Could solar panels be the best investment you make in your home this year?

Government guarantee schemes and increasing electricity bills make solar panels a compelling solution for the smart homeowner.

But what is solar power anyway?

Solar power uses photovoltaic (PV) cells on the roof of your house to convert light from the sun into electrical energy which can be used in your house, or fed back into the national grid. A chemical reaction creates a flow of electrons in the solar panel (direct current or D/C), which feeds into an inverter to convert this into alternating current (A/C) to power your house.

What if I don’t want my roof covered in big ugly solar panels?

There are now far more options for your solar installation than the “traditional” thick aluminium framed panels that first spring to mind. In fact there are now options including slate coloured solar tiles which integrate into your existing roof – not only generating electricity but improving the insulation of your house – saving you even more energy and cash!

I don’t live in Southern California – will solar panels still work here?

Solar panels don’t actually need sunshine to work, the photovoltaic cells react to daylight. So even on a completely overcast day solar panels can generate 40% of their potential electricity yield. And you are still connected to the electricity grid, so outside of daylight hours you can draw from the grid just as before. Plus, any extra electricity from your panels which you don’t use will be fed back to the grid and you’ll actually get paid for it!

Ok, it sounds good so far – what are my options then?

There are two options for home solar. If you have the cash up front to buy the panels then you can see large returns through both the savings on your electricity bill (on average between £70 and £130 per year) plus large returns through government back Feed-in-tariff schemes. This can see a profit over the 25 year life of the solar panels of over £15,000. The other option is for the solar panel installer to pay for the system’s installation and maintenance. They take the feed-in-tariff and you get the bill savings and satisfaction of a greener home completely for free.