Find a Solar Panel Installer you can trust in Aberdovey.

Solar panels provide an alternative to paying expensive National Grid energy rates, so primarily their first major benefit is helping to reduce bills. Solar PV panels will produce free electricity, whilst solar thermal panels generate heat for hot water and space heating. There are also payment incentives known as the Feed-in Tariff scheme (FITs) (for solar PV) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (for solar thermal) which guarantee a tax-free income for 20 years.

You shouldn’t need to maintain your solar panels much at all as long as there’s nothing piled up on top of the panels that could block out the sun. They are installed at an angle, so when it rains the water runs off them and gives them a clean. However, if this doesn’t quite cut it, you can spray them with a hose a few times a year.

If you’re considering getting a solar thermal system, one of the first things that comes to mind is the possibility of the system functioning properly during the cold months. The short and simple answer to this question is yes, a solar thermal system works in the winter. However, the downside here is that it’ll be a lot less efficient when compared to how it operates during the warmer months or summer. As a result of this fact, you’ll likely need to rely more on your boiler, immersion heater or any other backup heating system during this period as your solar thermal system will fail to contribute as much as it does during the warmer months. So what exactly is the reason why solar thermal is less effective and less efficient in the winter period? Let’s have a look!

As you know, solar thermal system banks on the sun’s energy to heat the water for your home’s use. During the cold months or winter, the sunlight becomes a lot less available when compared to the warmer months, as a result, there’s less sunlight that’s available to be used for its solar energy. And even more so at the periods when the days are shorter or skies are clearly overcast.

Also having a great impact on a solar thermal system’s output is heavy snow. Flat plate collectors normally have the capacity to cope better during snowy conditions as the light that’s able to travel through the snow will heat up the absorber plate - thereby making the snow slide off more quickly. However, the case is contrary with evacuated tube collectors which possesses a form of vacuum insulation that’s crafted to minimize the loss of heat, meaning they can’t generate heat to melt and cause the snow to slide off in a similar way.

Solar panels are a great source of energy with numerous benefits that comes with it. However, the main thing that puts off most homeowners or potential buyers is the fact that the equipment are usually very expensive. So if you’re planning to purchase solar panels to be installed in your home, then you’d probably want to know if it’s actually worth the investment or otherwise. In this article, we aim to give you a good insight into how solar panels works and if its a viable investment.

Generally, the length of time it will take for your solar panels to payback and whether you’ll be able to make money from them will be based on the following factors:

✓ The solar panel PV system’s cost.

✓ The amount of the generated electricity that you’re able to use.

✓ Whether as well as the amount you’re paid to the electricity you’re able to generate and export.

To know whether your solar panels are truly worth it, then a higher initial cost to fit the system will require to be settled with the amount you’re able to save through the use of the renewable electricity it produces, rather than making purchases from your electricity company. In other words, the more renewable energy you’re able to use, the more savings you make. If you’re registered for the FIT and paid per kWh of electricity produced, for 50 percent of that, which is assumed to be exported to the grid. Therefore, if you’re able to use more than 50 percent, you’ll be able to benefit from the investment.

Obviously the performance of a solar thermal system will vary depending on the location of the home, the insulation of the property, and your own hot water requirements. Solar thermal panels are capable of providing all of your hot water requirements from April to September. They will still make a contribution to your hot water needs for the rest of the year, but in general you will need a backup system to further heat the water in the colder months.

Solar PV panels work by converting sunlight into electricity. They’re made up of photovoltaic cells, which take in the sun’s rays and turn it into direct current (DC) electricity. The current is then channelled into an inverter, which converts it to alternating current (AC).

Once converted to AC, the electricity is ready to use. It’s fed through a meter and into your property’s consumer unit, and is automatically used to power appliances and heating systems. Your system will automatically switch between your solar electricity supply and the national grid, and export any solar electricity you don’t use to the national grid.