{"id":7863,"date":"2017-12-20T18:12:26","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T17:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7863"},"modified":"2017-12-20T18:12:26","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T17:12:26","slug":"solar-panels-still-good-investment-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7863","title":{"rendered":"Are Solar Panels still a good investment in the UK?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCN1669\"<\/a>Are Solar Panels still a good investment in the UK?\u00a0 I have been putting some of my FIT income in a spreadsheet.\u00a0 I’ve read a bit about this recently and the answer to the the question “are Solar Panels still a good investment in the UK?” seems to be yes.<\/p>\n

The background of course is the huge cuts in the Feed in tariff that have taken place over the last few years as the solars’ success has led to the funds allocated for this not being enough and being blamed (only partly correctly) for rising bills.\u00a0 Currently for new systems (OCT17) the rate paid per unit is 4p when the Feed in tariff (FIT) was launched in 2010 it was about 10 times as much.<\/p>\n

However three other factors have to be taken into account which work in solars’ favour.\u00a0 The first is the price of systems has plunged although this rate of reduction is slowing.\u00a0 The second is the price of electricity has risen.\u00a0 Some people say the returns from electricity savings<\/a> now outpace those of the FIT.\u00a0 This is a surprise but the figures given look plausible.\u00a0 It has to be said all calculations rely on steadily rising electricity prices going forward although there is little to believe at the moment this is going to change much. \u00a0 The third factor is the very low rate of returns on other investments.\u00a0 Very low interest rates and quantitative easing since 2008 have led to very low returns on almost all other investments.<\/p>\n

Have a look at a look at investment returns<\/a> on this current best returns list.\u00a0 The very high ones are the most risky.\u00a0 That’s not to say they are dodgy<\/em> by any<\/em> means but while still legit<\/strong> are more risky and are not covered by the financial services compensation scheme (FSCS).\u00a0 By the time you scroll down and get to the less risky bank and building society investments you are getting less than a 2% return.\u00a0 Compare this with the aim for solar systems of 4.5% PA return (at first 4.11 and now better at 4.9%) and you can see that solar still makes a good investment.\u00a0 Of course solar systems are not covered by the FSCS but do come with very long term guarantees and are very reliable.<\/p>\n

Financial investment is not the only or even the main reason you should or I did invest in PV systems.\u00a0 Energy security and tackling climate change are the main ones.\u00a0\u00a0 The golden rules of investment are don’t put all your money in one thing, ignore telephone scams (its amazing as I have written how many of these are energy related) and do some background checks on the company concerned.<\/p>\n

Neil<\/p>\n

PS. This PV return on investment calculator<\/a> although complicated is giving me accurate answers on my current PV income putting in all my details.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are Solar Panels still a good investment in the UK?\u00a0 I have been putting some of my FIT income in a spreadsheet.\u00a0 I’ve read a bit about this recently and the answer to the the question “are Solar Panels still … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,176,1],"tags":[177,224],"class_list":["post-7863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renewables","category-solar","category-uncategorized","tag-solar","tag-solar-pv"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Solar Panels still a good investment in the UK? - The oil lamp - shining God's light on peak oil<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7863\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7863\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=7863\",\"name\":\"Are Solar Panels still a good investment in the UK? 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