Solar Panels for Homes - Who Has Them?
Solar panels for homes are often associated with families who are associated with green living rather than families who are making a logical investment.
Most see solar energy systems as only commercially viable for very large installations - farms installing acres of them at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds, making thousands and thousands of pounds of profit each year, off the back of economies of scale.
However, for the last year, homeowners have rapidly started introducing panels to their homes.
The Feed in Tariff, introduced in April this year, is a government scheme that pays households for each unit of electricity that they sell back to the main grid.
This scheme pays the most money to household sized solar panel systems - the size of solar panels designed for homes.
If your system is under 4kW, then you will receive approximately 41.
3p per unit of electricity sold back to the main grid (this is index linked, tax free and guaranteed for 25 years).
Therefore, solar energy systems for homes can make around £850 to £1,500 per year.
This represents approximately a 9% return.
Suddenly, solar energy systems seem like a viable way of households making a lot of money with very little work! All that is necessary is to make an appointment with some solar panel companies, and then get the panels installed, sit back and watch the money roll in! At even less expense, thermal solar panels can be installed - these are cheaper, costing from around £3,000, and household systems are eligible for the Renewable Heat Incentive.
This is an even newer scheme, which means that an expected 18p per unit generated will be sold back to the main grid.
You won't make as much money, around £450 per year, tax free and for 20 years, but the panels will pay themselves off after about 9 years, and then a further £4,500 or so will be made with no work by anyone in the home.
Most see solar energy systems as only commercially viable for very large installations - farms installing acres of them at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds, making thousands and thousands of pounds of profit each year, off the back of economies of scale.
However, for the last year, homeowners have rapidly started introducing panels to their homes.
The Feed in Tariff, introduced in April this year, is a government scheme that pays households for each unit of electricity that they sell back to the main grid.
This scheme pays the most money to household sized solar panel systems - the size of solar panels designed for homes.
If your system is under 4kW, then you will receive approximately 41.
3p per unit of electricity sold back to the main grid (this is index linked, tax free and guaranteed for 25 years).
Therefore, solar energy systems for homes can make around £850 to £1,500 per year.
This represents approximately a 9% return.
Suddenly, solar energy systems seem like a viable way of households making a lot of money with very little work! All that is necessary is to make an appointment with some solar panel companies, and then get the panels installed, sit back and watch the money roll in! At even less expense, thermal solar panels can be installed - these are cheaper, costing from around £3,000, and household systems are eligible for the Renewable Heat Incentive.
This is an even newer scheme, which means that an expected 18p per unit generated will be sold back to the main grid.
You won't make as much money, around £450 per year, tax free and for 20 years, but the panels will pay themselves off after about 9 years, and then a further £4,500 or so will be made with no work by anyone in the home.