Are Free Solar Panels Worth the Investment?

At first glance, it looks like a great deal. A company representative comes knocking on your door and offers to install solar panels on your roof for nothing – that’s a £10,000 savings that’s bound to pay off in lower electric bills for the rest of the time you live in that building. All they ask in return is for you to sign over your payments from FiTs, the feed-in tariff scheme that pays homeowners for every unit of electricity generated by their solar PV systems. Don’t jump on the deal too fast, though, a solar energy expert told the Guardian last summer. You may be giving up far more than you realize.

What You Lose When You Opt for Free Solar Panels

According to the Guardian article, which was published in August 2010, the FiTs is worth anywhere from £900 to £1,425 a year, guaranteed for 25 years. Those calculations were made using the 43.3p per unit tariff rate that was current at the time and still is. The government is working at lowering that rate for people coming into the program in the future in order to keep it within budget, but even at the lower rate of 21.1p per unit, you’re still looking at about £450 to £720 per year, and that rate will be guaranteed for 25 years. That’s a total of £11,250 to £18,000 you’d be giving up.

What You Get When You Buy Your Own Solar PV System

When you opt to install solar panels that you own, that money will go into your pockets instead of into the pockets of some investor – and it’s the cherry on top of the cake rather than the cake. In addition to the FiTs payments, you’ll also realize £150 to £275 of savings on your electric bill each year – and that doesn’t stop after 25 years. In fact, there are solar panels that were installed in the 1970s and 1980s that are still operating at peak efficiency. When you add up the savings and the payments, you’re looking at £15,000 to £25,000 in earnings from your £10,000 or so investment.

Of course, your mileage may vary. The actual savings and earnings from a solar PV system depends on how much electricity you use and how efficient your solar panels are, as well as on how much you pay for your solar PV system and installation. Overall, though, most experts agree – if you can put together the cash or get a loan for the cost of installing solar panels, you’re far better off doing it that.