Solar power is often the second form of power generation that homeowners consider after quickly ruling out wind turbines due to a lack of consistent wind to provide consistent power. By contrast, if you’re setting up solar panels where you know you’re going to get regular sun, then it’s possible to generate enough stored energy to power the home for enough hours every day to make solar panels viable for homeowners.
Here are some of the benefits of getting solar panels installed in a residential home.
Cost Savings Over Time
A homeowner can make significant cost savings over time. With a solar power installation, there’s a good amount of energy from the sun hitting the panels. The energy collection is going to be efficient and with good quality batteries used for storage, the homeowner will be all set.
Better components translate into a reduced likelihood of a failure in a solar panel energy collection system. This means more uptime, with power being utilised inexpensively for many years to come. When adding up the cost savings, it’s important to factor in the installation cost vs the energy cost savings over the full expected life of the system. Also, there’s the possibility of government rebates too.
The possibility of Government Rebates
To encourage more homeowners to generate their own power, various local and national/federal governments have provided generous rebates. Usually, they’re either connected to the size of the installation or relate to how much spare electrical power is sold onto the electrical grid for use by other people.
For example, in Perth, the Australian government provide numerous of solar rebates as part of the Renewable Energy Target scheme. This is something that the company Perth Solar Power Installations help their customers out with. On their website, they note the 3 different types of rebates (feed-in tariffs, government rebates and special financing and tax benefits) and can help you work out which one you’re entitled to.
Governmental agencies are keen to reduce the use of fossil fuels, coal and other forms of energy that help run power plants (power producing more power). These have a detrimental effect on the environment through harmful emissions into the sky. Generating power using solar panels by homeowners is far less damaging, although the solar panels and battery packs must be produced in manufacturing plants, which creates some emissions or waste product. Governments cannot produce solar panel installations large enough to power a country, but homeowners’ can.
Along with the falling cost of solar panels, mass production has ramped up and the rebates have been successful in encouraging early adopters to get panels installed.
Lowering Personal Carbon Footprint
For people who care about carbon releases and wish to run their lives as close to zero carbon as possible, then getting solar installed just feels right.
It’s possible to purchase carbon credits to offset carbon used when flying on a passenger jet, but for home energy use, it’s another matter. It isn’t cost effective to purchase gas or electricity and carbon credits too; besides which, few people can reliably estimate what carbon is released to provide their electricity or gas supply, unlike with airplane flights where that information is readily available.
By using solar, it resolves the issue of energy production and the very real pollution it causes. Using a battery pack, it’s possible to store kilowatts of generated energy for when it’s required. Power can be tapped as necessary and excess stored (or sold) as needed. The larger the solar power array that’s installed, the greater the amount of solar power is generated.
How Do Weather Conditions Affect Energy Collection?
Local weather conditions do affect the viability of solar panels. Certainly, solar panel installations in location like Perth, Sydney or Los Angeles will have no problems receiving enough sunshine most months of the year. But there are places around the world that are under enough cloud cover to diminish the energy that’s collectible.
There are a couple of different ways to handle bad weather. The first is to have additional solar panels installed to overcome the poor energy collection. The second is to use a hybrid system where solar panel energy is used when available and the battery packs are full, and you use the power grid when it’s not. This is still green and good for the environment. It shouldn’t be an ‘all or nothing’ situation.
Not every home is suitable for solar panels. It’s necessary to give careful thought to where the best place will be to have them installed. The roof is usually the ideal location, but it must be facing in the right direction to collect the most rays to make the panels pay for themselves. Consulting with a reliable solar panel team with considerable experience is best to receive solid advice and to draw up a plan that makes sense to everyone.
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