‘Why wouldn’t you?’ would be our response.
Obviously, that’s a little glib as there are a few barriers to making the switch to solar, not least of which is the initial cost.
In this blog we hope to make the case that the initial outlay is more than worth it and may even earn you a few quid.
Solar Energy: Cheap As Chips!
Addressing the cost head on, the price of solar panels as decreased by at least 80% between 2010 and now.
While this is due, in part, to the technology progressing and the materials needed for construction becoming more available, the trend is more likely due to supply and demand.
The more people using solar, the most products the manufacturers will produce, the more they produce, the cheaper they’ll be.
Inverters, which are basically the heart and brain of any solar system, have been dropping in price for very similar reason since 2013 – although this has now levelled out and inverters are not getting any cheaper.
Don’t worry though, the reason for the prices not dropping is inverters are getting better and better at doing their job.
Battery storage prices, however, are pretty erratic!
This, again, is down to new technology, different designs and what materials are being used to store your energy.
There does seem to be a downward tern per kWH, but the units themselves are able to store more so the prices are higher.
Solar Energy Systems Save You Money
We know this sounds like hyperbole and sales patter, but they really do.
We love to moan about the weather here in the U< and that’s one of the reasons that people think solar is a waste of time.
But the truth is, the British climate is just about perfect so solar power – not too cold, not too hot.
Even if we are having a bad spell of weather with low temperatures and not much bright sunshine, a solar panel will still generate electricity and for ever kWh they generate you save money.
That’s really looking at things pessimistically though, at the average domestic solar energy system in the UK will produce 3 times more energy than a house needs during the summer.
Winter is obviously a lot less productive, but even in the depths of January panels will still produce a good amount of electricity during the day – you’d definitely need solar battery storage and a bit of energy management to take full advantage of that energy.
Earn Money exporting solar energy
Yes, energy companies are willing, in fact mandated, to buy any excess energy you generate.
The industry was nearly over before it started because of the early version of the ‘buy back scheme’
Called FiT, or Feed in Tariff, energy companies were forced to pay you for all the electricity you generated- and at a pretty hefty cost too.
That wasn’t sustainable and the government soon started to lower the p[rice the energy companies had top pay – to the point it became almost pointless to even sell the energy.
So, FiTs were discontinued in 2019 to be replaced with SEGs – or Smart Export Guaranteed.
It is a legal obligation for energy suppliers to offer buy-back, but some of them will offer as little as 1p per kWh.
Companies like Octopus, however, will pay you fairly for your green energy as they really do want it.
Looking for Energy Independence? Go Solar!
The last decade has been something od a challenge when it comes to fuel prices affecting the cost of your energy.
Global conflict, crashing markets and the availability of natural resources all conspire to keep any energy market a bit on the volatile side – and that will never change.
We can hold local and national government responsible for some of the instability, but the problems tend to be outside the UK and we are powerless to change them.
What we aren’t powerless against is insulating ourselves from those rising, or fluctuating, costs of energy.
Domestic solar is a fantastic way of taking back a little control of your energy provision and making you a little more independent.
Solar Systems Self Maintain
Solar panels are very simply made, have no moving parts and, as a consequence, last for decade with little or no maintenance.
The only thing that affects them is the slow degradation of the materials they are made from – particularly the silicon with the PV cells.
As the silicon degrades it becomes less ‘efficient’ and generates less electricity.
Once the silicon has dropped to 80% of it’s original efficiency it’s considered ‘done’ in terms of being in a solar energy system – luckily this takes about 25 to 30 years.
They’ll still produce electricity for another few decades just not enough to give you what you are used to.
Panel recycling is available, but is quite hard to find right now but, as more panels are produced, more companies will pop up to make money from recycling them.
Solar Panels aren’t the only part of your system, of course.
The inverter is the part of the system that not only converts the DC energy from your panels into AC power your home can use, it’s also the part of the system that controls where your power goes, and where it comes from.
It's basically a transformer with a computer, so it’ll last around 10 – 15 years before it needs replacing if kept in cool, dry conditions.
Batteries can only be charged and discharge so many time before they start to become unreliable.
Check the Datasheet for the amount of ‘cycles’ a battery will do – the average is 6000, which equates to around 10 years of daily use.
Solar is a big part of the UK energy offer!
Well, the energy industry does.
5% of the UK’s energy was powered by solar last year – that’s a combination commercial, domestic and utility solar.
A utility company that advertises as a ‘green’ energy provider will be gagging for all that lovely, renewable energy your panels are generating.
You can feel proud and smug that other people will be benefiting from your foresight to become your own power station.
Think of solar as a home improvement
Sounds pretty sales-y that, doesn’t it?
Well, let us flesh out the hyperbole with a few facts.
Your house already has an EPC rating, if you don’t know what it is you can go to the government website to find out.
Your EPC rating denotes the efficiency of your property, it looks at the insulation, windows, building materials, boiler type … and how your energy is produced.
A solar system can add up 15 points top your EPC rating, which can take it from a D to C.
That makes it a much more attractive to potential buyers and the more attractive your house is to buyers, the more it’s worth on the open market.
Of course, you may not be thinking about selling your home, so why fit solar?
Future proofing your home is why!
Produce your own electricity and you’ll shield yourself from global markets, power cuts and the massive bill increase when we all have to stop using natural gas.
Oil, Gas and Coal
This one can be controversial, and we don’t want to get on a soap box, so we’ll keep this bit to straight facts.
Fossil fuels are finite, there nothing controversial in that!
Formed in the crust of the earth from plants that died millions of years ago, the crude oil, coal and gas we are currently mining will soon run out.
The people in the know reckon we have 130 years of coal, 49 years gas and 54 years of oil left available to us right now.
Whether you are an eco-warrior or a climate change sceptic, those figures show that we can’t rely on fossil fuels in the long term.
What it also means is: fossil fuels will get more and more expensive.
On the flip side, we have the sun for at least the next 4 billion years, and the price of solar products is reducing as demand increases.
Solar panels are also made using silicon, the world’s 2nd most abundant element.
Solar Energy Reduces CO2
We’re not going to claim that solar energy is the magic bullet to solve all the world’s pollution and carbon emissions problems.
But it does pollute far less than fossil fuel energy.
Solar panels can be recycled as almost every part of them is salvageable.
The silicon in the cells, the aluminium frames, the copper in the wires ca all be used again with the correct processes in place.
UK law prevents anyone from throwing panels into landfill.
There is already plenty of provision to recycle Inverters and batteries as they are very similar to computers and other tech we already use in the home.
A solar system produces a carbon footprint of around 41 grams per kWh according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that’s for the whole 25 year lifecycle and includes materials, manufacture and installation.
As a comparison, coal is 1kg per kWh.
Solar Isn’t New Technology - And It’s Cool!
US President Jimmy Carter heated the water using solar way back in 1979 but Ronald Reagan took them out in the 80s – which shows how divisive solar can be.
Things are changing though and, according to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), there have been 158,763 domestic solar installations in the UK.
We feel this will increase as new ‘green schemes’ and renewable incentives are introduced,
