Solar Panels Don’t Work in the Winter and Other Myths

You may have heard someone say that solar panels don’t work in winter because it’s too cold, or that the UK is a poor environment for solar PV systems because there isn’t enough sun. Both of those statements are based on a misunderstanding of how solar panels work. In fact, heat has nothing to do with generating electricity from the sun – it’s the light that does the magic – so cold winters make no difference at all in the generating capacity of solar panels. As far as the UK climate goes, it has a very similar climate to Germany, which has generates a higher percentage of its electricity from solar PV systems than any other country in the world. According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, about 85% of the rooftops in the UK are capable of generating up to 50% of their household’s electricity from solar panels.

Those are just a few of the myths floating around about generating electricity from solar panels. Here are a few more questions and myths floating around the Internet about solar electricity.

If You Switch to Solar Panels, You Won’t Have Electricity at Night

Solar panels only generate electricity during daylight hours, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t have electricity after dark. The most common solar PV systems are grid-tied systems – a system in which your home has both solar electricity and electricity from traditional sources. During the day, your home draws on the solar panels first for electricity. If you need more than your solar panels are generating at the time, your system will draw from the grid. At night, you’ll get your electricity just as you always have. There’s an additional bonus to grid-tied systems. Any electricity generated by your solar PV system that you don’t use gets fed directly into the grid and is added to the electricity available to others.

You’ll Never Recover the Costs of Installing Solar Panels on Your Roof

In the UK, people who install solar panels on their roofs can qualify for the Feed-in Tariff scheme, which will pay you for the electricity you generate. If you qualify for FITs – and most home solar PV systems will – the government will pay you for every kWh your system generates, even the electricity that you use in your own home. With the FITs, DECC estimates that you’ll recover the entire cost of installing your solar panels within 8 to 10 years.

Solar PV systems are an excellent way to reduce your dependence on traditional sources of energy. For more information about how solar panels can impact your electricity costs and improve your self-sufficiency, contact a local solar panels installer.