Shining a Light on Solar Panels

Solar power is here to stay – and it’s about time. While solar panels had been around for a while, solar PV systems first became popular as an alternative to traditional energy sources during the Middle East oil crisis in the early to mid-1970s. There was an initial burst of enthusiasm as governments around the world – the UK and the US in particular – enacted legislation to offer rebates and subsidies for manufactures and buyers of solar panels and solar PV systems. Unfortunately, as so often happens, when the immediate crisis passed and oil prices returned to more reasonable rates, people lost interest in solar power and alternative energy sources.

For the most part, interest in green energy remained low until the rising evidence of climate change focused attention on the adverse effects of carbon-based electricity generation on the environment. Now, driven by the dangers to the planet and the again-rising costs of oil for energy production, solar panels and solar PV systems are back on the front burner. The UK is even paying people to put solar panels on their roofs and use the free electricity generated by their own solar PV systems.

The pay-for-play scheme is attracting many property owners and businesses who would normally not have considered solar panels before. The Feed-In Tariff scheme is meant to encourage as many people as possible to adopt alternative energy sources for electricity generation. It pays a tariff to property owners for each kilowatt hour (kWh) generated by their solar panels or other qualified microgeneration systems, including the electricity that is used by the homeowner. There’s an additional bonus tariff for any excess electricity produced and fed back into the electrical grid for others to use. The tariff rate is set by the government, and once your system is registered, you’re guaranteed to receive those payments at the agreed-upon rate for 25 years even if future legislation lowers the tariff rate for new participants.

There are also several different levels of tariff, based upon the size of the solar PV system – essentially, the larger solar energy systems receive a lower per kWh tariff, while smaller family-sized solar PV systems receive the top rate available.

If you’ve considered solar panels for electricity generation, you can learn more about what’s involved and about qualifying to receive payments through the FITs for the electricity you generate. Just call a local solar PV installation company in your area and schedule a consultation to learn if your home qualifies for the program.