How Our Solar Panels Have Performed After 1 Year
energy green power solar · 6 comments · 300 words · read ~295 times.
Last year, Liz and I took the plunge and had Solar Panels installed on the house we rent out. I've been tracking their progress, and so now it's time for our yearly update.
We based our estimations on the Europa Solar Calculator which estimated that they would generate around 2,700 kWh per year.
Annoyingly, we haven't been able to hook the panels up to the Internet, so I can't get daily readings. So, every three months we have to manually look at the meter. Last month, after a year of operation, it stood at...
03172.42 kWh
That totally busted through our estimations!
The last three months saw them generate a whopping 489 kWh. 
Now, I'm not sure if the weather this year has been particularly favourable, and I've no idea if next year will be as sunny, nor do I know whether the panels effectiveness will degrade over time.
But, still, that's pretty damn impressive!
Money Money Money
The current Feed-In-Tariff set by the Government (and guaranteed for 25 year to rise with inflation) is around £0.454 per kWh generated, plus £0.03 per kWh exported to the grid. It's assumed that 50% of what you generate is exported.
That means, over a year, our solar panels have earned us, roughly £1,500! (The price has recently gone up, so it's not a straight calculation.)
That's comfortably ahead of our expectations of £1,200 per year. It also doesn't take into account energy savings - we don't live there - so with the recent energy price rises, that's a decent saving for the tenants.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how they perform over the next twelve months.
If you'd like solar panels installed, I can highly recommend Sunny Future Solar.
The British Summer Generates 1.5 MegaWatts Per Roof
How much was the installation?
As I mention in the first article, the total cost was £12,000. A hefty sum - but should easily be paid back within 10 years.
Out of curiosity, at that rate of income, how long will it take you to recoup your investment?
We had initially estimated that it would take around 10 years to pay off the £12k cost of the panels. Assuming we keep getting £1,500 per year, that takes it down to ~8 years.
If we are lucky enough to get that amount every year for 25 years, that would net us £37k. Which is roughly the equivalent of a 4.7% ROI (assuming I've done my sums correctly). A little better than the top ISA rate.
I've been thinking of getting solar panels for the past 6 months!
Just wondering what direction the panels are facing? My house sits facing roughly NW so I expect any income to be less than 50% of a W or E facing roof
The house is E/W. Best thing you can do is get a solar installation company to do a survey of your property. They should be able to work out how much sun they're likely to get.