Benefits and Costs of Solar Panels

Are you considering solar panels for your home? Solar PV systems are one of the most popular alternative energy systems in the world, especially when it comes to residential electricity systems. There’s a lot of misinformation and confusion about the benefits and costs of installing solar panels. Here’s a quick cheat sheet to help you sort out the real facts from the myths.

Benefits of Solar Panels

Cut your electricity bills. Every unit of electricity your solar panels generate is a unit of electricity you don’t have to pay the electric company to deliver. Sunlight is free, so once you’ve paid for your solar PV system, you’ll be reducing your energy costs by as much as 50% a year.

Get paid for the electricity you use. The government’s Feed-in Tariffs pay you for every unit of electricity you generate, even the electricity you use. Not only are you getting electricity from the sun for free, you’ll be paid to generate it.

Sell electricity back to the grid. In most cases, your solar PV system will produce electricity that you can’t use. When that happens, your system will automatically send that electricity back into the grid to supplement electricity made in other ways. You’ll get paid an additional amount on top of the tariff rate for any electricity you feed back to the grid.

Cut your carbon footprint. Since solar electricity generation doesn’t release any harmful carbon dioxide into the air, you’ll cut your carbon footprint – by as much as a tonne per year.

Generate income from your solar panels. If you participate in the FiTs, your solar PV system could generate income and savings of about £670 per year for 25 years.

Costs of Solar Panels

The cost of solar panels and installing a solar PV system vary from one installer to the next, so it’s important to shop around and compare prices. In most cases, a domestic solar PV system will cost about £3,000 to £3,500 per kWp installed. An average domestic solar system will cost around £10,000, including VAT.

The more electricity your solar panels can generate, the more it will cost and the more you’ll save. Larger systems are usually more efficient and more cost effective than smaller systems, up to about 4 kWp.

Solar panels cost less than solar tiles.  Solar panels should last at least 25 years. There are some systems installed in the 1980s that are still operating. The only maintenance most solar PV systems will need is cleaning, but you will probably need to replace the inverter that converts solar electricity into AC current that your appliances can use at least once during the system’s lifetime. That will probably cost you about £1,000 at today’s prices.

Learn more about the benefits of installing solar panels by talking to a solar system installer in your area.