The accurate answer to this question, whether to install solar panels on your roof, is “maybe”? There is no definitive right or wrong answer, it all depends on your own circumstances and these can include your location, aspect of your house, personal attitude and financial situation, and of course any external incentives that may sway the decision.
If you live in, let’s say, southern California and are at home much of the day with the air conditioning running then it’s a no brainer – go solar now! On the other hand, someone living in a more northerly latitude with highly variable weather (the UK for example) will gain little direct benefit, not only due to the decreased solar intensity but because they tend to use most power at night and especially during the winter months when daylight is scarce anyway.
But direct benefits are not the only factor in play these days. If you have ever heard of a solar power feed in tariff then you will already know how significantly these can change the rules of the game.
The UK currently has one of the most generous feed in tariffs available anywhere in the world, so although you would normally expect to only just about recover your installation costs, you can in fact profit quite considerably. The feed in tariff pays 43.3 pence per kilowatt hour plus a further 3.1 pence for any electricity you actually export back to the grid. Given that electricity in the UK currently costs on average only slight more than 9 pence per kWh you easily see the scale of the subsidy (5 times true cost).
In summary then, if you live somewhere with a mostly sunny climate and/or use a significant amount of electricity during the daytime, or your government has decided to make a grand gesture and heavily sponsor households who make the move towards microgeneration (the “in” buzzword for small scale renewable energy projects), then yes it really is worth going for. Otherwise probably not for the moment as you may never in fact see a return on your investment.
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