Homeowners are turning to solar panels as an environmentally friendly way of offsetting their energy bills. SolarOne of the key benefits to solar is you can sell your excess power back onto the grid. This also will not only cover the cost of installing solar panels in the first place, but which for homeowners will be a way to actually make money. This article takes a look at how much you can earn selling your excess solar panel energy back to the grid and what factors have an impact on your earnings.
Understanding the Process
Generating Surplus Energy
How do solar panels work: Solar Panels convert sunlight into electrical energy. Usually, this energy is used to run your house that lessens the dependence on a grid. But there are instances where solar panels give off more electricity than what you need, especially sunny days. This extra energy can be stored in solar batteries or sold to the grid.
Selling Back to the Grid
Exporting to the grid is when you put all that surplus electricity generated by your solar panels back onto national infrastructure. The system works thanks to the feed-in tariff (FiT) in other jurisdictions, including Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) in the UK. Both programs pay homeowners for excess energy sent back to the grid from their own solar arrays.
Factors Affecting Earnings
There are a number of factors that determine how much money you can earn by selling your solar panel energy back to the grid, including:
Surplus Energy Volume: The greater the surplus of energy you create, the more that can be sold. It ultimately depends on the size of your solar panel system, how much electricity you consume, and how direct sunshine is where you live.
Cheap Feed-In Tariff/SEG Rates: The rate you get for your excess power will certainly differ depending on the energy provider and plan you’re enlisted in. These prices are typically priced in pence/kilowatt-hour (UKp per kWh).
Installation Costs & Maintenance: Solar Panel Installation costs, and maintenance doesn’t directly correlate with how much money you can earn selling electricity to the grid from your solar panels, it affects the total financial benefits of getting a new system.
Example Calculations
Another case example based on average UK rates and outputs from solar panels To make it easier to digest, let us look at an illustrative comparison
4 kW Solar Panel System Size (typical residential system size)
Generate per Year: ~3,500 kWh (UK average sunlight)
It may consume 3,000 kWh of home energy within a year.
Excess Energy: 500 kWh/ year (3,000 kwh used)
SEG Rate: 5 pence per kWh
Those numbers equivalent to, given the current returns on selling excess energy in each year:
You can convert that to pounds by saying: So in this case 500 kWh *0.05 GBP/kWh is equivalent to spending (25)£ a year earning(600 – 300 = 200 £ ) with the battery per kilowatt-hourSaved You essentially saved yourself, as P bass note there’s less energy consumption from the grid has gone down!=”!
This is an illustration, and the actual amounts you earn will depend on your circumstances & what rates of return you are able to get from your energy supplier.
Maximising Your Earnings
Choose the Right Supplier
Surplus energy rates will vary with different suppliers. One of the keys is to buy products from a seller with good prices. In some cases, suppliers might also provide extra incentives or rewards for homes with solar panels
Solar System Optimization
Size: Make sure you get the right solar panel system to meet your home’s energy needs and budget. The bigger the system, the more energy you can make but it is also true that larger systems require higher installation costs.
Solar Batteries will enable you to store the excess energy that your system generates so it can be used in low sunlight periods or when there’s a high demand on electricity. This will decrease your dependence on the grid and perhaps allow you to sell more power as well.
Energy Efficiency: Home energy efficiency improvements help lower your usage, which means you have more excess electricity to sell Installing insulation, energy-efficient appliances and smart management systems can all help.
Economic and Environmental advantages
Financial Benefits
These benefits may appear small in monetary value of selling surplus energy, but if you calculate them on a long run; then it is guaranteed that these will contribute towards lowering the cost price ratio: which is considered as an initial investment for fitting solar panels into your homes. Second, you could save a lot on your energy bills if you take advantage of solar power. Over the course of your solar panels’ lifespan (typically 25-30 years), these savings and earnings together can even put a little more cash back in your pocket from going solar!
Environmental Impact
Jason Harris-Cohen, Managing Director of LandlordBuyer says “Apart from the monetary advantages of selling excess solar energy back to the grid which essentially helps in minimizing your carbon footprint and promotes renewable energy. When you produce clean power and send it to the grid, you are directly reducing our dependence on fossil fuels while providing immediate local support for a sustainable energy future.
Extra solar power that is not used at an instant can be sold back to the grid, and making a good income out of it could eliminate all your energy bills, which is becoming particularly lucrative for landlords who will consider selling their property portfolio down the line. Knowing how you can be affected and insight on improving your system In order to get the most out of this. The question of compensation for sending electricity produced from solar panels back to the power grid may be even sweeter as both new advancements in solar technology and future energy price volatility combined could make it more lucrative than ever before to generate excess, at-home, clean and green energy. Going solar will not only help you to meet your financial goals, but it is also helping the environment.”
