Southern Solar will be working hard in the coming months to satisfy the high demand for solar PV systems, but with Autumn just round the corner, is now really a good time for you to invest?
This year, Autumn officially starts on Friday 23rd September, so we will soon be waving goodbye to Summer for another nine months. A bad time then, you might think, for companies like Southern Solar who install solar PV panels and whose entire business model is therefore reliant on the steadfast performance of our closest star. Not so! In fact, we’ll be at our all-time busiest in the coming 6 months. Here are a couple of reasons why:
1. The sun still shines
Starting with something we should all know… The weather doesn’t have to be hot for your solar panels to work at a high capacity – just sunny! During the Summer months, the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth is closer to the sun than at any other time of year. This is to do with the tilt (or “attitude”) of our planet, which remains constant as it orbits the sun and therefore dictates the changing of the seasons. Soon enough, people in countries of the Southern Hemisphere like Australia will be putting on their lightest threads and flip-flops, while we’ll be donning our fleeces and woolly socks!
Come Summer’s sun or Winter’s chill, a cloudy sky will cause the atmosphere above to absorb most of the solar radiation that hits the Earth. During the Summer, this can result in the weather being hot and muggy, yet still not ideal for solar panels to really work their magic. They need more than just heat; they require direct sunlight to produce a powerful flow of electricity. Despite the now-increasing distance between our fair isle and the great fiery ball at the heart of our Solar System, a bright and clear day – even amidst the chill of Winter – will crack like a whip on the back of the electrons inside your solar panels, ensuring the steady production of photovoltaic electricity. (For the record, solar panels do still work when it’s overcast. On a cloudy day there will always be plenty of energetic light waves bouncing around, though fewer of them will actually hit your solar panels).
- Winter has its sunny days but you will need to make sure your solar panels aren’t covered in snow!
Image source: www.cleantechnica.com
2.A drop in FITness
If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably already heard of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT), a scheme that offers an attractive return on your investment in a photovoltaic (PV) system. This guarantees you regular payments over 25 years for the electricity your solar panels produce. It will take you roughly ten years to pay back your solar PV installation, which means that over the remaining fifteen years you’ll be making nothing but profit. Gives new meaning to the saying “Pray for a sunny day”, does it not? Here’s a diagram explaining how domestic solar systems (under 4kWp in size) make money for their owners given the current Feed-in Tariff provisions:
The Feed-in Tariff guarantees you a steady return on investment over 25 years
However, from 1st April 2012, the rate of return on any new investment in solar panels will be reduced. Solar PV systems installed after that date will no longer make their owners 43.3p per kWh; owners will instead be pocketing 39.6p – an 8.5% drop. Multiplied over many years, these figures certainly add up: If you have an £8,000 solar system installed on your roof now, you will be making back up to £800 per year – and that’s not counting what you are probably saving on your energy bills by making use of the free electricity flowing around your house. An identical system installed on or after 1st April 2012 would only get you £732 per year. Over 25 years, that difference equates to nearly £2,000! If you are at all considering getting solar panels installed on your roof (or mounted on the ground in your garden), then time is money and now is the time!
So why will the team here at Southern Solar be so busy in the coming months? Because ever more green-minded home-owners are making not to miss out on the favourable rate of return currently guaranteed by this investment. Your bank can’t offer you anywhere close to a 10% interest rate on your savings these days, which means the Feed-in Tariff is looking increasingly attractive to people who can put together enough cash for the initial payout (between £7,500 and £14,000 for a standard rooftop system). But as you now know, you mustn’t dawdle too long, for even that is about to change.
One last point I’d like to make: If you can’t afford to get solar panels on your roof within the next 6 months, do not despair! The new rates remain very much in favour of the customer, so future investment in the technology is nevertheless likely to turn a respectable profit.
Link: Feed-in Tariff Payment Rate Table. A table showing how rate of return on new investments decreases from year to year. For most domestic projects, see page 2, row 6 – “Solar photovoltaic with total installed capacity of 4kW or less”.
