If you live in the United Kingdom, installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels offers 2 important financial benefits:

  • You immediately begin to save money.  Each additional kilowatt of solar capacity reduces your reliance on the utility grid.  Many homeowners discover that their monthly power bills shrink by 50%.
  • You immediately begin to make money.  Thanks to the UK’s feed-in tariff, you can sell your solar electricity to the utility company at a profit.

This is why more than 500,000 homeowners throughout the country have already gone solar.

However, doesn’t it cost money to install PV panels?  What if the money you save and make isn’t enough to offset the upfront cost of going solar?

You might generate oodles of extra cash but never actually turn a profit.

Fortunately, this isn’t a real danger – not even in the notoriously overcast United Kingdom.  Most solar customers not only cover their costs, but they come out financially ahead – way ahead.

Let’s take a look.

Making Pure Profit from Free Solar Electricity

Technically, you don’t have to spend any money to go solar.  If you lease your panels, you receive a brand-new PV system for free.  Once installed, your “rented” panels help to lower your utility bills and shrink your carbon footprint.  The downside of solar leasing, however, is that it’s the leasing company, not you, that profits in the long run.  So while you enjoy both financial and environmental savings, you’ll never be able to monetize the sunshine that hits your roof.

Solar leasing doesn’t offer profit potential.

However, if you own your solar installation (using cash or loans), you can make a lot of money.

How does that work exactly?

As the infographic above shows, the average profit for a 4 kW PV installation is more than £11,500 over a 25-year period (i.e. total earnings minus an upfront cost of £6,700 for parts and labour).

This number assumes ideal conditions like having a South-facing roof that doesn’t receive too much shading from nearby trees or buildings.  This number is also simply a national average.

  • Homes near Kirkwall and Inverness might generate solar profits closer to £10,000.
  • Residential properties around Exeter and Canterbury can expect profits to approach £14,000.

Either way, your solar investment puts money in the bank – far in excess of what you initially spent to install PV panels in the first place.  On top of this, you’re also saving money every month since you’ve replaced utility power with your own clean electricity.

What happens if your home doesn’t receive lots of direct sunlight or it isn’t facing in the right direction?

If you fall in this category, you won’t pocket as much money at the end of the day.  However, going solar is still a winning bet – especially if you consider the alternative.  Should you decide to stay with traditional grid electricity:

  • You won’t save money every month (in fact your bills will likely increase)
  • You won’t earn money every month (National Grid won’t mail you a check)

Worse still, you’re throwing away all of this cash to make your neighbourhood and community more polluted.  Grid electricity runs on fossil fuel.  By contrast, your income-generating solar installation runs on nothing but clean and free sunshine.

To better understand the economics at work, be sure to check out our comprehensive resource on Solar Energy Payback Periods, Savings, and ROIs.

If you’re ready to begin saving and making money today, request 3 free quotes today!