If you’ve clicked on this article, you’re potentially toying with the idea of installing solar panels to power your home. We’ll explore all the benefits (with evidence) and answer some of the most frequently asked questions like “Is it possible to power my home with only solar panels in the UK?” or “Is it even worth getting solar panels?”. So, without delay, let’s get started.
Reduce Your Electricity Bills with a Partially Off-the-Grid System
Homeowners are often researching ways to reduce their bills, but this exploded in 2022. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, wholesale gas prices shot through the roof. This led to increased electricity prices, given the UK produces over 50% of its electricity from gas.
We saw over 30 energy middlemen, including Bulb, with over 1.7 million customers entering administration, due to their flawed just-in-time model. Consequently, homeowners had to change their suppliers and endure higher monthly bills.
According to GreenMatch, an average 2-person household consumes 2,000kw/h of electricity per year, which is an average of 5.48kw/h of electricity per day. If one solar panel can produce up to 0.4kw/h of electricity per hour, you would need about 14 panels to cover full usage in ideal conditions, such as sunny every day for maximum efficiency.
However, there are approximately 190 days of the 365 in a year that is sunny for 8 hours if you live in London. This means the 14 panels would generate 1064kw/h per year, which is only 53.2% of the required energy (if 2,000kw/h per year). In other words, you would pay for 46.8% of your electricity from an energy supplier. Unless…
No Electricity Bills with a Fully Off-the-Grid System
Having read the previous section, you’re probably wondering whether it’s possible to stop receiving electricity bills. And, the answer is: yes. But, as you can imagine, it does depend on a number of factors, and it’s unlikely that it’s possible for you. Let’s explain why.
Using the example above of a 2-person household consuming 2,000kw/h of electricity per year, and each panel is 1.6m², would require a minimum of 22.4m² of usable roof space for 14 panels. However, they would need approximately double to generate all their electricity in 1560 hours (190 days) of sunlight a year. This, would, therefore, require double the amount of usable roof space, but roof strength, and facing the right direction. This example doesn’t include cloudy days, which still produce electricity, so you’d need fewer panels anyway.
However, all of this excess daily energy created must be stored rather than selling it to an energy supplier. This becomes a hugely costly installation of effectively giant power banks on the wall of your property.
The approximate roof sizes of a mid-terrace property are 55m², a 3-bed semi-detached is 70m², a 3-bed bungalow and a 4-bed detached is 100m². So, it’s possible that a solar panel system that generates all required electricity could be installed in this example.
Reduce Dependence on Sunny Days
Solar panels are most efficient when the sun is shining. However, they still work on cloudy days. The UK, unlike warmer European countries, naturally receives less sunlight, which makes producing sufficient electricity highly dependent, unless more panels are installed.
While daily usage of electricity varies, it’s important to recognise that you can store unused electricity generated in a storage bank like the Tesla Powerwall. According to Tesla, their Powerwall stores 13.5kw/h of electricity. Using the example above with a daily usage of 5.48kw/h, that means approximately 2 and a half days hours of electricity stored.
It doesn’t sound like a significant amount of electricity, but you can install more than one Powerwall on the exterior wall of your home. So, depending on your energy usage, and the number of Powerwalls, you could have two or more weeks’ worth.
Sell Electricity to the National Grid
If you were an early adopter of solar panels 20 odd years ago, then the tariffs for supplying the national grid were highly rewarding. However, the cost of installation was significantly more expensive than it is today.
Nonetheless, it’s still better to receive some reward than no reward at all via the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) scheme. The rate you’ll receive will vary depending on your energy supplier, but it’s typically between 4p and 6p per kw/h. Of course, some will offer more or less.
We’ve created a small table showing you how much some of the most popular electricity suppliers will pay you for unused electricity generated from your solar panels. In order to receive this reward, you must use them when your power bank or solar panels don’t generate sufficient electricity.
Some suppliers will pay you without being a customer, but the amount is significantly lower. There are also other caveats depending on the supplier, so further investigation is required.
| Supplier | Amount |
| British Gas | 6.4p per kw/h |
| EDF Energy | 5.6p per kw/h |
| e.On | 5.5p per kw/h |
| Octopus | 4.1p per kw/h |
| SSE | 3.5p per kw/h |
Become a Contributing Member to a Greener Planet
Generating electricity via solar energy is environmentally friendly in the sense that the panels, once installed, they don’t emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
However, in order to manufacture solar panels, metals and rare earth minerals need to be mined, and then, of course, the production process, including the transportation of raw materials and the finished product. This produces carbon dioxide. Treehugger wrote a fantastic article highlighting the carbon footprint of solar panels from mining to the finished product.
Nonetheless, the carbon footprint of a solar panel becomes carbon neutral within a couple of years, and they typically last 25 to 30 years, which makes them considerably more environmentally friendly than other forms of generating electricity.
Thinking About Installing Solar Panels?
If you’re thinking about installing solar panels on your home in or around London, consider EHGE Solar Solutions for a free survey and quote from a solar engineer rather than a salesperson.
