The Alternative Energy blog – green renewable alternative energy

Installing solar panels or a wind turbine can be a very good investment in the UK thanks to the feed in tariffs which pay householders a tax-free, index linked income for the energy they produce, providing over a 10% annual return. The tariffs pay up to 41.3p for every 1kWh of electricity produced using solar panels and an extra 3p per unit on top for any surplus electricity sold back to the grid. The average cost of home solar panel installation is £14,000. From this outlay, Ownenergy, Read more [...]

UK: From today British home owners can  earn money for the electricity solar PV produces under the feed-in tariff (also known as ‘clean energy cash-back’). The feed-in tariffs have been a long time coming but they have already increased demand and you can earn up to 8% return on investment. The tax free, index linked payments work on two levels: Generation tariff – depending on the size of panels, you are paid per kilowatt hour (kWh) of metered energy that panels generate, regardless Read more [...]

The UK  can achieve grid parity for households by 2013, seven years sooner than expected says Jeremy Leggett, founder of Britain’s Solar Century. 

Its is believed that south-facing roofs and facades in Britain could one day provide a third of UK electricity needs.

Householders convinced that the UK does not have enough sunshine to effectively use solar panels are 'wrong', according to a domestic solar panel advisor. The UK energy advisor Heat my Home has explained that the panels operate on solar radiation not sun rays and the UK gets enough of this to run solar. Stuart Lovatt of Heat my Home said: "One unique selling point with solar is the longevity. A good quality system will easily last 30 years, so the long-term benefits of solar are obvious. "How Read more [...]

 A supply glut of polysilicon—the key raw material used in photovoltaic solar panels—promises cheaper solar panels in the years to come. In the short term the price drop has led to many solar panel manufacturers suffering large losses but analysts are hopeful the lower prices will make the technology more competitive with conventionally generated power. The drop in polysilicon, though hurting earnings now, will be beneficial over the long termas it will make solar a more competitively priced Read more [...]

Great article in the UK's Guardian newspaper proving that even in rainy Britain home solar panels are a great investment. The Rewards of Solar Panels by Ashley Seager We live in an old terraced house on a cloudy, rainy island. Yet the solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on our roof, put up two years ago, are supplying around 90% of all the electricity used by my family. The initial cost is high, but don't let that put you off. Two key developments in recent months have made it worth considering Read more [...]