Are Solar panels still a good investment despite Feed In Tariff drop?

Do Solar panels still give a good investment return?

The Feed In Tariff (FIT) rates have plummeted since 2011 but are solar panels still a good investment? When FITs were announced in 2010 the cost of solar panels were around £16,000 for a 3-4 kWp system and FIT payments were around 45p per kWh generated.



Do Solar panels still give a good investment return?

Since then FIT rates have dropped substantially but solar panel installation prices have done so too meaning that the relationship between solar PV panels and FIT has stayed roughly the same. The main difference between the returns now and in 2011 is that the current Feed in Tariff is only guaranteed for 20 years rather than the 25 years for the pre-2011 FIT rates.

So £16,000 for a system paying 45p FIT is much the same return as a £5000 system being paid out at 15p FIT rates. The solar electricity generated will be the same for a system regardless of the FIT rate paid so the returns should be comparable.

Do you agree or do you think that solar is no longer a good investment?

Do Solar Panels Generate Power in the winter if it is sunny?

Do solar panels generate power in the winter if it is sunny?

On sunny winter days solar panels will still generate electricity and can do so at fairly high rates. Solar panels are affected by temperature and on hot summer days the peak electricity output will be reduced as the temperature increases so winter with cooler days will help raise that peak.


Do solar panel generate power in the winter if it is sunny?

Against the improvement from temperature the length of day is reduced and the sun is much lower in the sky which will reduce the amount of solar panel electricity generated. Obviously on snowy days the electricity generated will be zero when the panels are covered in snow and when the panels are frosty as in the photo of our panels above they won't produce any power until the sun comes up and melts the frost off them.

The power generated from solar panels in the UK in winter is much lower than during summer months as you can see from the tables in the links below. December average from our panels is around 100kWh for the month but summer months such as June can generate well over 400kWh. So in summer the solar panels generated four times as much electricity as in winter - or in winter the electricity produced by solar panels is one quarter of the amount in summer.

Solar Panel electricity produced in winter

Solar power generated in January
Solar power produced in June

Monthly summary of solar electricity produced

Fitting Electric Oven - How to Connect New World NW601F Built In Electric Oven

The built in electric oven in the house had broken so I bought a new one from the fantastic AO.com. Ordered on a Sunday and the new oven was delivered the next day - an amazingly good service!

The New World Newworld NW601F Built In Electric Single Oven was shown as requiring professional installation by an electrician but on delivery it appeared that the connection to the power supply was identical to the existing oven so could be connected very easily.

Replacing Electric Oven - How to Connect New World NW601F Built In Electric Oven

How to Access the Terminals on New World NW601F Built In Electric Oven?

The rear of the oven has a black plastic cover that conceals the electrical terminals, you may need to use a small screwdriver to unclip the tabs that clip into place preventing the cover opening accidentally. Once the cover is open the terminals are visible so you can connect the N, L and Earth cables to the oven with the blue, brown and green cables. Once done, refit the oven in the kitchen and screw the sides to the units.



Fitting an electric oven to existing socket

Fitting an electric oven to existing power supply

How to open electrical terminal cover on New World oven

How to open electrical terminal cover on New World oven

How to fit New World NW601F Built In Electric Oven to power supply

August 2014 Poor Solar Generation

August 2014 was a very poor month for electricity generated from our solar panels with the lowest August generation since we had the panels and worse than June or July too.

During the month our solar panels produced 319kWh of electricity compared to 405kWh in August 2013.

Hopefully August solar panel output will be surpassed in September with sunny weather forecast for at least the first week or two.



August 2014 Poor Solar Generation

2014 Best Year Ever for Solar PV Installations in UK

Latest press release from Solar Essence shows that 2014 is UK solar PV's most popular year so far

2013's solar record is eclipsed as PV capacity installed in the first 6 months of 2014 is higher than the whole of last year

2013 was a record year for solar power installations, with an estimated 1.2GW installed across the UK. This figure has been bettered in just 6 months of 2014, however, with 1.47GW capacity installed already according to analysts NPD Solarbuzz.

Solar PV has benefited from stable government incentives, leading to low prices and strong returns.

Search Renewable Installations FIT Register - View Solar Installations by Region

The government keep a record of all solar and renewable energy installations in the UK that are eligible for FIT - Feed In Tariff payments. These details are published several times a year as an Excel spreadsheet but due to the volume of data it isn't very easy to see so I looked at loading the entire data set into a database to view instead.

The first view to search the data in the UK Renewable Installations FIT Register is here

This shows the number of FIT installations per UK regional area but other searches and views can be available.

If you would like to see the data in another way or to search for your own or nearby installations then please leave a comment with suggestions



Search Renewable Installations FIT Register

June 2014 Solar Panel Output Generation

Now that the sun has set I've checked the numbers for June 2014 and it has been our second best month for our solar panels. We generated a total of 420kWh of electricity this month which is some way of the best month ever which was 484kWh in 2013.

As seems to be usual at the moment predicted rain never materialised and June was a pretty dry month which many sunny spells which helped give a good generation total for the month. Although June is the month with the longest day, it is also at a disadvantage with warmer days which reduce solar electricity generation and one less day than July or May.

June 2014 Solar Panel Output Generation

Our total since we had our panels installed in November 2011 is now 8191kWh which I think must be pretty good as British Gas didn't believe our last FIT generation reading submitted and insisted that we provide a photo of the generation meter to verify it.