What financial factors influence solar panel installation?
If your business is considering installing solar panels, there are a number of financial factors to investigate before selecting a solar panel installer. In this article, we cover some of the key financial queries you may have, and how Good Energy Solar can help answer them.
How long is my solar panel payback period?
Your solar panel payback period is the headline number that will help you compare solar panel installation with any other capital-expenditure projects you may be considering.
While small, domestic-scale installations can take 7-12 years to pay back the cost of investment, larger commercial solar panel installations typically pay back far more quickly. This is due to the substantial savings that can be made on electricity bills, as well as income from selling exported power.
At Good Energy Solar, design solar panel installations with payback periods of around 4 years. Once the solar panel installation has covered its initial cost, you will benefit from effectively free electricity for the 25+ year lifetime of your system.
How much will my electricity cost over the lifetime of my solar panel system?
Another way to weigh up whether getting a commercial solar panel installation is worth it is considering your levelized cost of energy (LCOE). This is the total amount of electricity that your system is forecast to generate, divided by the total cost of the system.
This sum gives you a price per kilowatt that you can compare to your current (or predicted) prices for electricity that you buy from an electricity supplier. At Good Energy Solar, we typically see a LCOE of around 7p/kWh; substantially lower than typical supplier electricity rates of between 20p-30pkWh (Q2 2024).
How much will I be paid for the electricity exported from my solar panels?
Unless you are able to use 100% of the electricity generated by your solar panels on-site, you will be exporting some to the electricty grid. Securing a competitive rate for your exported power can help reduce the initial financial impact of installing commercial solar panels, and contribute to greater long-term earnings.
As well as being a solar panel installer, Good Energy has 25 years-experience in buying renewable electricity from independent generators. We are able to offer an enhanced export rate for anyone installing solar panels with us, helping to reduce your payback period and lower your LCOE.
From cost to carbon
Many of the businesses that we work with are not just motivated by reducing electricity costs and increasing self-sufficiency. Reducing carbon emissions from energy usage is also a priority – and generating your own electricity is one of the most direct ways to achieve this.
A typical commercial solar installation with a peak output of 77kW would save 11 tonnes of carbon emissions per year compared with importing electricity from the grid*. For context, a typical household in the UK emits about 4 tonnes of carbon per year from energy usage, so this is a significant reduction.
Of course, if you are on supply with Good Energy, all your electricity usage will be matched with 100% renewable power from our community of independent generators. This means carbon emissions from electricity purchase can be recorded as 0, under Scope 2 emissions reporting rules.
We are proud of our track record of supporting more homes and businesses across Britain to also become generators – because the more sources of renewable electricity feeding into the grid, the greener it becomes for everyone.
*Based on grid electricity having a carbon intensity of 162g/kWh (average for 2023).
