance Company, and the related 7% loan offered by GDFC for green deal finance. Our running costs are extremely low. We are a team of 16 people in a rented office in Paddington station. The interest rate attached to the green deal loan reflected the cost at which we were able to borrow money, and the rate of interest that we ourselves were charged for those funds.
Over 80% of the UK adult population could pass the GDFC’s credit threshold and over three-quarters of applicants for the GDFC’s finance had a household income of less than £30,000. The average was about £26,000. Not everyone is in a position to remortgage. The GDFC did not design the green deal, but it achieved a very high level of financial inclusion in the finance it offered. It is worth remembering that GDFC currently has over £60m in plans and applications.
Bernard Hughes
The Green Deal Finance Company
• As a leftwinger I must, for the first time, give grateful thanks to David Cameron. His proposal to slash subsidies to solar power projects (Government to cut solar power subsidies, saving customers 50p a year, 23 July) will stop BL’s dastardly plans to desecrate Ambridge’s fields with solar arrays.
Bill Messer
Pontrhydfendigaid, Ceredigion

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