Solar panels are so immense in today’s world that their benefits are becoming a mouthful. They aid with the green movement towards a clean environment; they help store power for dark days; solar panel owners are rewarded with incentives through net metering, and even the cleaning and maintenance of panels are on the good side of things.
One feature that stands out, though, is the cost-effectiveness of solar panels. Fine, solar panels aren’t the cheapest systems of cells in the world, but the real monetary benefits start to show in the long run. Today’s article aims to make clear just how much you save by switching to solar panels.
How Much Do You Save Using Solar Panels?
For starters, if you have a home and don’t move around, you have a better chance of reaping whatever seed you sow into the solar energy investment. In other words, solar panel installation is not a quick profit mine but a medium to long-term time frame investment.
Considering the upfront expenses of solar panel installation, it’s not hard to see why people doubt the overall profitability of installing solar panels in their homes. But what you need to note is that once the incentives and profits come in, you begin to enjoy the concept.
For better illustration, assume that the initial costs of installing solar panels on your roof amount to £20,000. Imagine you previously paid £2000 a year for electricity, but now that you no longer do so, you’re saving up to £2000 a year after the payback period for your panels.
Do not be confused; the payback period just indicates the time it’ll take to offset the net cost of installing your panels. Using the figures above, a solar panel system that costs over £20,000 and saves £2000 a year after removing tax incentives and others will require 10 years to offset the initial costs.
In better words, you’d have made back what you spent on solar panel installation within a decade. When you consider the tax incentives and net metering, the savings begin to look even better when you think about them.
How Do You Calculate Your Solar Energy Savings?
It’s not as straightforward as whipping out a solar panel savings calculator and punching in keys to determine what figures your savings amount to.
Okay, for a better understanding of how savings are calculated, you’d have to follow the reference provided by web sources, which say that your solar panel savings = solar panel installation costs – tax incentives/other credits) divided by your annual savings on light bills.
Basically, you’ll need to do the following before a proper estimation of your savings can be done:
- Estimate the cost of solar panel installation.
- Calculate the tax credits and incentives like net metering gathered from the panel installation and subtract.
- Evaluate your yearly power consumption using previous light bills to give a clear estimate of what you’re saving annually.
Once these figures have been carefully established, you can proceed to check your payback period. You should also note that after your payback period is over, you’re living on a free power supply when using solar panels.
Wrapping Up
Some factors should also be considered when evaluating solar panel savings. Factors like peak energy production, climate, and net metering policies, among many others, influence your total savings. Ensure you factor them in for proper evaluation.
