Solar Panels Installation
Solar energy is changing the way in which people run their homes. Electricity and hot water can now be generated by solar panels; this saves families and businesses hundreds of pounds each year in energy bills and helps to significantly reduce carbon emissions. Thousands of people across the UK are now turning to solar panel installation thanks to the benefits on offer.
Benefits of solar panel installation
The benefits of having solar panels installed at your home or business are vast; the biggest benefit of all is of course, saving money. The sun is the most powerful and natural energy providing tool in the world and provides the earth with more energy in one hour than the people of the world use in one year; solar panels are designed so that people can harness some of this free power.
Solar panel installation can be beneficial for all energy using buildings and even if the panels don’t collect enough sunlight to power the whole of the building, they can collect enough so that energy bills are reduced significantly.
A new government scheme launched in April 2010 makes the installation of solar panels appealing to all. The scheme is called the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme and offers guaranteed cash payments to UK households and community groups that are able to produce their own energy. The scheme works by basically allowing you to sell any of your unused energy back to the national grid and is designed to cover the cost of solar installation over a 25 year period.
Types of solar panel installation
There are two main types of solar panel system that can be installed to create energy these are solar thermal (also known as solar water heating) and solar photovoltaic (PV).
Solar thermal is installed to solely heat water by using energy from the sun; it is commonly used for domestic hot water systems. This type of solar panel will cost significantly less than solar PV to install although is currently not eligible for any kind of grant or incentive to help fund the system. This is set to change in 2012 when the British government introduce the Renewable Heat Incentive in late 2012.
Solar photovoltaic involves using the suns energy to power the home with electricity. Any electricity generated can be used for the home with any unused electric being sold back to the national grid. This type of solar panel installation is a lot more costly that solar heating and you can expect to pay around £12,000 for a typical system, there is however the incentive of the feed-in tariff scheme.
Choosing the correct solar energy
There is a lot to consider when installing solar panels in the home or at your place of work. Planning permission is no longer required which significantly speeds up the process but making sure your home has enough roof space and is facing a southwest to southeast will help to gain the maximum benefit from solar panels. The Energy Saving Trust website is a good place to visit and they can help calculate which energy generating systems are best for your home.
