A decade ago a typical solar panel system cost around £20,000 and would take around a decade to cover those set-up costs. But prices for solar panel systems have fallen by more than 60% since then, meaning it takes between four and five years for a system to pay for itself.
"We have created a lightweight photo-voltaic (PV) film at a minimum of 10% efficiency, with a manufactured cost of about £8 per sq m [10 sq ft]," chief commercial officer Don Scott says. But work remained to be done into how to recycle the traces of lead in the product at the end of its expected 10-year lifecycle.
Innovations promise additional cost savings as new materials, like thin-film perovskite, reduce the need for silicon panels and purpose-built solar farms. ‘We can envisage perovskite coatings being applied to broader types of surface to generate cheap solar power, such as the roof of cars and buildings and even the backs of mobile phones.
This means more panels are necessary for proper efficiency. For a three-bedroom house in the UK, a 3.5 kWp system with ten solar panels will cost approximately £7,000. In general, you can subtract £500-£1,000 for each bedroom less than three, and add these same amounts for each bedroom more than three.
Labour is added as a separate component to solar panel costs (UK). The labour pricing structure is calculated based on the number of installers needed times the number of days required to finish the job. For example, average labour costs range from £300 to £500 per person, per day. Complex or challenging roof layouts may increase labour costs.
A 25-year warranty will essentially cover all repair costs for the average lifespan of the panels. The energy cost savings of solar panels stand on their own as a great benefit, but this is something that can be even further maximised by registering with the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG).