Your New Year plans may include getting healthy, saving money, career goals, taking up a new hobby or home renovations. But what if you chose to do something that could help you save money and reduce carbon emissions?
Installing solar PV on your roof could be one of the best investments you make this year.
Why should you invest in solar panels?
There is no better time than now to start generating your own electricity. As energy prices continue to rise and climate change impacts are being felt, installing solar panels on your roof seems like a great idea. Not only will you generate your own energy and save money on your energy bills, but you will also be cutting your carbon emissions.
Typically, the average solar panel system could produce over half of your electricity requirements which means that you will be partially protected from any energy price increases.
Solar PV technology has moved on and has come down in price making it more accessible for more households. You can also combine your solar PV system with battery storage so that you can store the electricity you generate and use it when you need it rather than exporting what you don’t use.
Is winter the right to install solar PV?
Although the sun isn’t really shining on us in January, it is still worth getting the ball rolling now so that you are set up and ready for the warmer days. But did you know that it’s not sunlight that the solar panels need but daylight. So even though the days are short and there can be less daylight due to cloud cover, there is still plenty of daylight to produce electricity during the winter months. You can learn more about this in our blog on ‘Is it worth installing solar panels in autumn or winter?’
How much could I save on my energy bills by installing solar PV?
The savings that can be achieved from solar panels vary depending on the size of the system, the amount of electricity generated that you use and export, and if you have battery storage.
As an example, the average three-bedroomed house with medium electricity usage in South-East UK could save over £1,000 per year. This is based on the first year after installing a 12-panel system of 410W solar panels with a 5.12kWh battery. This system could generate 4,728.12kWh of electricity which could result in £771.75 electricity bill savings and £236.72 in export payments for unused electricity, therefore totalling a saving of £1,008.47.
Solar PV panels can last 30 years so how much could they save you in total? We can’t predict energy prices so we have only factored in inflation, so the average yearly saving could be around £2,431.15 per year. So the total lifetime savings after installation and maintenance costs could be around £57,689.37!
As an EPVS member, you can trust our figures too as this scheme independently verifies our figures to ensure that they are a fair estimation of the potential electricity generation and savings. EPVS members are monitored and validated continuously to ensure that they are adhering to fair practices, and if you want to check your figures you can ask for a free validation check.
As energy prices rise these savings figures will increase. But there are also other schemes available which can aid you in earning money out of your solar PV system. The Octopus Flux tariff is a special tariff designed for solar panel owners with battery storage. It rewards them for using their battery storage for the benefit of the grid. It encourages you to buy electricity during the night when demand and cost are low to fill your battery and then release the electricity back to the grid during the peak demand hours when demand is high and export rates are high.
Interested in installing solar PV or want to discuss it?
If you want to discuss installing solar panels or would like a no-obligation quote you can contact us. You can also use our online solar PV calculator to give you an idea of how much electricity you could generate and the savings you could make by filling in some basic details.
