4 ms·

Doesn't UK weather make solar a bad idea?

• perlgeek 4y ago
  Ever-dropping prices for solar panels are slowly making it economically feasible where it used to be a bad idea. According to https://uk.renogy.com/blog/what-is-the-average-payback-period-for-solar-panels-in-the-uk/ https://uk.renogy.com/blog/what-is-the-average-payback-perio... the payback time is now around 12-18 years, which is worse than here in Germany (I did a calculation for a small 600W installation in my area, and it came back with 8 years), but still better than the expected life time (20-25 years). This data is from 2021, maybe rising energy prices will lower the amortization time. In general, smaller installations have lower amortization times, because the higher percentage of power produced that you consume yourself (and you pay more for a kWh than you get for selling one).
• teamonkey 4y ago
  Not a bad idea, just with a longer break-even point than many people can stomach. If you treat it as a long-term investment it still performs well enough with very little risk. It wouldn’t help in the case of these energy shortages though, unless you’re fully off-grid, as by law grid-tied inverters must shut off in the case of a black out, in order to prevent feedback to the grid.
• rwmj 4y ago
  Plenty of people seem to have it.