Sunlight is all you need to get electricity from Solar Photo-Voltaic panels.
It is an unlimited resource that's never going to stop shining (even though it doesn't always feel like that in the UK). Although more electricity is produced on sunny days they work well on overcast days too. With the Feed-in-tariffs from the Governments Clean Energy Cashback scheme there has never been a better time to invest in a solar PV system

Ideally for a photovoltaic system you should have a roof that faces between south east and south west, and which is free of shade. For each kW of panels you need about 7 square metres of roof space.
As a rough estimate a 2kW system will cost around £8,500, and a 4kW system around £13,000-£13,500

Generate Money as well as Electricity

From Dec 12th 2011 the FIT for a Solar PV system of up to 4kW is 21pence per kwh produced, and pays for 25 years.
A 2kW system will generate approx 1700kwh annually, bringing in a FIT payment of around £360.
Added to this figure any electricity you generate but don't use within the home can be sold back to your Electricity Company via the National Grid - the current minimum price for exporting electricity is 3.1p per kWh, but may be higher depending upon your provider

Imagine you invest £9,975 plus 5% VAT (total £10,473.75) on a 4kW solar PV system for your home, which produces 3,434kWh per year
It produces the most electricity during the middle of the day, when you are out at work and using the least amount of electricity yourself, so 50% of what the system generates may be sold back to the grid

You get a FIT of 21p per kWh generated =£721
You sell 50% of the output, 1,717kWh, paying you 3.1p per kWh = £53
You use 50% of the output, 1,717kWh, saving you 16p per kWh = £274
(16p is used as an average price for electricity, please check utility bills and recalculate based on the tariff being paid)
TOTAL RETURN TO YOU = £1,048

The return on your investment is therefore about 10.00% (rather better than you get at a bank !),
The FIT payments are index linked to the RPI to keep in line with the inflation rate, and are tax free.
The FIT pays for 25 years - long after the system has paid for itself, and if you sell your house before the 25 years are up, then there is this income stream to be added onto the house value.

How Solar PV works

The photovoltaic panels on the roof convert the energy from the sun into a DC current. This is fed into an inverter which converts the DC current to a mains voltage AC current (there are safety switches placed on both sides of the inverter allowing any component to be safely isolated for servicing). The AC current is fed through a 'generation meter' into the main household fuse and distribution board. It is the generation meter that records the total amount of electricity generated - this is what you get paid on for the FIT

From the distribution board the electricity is either used by the appliances in your home, or fed back into the grid through a two way meter (or two separate meters) which record the amount of electricity you take from the grid, and the amount of electricity you export into the grid - it is this export meter that records what you sell to the electricity supply companies.

To arrange a free no obligation survey please click here

or call: 0845 409 2187