- Consumers have fitted fewer solar panels year-on-year in 2024, experts reveal
- But overall the rise of solar continues, with almost 5% of homes having them
The number of solar panels fitted to homes in Britain has dropped 19 per cent since last year, according to analysis from Coventry Building Society.
Over 80,000 solar panels were installed on homes throughout the first seven months of 2024, a 19 per cent reduction on the 106,000 installed during the same period of 2023.
The dip in installations in 2024 could be due to the UK having the coolest summer since 2015, while 2023 was one of the warmest summers on record.
In 2023 the rate of solar panel installations on UK homes reached a seven year high, with over 165,000 new installations from January to December.
Make hay while the sun shines: Solar panels offer a chance for huge electricity bill discounts, and can even be profitable, though consumers will have to factor in installation costs
However, 2024 is still the second-highest year for installations since 2015.
Around 1.4 million UK homes had solar panels by June 2024, according to Government figures – almost 5 per cent.
Sophie Mason, of Coventry BS, said: ‘The lack of a British summer may not have put solar panels at the top of everyone’s to-do list, but they’re still proving to be a popular investment.
‘Over 400 solar panels have been installed on homes each day this year, on average, which is a definite surge from same period five years ago.’
It typically costs around £5,000 to £6,000 to buy and install an average 4kw solar panel array to a property.
The highest year on record for solar panel installations was 2011, when 200,589 panels were installed – this was following the launch of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme in 2010.
The FIT scheme was a government initiative that paid solar panel owners for electricity they did not use and sold back to the grid.
It was closed to new applications in April 2019, although homeowners already signed up continue to get payments until their contract ends, normally 20-25 years after they applied.
In June 2019 the government launched the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), which also compensates homeowners for selling excess renewable energy to the grid.
But the two schemes differ in their details – for example, the FIT paid a single tariff to all those signed up, whereas the SEG tariff depends on what individual energy firms want to pay.
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