Today the first Thin Film solar panels have been added to CompareMySolar. It regards the brand ‘Solar Frontier’ and has been added by Devon based solar installer Sol Electrical. Surprisingly the price-point is very competitive at £6.900 for a 4kWp system. Let’s look a bit more into what makes thin film panels different Continue reading
Solar panel prices continued their drop in August and September and have dropped now nearly two-thirds since early 2011. A 4kWp system (16 solar panels) that used to cost £15.000 is currently available from £5.700. On a South-facing roof in these panels will pay back about £1.000 per year, which is a return of 18%. Due to these price drops, solar panels still provide an excellent return despite the Feed-in-Tariff subsidy cuts. 
Our price index for solar panels (incl. VAT and installation) is currently 62% lower than early 2011. Our expectation is that prices will drop towards £5.500 due to lower consumer demand after the Feed-in-tariff cut of August. Only a few installers are currently offering these low prices (lowest prices are even at £5.000), but the experience learns that once a lower price point is set, the rest of the market will follow. Some actual examples of low prices are:
Scotland solar panels: £5.850 for 4kWp (Energy & Management UK)
Manchester solar panels: £5.490 for 4kWp (CTS Renewables)
Kent solar panels: £5.700 for 4kWp (South Eastern Solar)
Bristol solar panels: £5.000 for 4kWp (Your Power UK)
On a South-facing roof in e.g. Exeter a 4kWp system will produce around 4.000 kWh per year. This will provide a year one return of around £1.000, which is around 18% on the best available solar panel prices (around £5.700), as shown in the second graph. Surprisingly, the financial return is better than many months that were on higher Feed-in-Tariff rates due to the strong price drops of solar panels. We expect the solar panel return to rise slowly in the next few months due to further prices cuts from solar installers.
Solar panel prices continued their drop in June and July and have dropped now over 60% since early 2011. A 4kWp system (16 solar panels) that used to cost £15.000 is currently available for around £6.000. On a South-facing roof in these panels will pay back about £1.000 per year, which is a return of 18%. Due to these price drops, solar panels still provide an excellent return despite the Feed-in-Tariff subsidy cuts. Continue reading
The Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) rate of 16 pence per kWh for 20 years is valid from today the 1st of August. Despite cuts in the Feed-in-tariff, it still provides about your financial return over 25 years. And since solar panel prices have dropped significantly in the last year, your return on investment is just as good now as it was on earlier Feed-in-Tariff rates. Continue reading
Based on the DECC numbers of last week, CompareMySolar looks ahead and provides a forecast of the expected number of solar installations. Since the Feed-in-tariff will be cut from August 1st, another mini-boom of installations is expected in the next two weeks. Continue reading
The Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Greg Barker, has had a difficult interview on Radio 4 yesterday, according to this article from the SolarPowerPortal. He was (once again) accused of destroying the solar industry with the Feed-in-Tariff cuts. Rather than doing the same, I’d rather focus on the accurate knowledge of solar panel prices coming from Greg Barker – which could be the result of him visiting our CompareMySolar website… Continue reading
Now the new Feed-in-Tariffs have been announced to be valid from August, it’s time to look at some of the details of the government announcement. One of the key ideas is automatic degression (reduction) on a 3-month basis. The amount of degression would be based on the volume of installations in the previous 3-month period. However, this could mean further Feed-in-Tariff cuts of more than 50% in the coming year.
Solar panel prices dropped over 50% since early 2011 according to CompareMySolar research. A 4kWp system (16 solar panels) that used to cost £15.000 is currently available from £6.500. On a South-facing roof in these panels will pay back about £1.200 per year, which is a return of 19%. Solar panels provide an especially great return before the Feed-in-Tariff subsidy cuts this August. Enter your postcode now to select your roof and compare solar panel prices from local installers. Continue reading
The Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) rate of 21 pence per kWh for 25 years is still valid in June and July this year. From August 2012 the rate will drop 5 pence towards 16 pence per kWh and it will only be valid for 20 years. This means your total Feed-in-Tariff payments over 25 years will be 40% lower from August. Because solar panel prices have dropped significantly in the last year, June and July will be excellent months to install solar. So beat the FiT cuts and enter your postcode now. Continue reading
After reading an article in the Telegraph this Wednesday called: ‘When free solar panels can prove an expensive mistake.’ we’d like to stress and summarize the potential problems when installing solar panels for free on your roof. Inability to sell your house or to get a (new) mortgage are the main problem. Continue reading