Are Solar Panels a Sound Investment?

There’s a huge focus nowadays on making your home energy efficient, and there a number of government incentives around in order to help homeowners achieve this. The main focus is often on insulation, and making sure that energy isn’t being unnecessarily wasted.

We’ve all seen heat imagery that shows where houses most often lose their warmth, and these are the areas that people often target first. Loft and cavity insulation is often the cheapest way of starting to make a home efficient, followed by the replacement of windows and doors. Once you ensure that your property is exceptionally well insulated, and that the heating system is efficient, what do you do next? One option is to invest in solar panelling but you may have to take out finance to undertake this investment.

The Benefits

Solar panels are placed on the roof of your house, and they produce electricity whenever the sun shines on them. In reality, it doesn’t need to be bright for the panels to work, though they are clearly more effective throughout the summer. They are considered an extremely green energy source, and are not harmful to the environment. Houses with a large panel on the roof can produce enough energy to significantly reduce energy bills.

The best part however, is that you can be paid for the excess clean electricity that the solar panel produces, through a government scheme. This means that you can save on bills, and make money, potentially recouping the initial outlay. You should carefully consider the long term benefits and bear in mind that any government scheme can always be changed or withdrawn by future governments.

The Costs

It is worth noting that having solar panels fitted to your home is not a cheap procedure. Installation costs several thousand pounds, and some people will choose to take out a secured homeowner loan in order to finance it. Despite the high initial cost, a solar panel can indeed be considered an investment. Solar panels can be expected to last for 20 years, which means that there is a long period of time in which you can see a return on your purchase.

It’s also good to note that the value of your property may increase with panels fitted, although if you are planning to move, you might not get all the benefit of the panels or the return, and so not recover the cost of fitting them. One further point to note is that you will probably need the consent of your mortgage lender before having them installed.

So if you’re looking to take your home to the very highest levels of energy efficiency, then look into having solar panels installed.