Are solar panels a good idea?
Our advice is that before thinking of installing any kind of photovoltaic (PV) system (PV systems use daylight to power ordinary electrical equipment) onto a building you should ensure you’ve first done everything else you possibly can to make your home energy efficient. Insulation, low-energy light bulbs, low energy rated appliances… all of these are much more cost-effective than microgeneration installation. Prices for PV systems vary, depending on the size of the system to be installed, type of PV cell used and the building on which the PV system is mounted. For the average domestic system, costs can be around £4,000-£9,000 per kw installed A 2 kW system will provide around 1500 kWh of electricity per year, assuming the cells face due south. This is about 40% of a household’s needs, assuming heating/hot water is NOT by electricity. Using these figures it could take up to 40 years for the system to pay for itself*.
