If 2021 taught us anything, it’s that we are undeniably on the verge of a terrible climate crisis. Wildfires, severe weather events, and extreme temperatures have all been on the rise, compelling more and more of us to action.
Rather than dwelling on some of the shocking statistics of the previous year, we are deciding instead to look hopefully towards the future. The new year has dawned, and with it, a number of opportunities to help mother earth on her road to recovery – solar panels being chief among them.
Year after year, solar panels have proven themselves to be a crucial ally in the fight against climate change. But it’s not just the planet that benefits from the convertible power of the sun; your pocket also stands to gain a LOT in the long run.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top five reasons why you need solar panels in 2022.
Get paid for the excess energy you generate
In January 2020, the Government launched a new scheme known as the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), which basically rewards households for any excess electricity generated by their solar panels.
If you generate solar energy which you don’t use yourself, it gets pumped back into the national energy grid for use in other homes and businesses, and you get paid for it.
You’ll have to shop around for the best tariffs (we can help with that), but as of January 2022, you could get as much as 6p per kWh. Combined with your energy bill savings, this could earn you as much as £200 a year.
Reduce your carbon emissions
When it comes to saving the planet, lowering our home’s carbon footprints is one of the best things we can do as individuals, and solar panels are of course a sure-fire way of doing just that.
Solar energy is totally clean. There is no fuel to burn, nor any gas to guzzle, meaning that no greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. As a renewable, sustainable, emission-free power source, the carbon footprint of solar power is next to nothing compared to other power generation methods.
The sun has enough beans to give us all the energy we’ll ever need, and then some. Provided we can turn that solar energy into usable electricity (which we can), the sun could easily power every home in the UK. Imagine how much better off we’d be if every house went solar?
Spend less time and money on maintenance
A well designed, properly installed solar PV system requires very little maintenance. This is because there are no moving parts, and all components of the system are built to last a very long time.
The only guaranteed maintenance cost is replacing the inverter, but this typically isn’t necessary until around the 15-year mark.
Solar panels are highly durable and resilient, and though the technology is constantly improving, even the earliest models have been known to produce for 20+ years!
Today, most manufacturers offer a 25-year production warranty on their solar panels. However, there is plenty of real-world evidence to show that solar panels can easily last for 30+ years.
Save money on your utility bills
Solar power is a free and unlimited resource. Once your panels are installed, they won’t cost you any more money, and you’ll be generating free electricity.
The less electricity you have to take from the grid, the lower your electricity bills will be. As the Energy Saving Trust estimates, a typical four-kilowatt peak (kWp) system can knock between £90 and £240 a year off your bill.
If you are planning on staying in your home for a long time, then your solar panels will eventually pay for themselves, which could conceivably happen in less than a decade. If you’ll be staying in your home for 20+, this will result in huge long-term savings.
Increase the value of your home
A recent study by the good folk at Solar Energy UK confirmed that solar panels do, in fact, increase the value of a UK home – by as much as £3,000. We explored the report in more detail in this blog.
Combined with the potential yearly savings of going solar, this value increase means that solar panels can effectively pay for themselves in as little as nine years. So even if you have no intention of selling your home any time soon, solar panels are an undeniably smart long-term investment.
It is very likely that the value-increasing potential of solar panels will grow further throughout 2022, and beyond.
If you want to save money, earn money, help save the planet, and increase the value of your home with a long-term, maintenance-free, unlimited power-generating solution, get in touch. With the solar experts at MTG, you could kick off 2022 with these fantastic solar rewards.