Here in the UK there is a government backed scheme known as the Feed In tariff that guarantees you an income from solar energy for the next 25 years.

By having solar panels installed on your roof the energy produced means you will receive 41.3p per Kw of energy produced, plus produce any surplus and receive an extra 3p per kw when you export this back to the national grid. This means any electricity you use that’s been generated via your solar panels will not only cost you nothing but you will get paid for it as well.

A typical 4KW solar power system on your home should earn you around £1500 a year, and this is guaranteed for the next 25 years!

Solar energy produced by the light from the sun is clean and efficient, solar power is produced by taking the light from the sun via solar photovoltaic panels and converting it to electricity.

We already know that solar energy is environmentally friendly and now that the government has pledged to buy back the energy produced for the next 25 years installation can make financial sense.

What if you move house

Upfront costs of installing a solar power system to your home isn’t cheap but once you look at the potential returns solar power seems like a no-brainer. So let’ assume you might move house in a few years’ time, ok so you’ve enjoyed the benefits and potentially free electricity for years but can you imagine what a potential buyer of your house is going to think, the way energy prices seem to be rising buying a house with access not just to free electricity for personal use but a guaranteed income from the electricity as well. In the future we will see houses coming on to the market that already have solar panels fitted. Once a system is registered it is the system that is locked into the rate at that time, hence why the early adopters are locked it at such a high rate. Plus the rate you get locked into is index linked to the RPI every year for the 25 years as well. Therefore the system can be passed from owner to owner, the system cannot however be moved to another property.

Technology Constantly Advancing

If we look at how fast technology has moved in recent years, take the internal combustion engine, 25 years ago engines were unreliable, in efficient and usually worn out by 100k miles, todays car engines can go for many miles between servicing and 100k miles is easy achievable and took much less fuel to cover them. You cannot talk about technology advancements over the last 25 years without mentioning the personal computer, I used one to write this and you are using one to read it, but look back to the days before windows existed, Amstrad and BBC Basic are museum pieces now days.

The point here is solar power will go the same way, efficiencies in the amount of electricity produced are improving all the time, build quality of the panels are so good that many are guaranteed for 20 years or more, in fact there have been solar panels in space for over 50 years and going from -160 to +200 degrees C every 90 minutes.

Solar power is here to stay, and rest assured they can produce energy even on cloudy days which is just as well if you live in the UK.