Find a Solar Panel Installer you can trust in Inverness.

How long your solar panels will last depends on their age and quality. Most modern solar panels have 20-30 year warranties, but this doesn’t mean that they’ll stop working at this point. Many will stay at a good efficiency level for up to 40 years, while others will start to decline earlier.

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.

When you’re about to transform from the standard electricity to solar energy, what determines your solar system’s size is the amount of solar that’s required. The amount of solar that you’ll need, on the other hand, requires considering the end goal, be it to increase money savings, reduce environmental contamination, maximize Returns On Investment ( ROI), or just to copy what the neighbour’s done.

In order the determine the number of solar panels that is needed, the first step would be to calculate the number of kWhs that’s currently being used. A kWh is what’s used to determine the amount of energy that has been incorporated over time which the utility uses to bill you. What’s strongly recommended to create a suitable range is a 6 to 12 months average of your household electricity bill. Other factors that can play a key role in the determination of the number of solar panel needed include the following:

✓ Sunlight exposure hours. In order to know just how much energy your solar panels will generate, there’s a need to know the number of direct sunlight hours you should expect on a daily basis. For example if you stay in a region that’s usually very sunny, then it’ll be reasonable to expect more energy production per panel than regions that are usually cloudy.

✓ Angle and size of the roof. Roofs with a lot of workable space may require to let go of some efficiency opting for larger and cost effective panels to achieve the targeted energy. However not all homeowners have sufficient roof space or shade coverage for the solar panel they actually want. Also, the degree at which the roof slants will also determine if the sunlight is hitting the panels well enough and the amount of energy that can be generated thereof.

Yes – solar panels do work in winter. Contrary to popular belief, solar panels can still work under daylight, even if it's not hot. Of course, they won’t generate as much electricity as they would during the summer months, as the days are shorter, but they will still generate electricity during those daylight hours.

Once you know how solar panels work, it’s easy to understand why solar panels work in the winter. Solar panels are made up of photovoltaic (PV) cells, which are units usually made out of silicon. These cells contain electrons that create energy when light hits them. The cell can then convert this energy into usable electric current and into your system to be used around the home.

Although it might seem strange, solar PV cells can actually work better when it’s cold. Too much heat around the cell can cause it to be inefficient, due to the difference in energy between the energy from the sunlight and the electrons in the solar cell. During cold weather, the difference between them is higher, so more

The higher the energy difference between the two sets of energy sources, the more power that the cell can produce when it’s struck by light. Of course, the downside is that there are fewer daylight hours in the winter, so you’ll still see a drop in energy production – but at least you know that your solar panels are still working efficiently. The other thing to bear in mind is that obstructions like snow and lots of cloud cover will impact the amount of electricity your solar panels will produce. Luckily the UK doesn’t get too much heavy snow, so any snow that does settle on the panels will melt quickly. As for cloud cover, even on exceptionally cloudy days your panels will still generate some electricity – just not as much as they would on a clear day.

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.

Tesla’s top-of-the-range battery storage system is still one of the most expensive on the market. It has a huge 13.5kWh usable capacity and can even keep you up and running during a power cut. But how long does a Tesla Powerwall battery last? And does this mean it’s worth investing in one?

The Tesla Powerwall 2.0 comes with a 10-year warranty. But Tesla says that it should last way beyond this – at least 5 years longer. The standard warranty says that it should work at 70% capacity for the full 10 years – so if it loses more than 30% of its storage capacity within that time, it should still be covered.

While the Tesla Powerwall does last a long time, it has a large capacity that most average households won’t require, and it’s a costly option. After installation, the Powerwall 2.0 will set you back between £6,500 and £9,000, so ideally you want it to last past its 10-year warranty.

Before you splash out, consider the size of the solar panel system you want to install or you already have. Will it generate enough electricity to make it worth storing in the Powerwall? If not, are you expecting to upgrade your solar panels to a larger system in the future? If you are, then it might be worth investing in a Powerwall. It might also be better to wait until you come to upgrade your solar panels – the solar battery price trend is going the same way as solar panels, so they will probably continue to decrease in price as more people adopt the technology.