Increasing solar power whether at domestic or utility scale is a vital step towards a sustainable future. By harnessing the sun's energy, we reduce reliance on fossil fuels, have lower electricity bills, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Solar panels are affordable, efficient and long-lasting, making them accessible for many homeowners.
Investing in solar power supports green jobs and stimulates the economy. Installing household solar means promotes cleaner air, a healthier planet, and a brighter future for all. Let's turn sunlight into savings and sustainability. Embrace solar power today for a better tomorrow.
An estimated 3,500 of the island’s 72,000 homes already have solar installed and the island is home to many competent installers.
Homeowners choose to install solar for two reasons, ecological and financial. Ecologically solar is a sound investment, the energy used to create solar panels is typically repaid in around 18 months and from then onwards they produce net carbon free electricity. In terms of lifespan panels are usually guaranteed to retain excellent performance for 25 years, although some panels with 40-yearguarantees are now on the market.
Recycling of panels is available but not yet widespread – as panels have only been retired in small numbers – but legal mandates are in place to ensure that once the millions of existing panels reach the end of their lives recycling will take place. Lastly there has been a troubling association between solar panels and slave labour in the manufacturing process, sadly that afflicts many industries, the good news is that panels with ethically sourced materials and manufactured in Europe and the States are on the market for a small additional cost. You can read more on the topic by clicking here.
Financial benefits.
These are hard to calculate precisely as everyone’s situation is different, a best- and worst-case scenario might be instructive to help people determine how they might benefit.
For this calculation we can assume a four KW system installed for £5,000 which generates 4,000 units per year – all very typical figures. And electricity prices of 25p to buy and 8p to sell power to the grid.
The best possible case is when electricity is used to replace petrol in a car, at current prices petrol cars cost around 15p a mile to run, using electricity from solar in effect brings that to zero, 4,000 units can power 16,000 miles a year and replace the equivalent of £2,400 of petrol in that time!
A more realistic best case will be where a household uses as much of the energy generated as possible, thereby avoiding units bought from the grid at retail prices. If for example a household works from home, runs appliances in the daytime and is able to charge an electric car then a simple calculation tells us they will use nearly all 4,000 units thereby avoiding £1,000 worth of grid bought electricity, suggesting a five-year payback.
A medium scenario might be that they can only use half their own generation saving £500 a year whilst selling the other 2,000 units for around 8p each making £160, giving a total of £660 suggesting a seven and a half year payback.
A weaker scenario would be using a quarter of the generation saving £250 and selling the other 3,000 units for £240, totalling £490 suggesting a payback just over ten years.
So, as can be seen above the financial return on a £5,000 solar system could be anywhere between two and ten years, and that’s without the extra complication of installing a home battery.
Home batteries are not simple to calculate, there are ways in which they can be made to work effectively and ways in which the expense shouldn’t necessarily be prioritised in an energy transition project.
For example, if you have access to a dual tariff – economy 7 or an EV owners tariff that gives cheaper overnight charging – then you can charge your battery overnight with a view to using the cheaper electricity the following day, that’s especially good in the winter when there is little daylight solar generation. In the summer batteries come into their own by charging during the day enabling the household to avoid grid bought electricity during the evenings, lastly as we move into the future and the national grid becomes smarter there are more opportunities for your electricity company to buy your stored electricity to get through the early evening consumption peak, those services are going to become more and more prevalent and should provide another revenue stream from homeowners battery systems.
In conclusion, solar can either be extremely effective or a little less so depending on your personal circumstances.
Either way its good to have but your circumstances should determine how you prioritise your spending on energy efficiency measures.
