Friday, October 21, 2011

Solar Panels And The Feed In Tariff

If you choose to install a solar panel system for your house or business, you will be taking advantage of an energy source that is currently getting the best rates with the feed in tariff. Other energy sources, such as wind turbines and anaerobic digestion systems, receive tariff money as well; they just do not receive as much as the solar powered system. The FIT, as it is also called, is a government incentive that helps people to cope with the high costs of installing and maintaining renewable energy sources. It also helps people choose to install these systems in the first place because, currently, traditional fossil fuel based energy is less expensive to buy than renewable energy is.

Solar panels are specially designed panels that absorb and store energy from the sun, and they are generally constructed out of silicon. People throughout the UK have opted to install these solar PV systems because of the feed in tariff. Through the FIT, the government is paying you for the energy that you produce, even if you are using the energy for your house or business.

Most residential solar PV installations will only benefit from the generation tariff, which is part of the FIT. This is the tariff where the government pays a small amount per kilowatt hour that your system produces. The amount varies somewhat and the amount depends on the size of the system or how much energy that is produces. The most lucrative size is a solar PV system that produces between ten and fifty kilowatts. This size system will receive 32.9 p for every kilowatt hour produced.

Larger systems do not receive as much money per kilowatt hour because they produce more energy overall. For example, a solar PV system that produces between 150 and 250 kilowatts will only receive 15 p per kilowatt hour produced. However, these larger systems are more likely to benefit from the export tariff. With this tariff, the owner of the system gets paid for every kilowatt hour that is exported to the power grid. Any system (no matter what the energy source) can only receive income from the feed in tariff if it produces five megawatts or less.

Wind powered systems also get good rates, and a system that produces 1.5 kilowatts or less will receive 36.2 p per kilowatt hour produced. However, while the solar PV systems will receive the feed in tariffs for twenty-five years, the wind powered systems will only receive the benefits for twenty years.

While the rates and the time periods vary slightly, the use of renewable energy benefits everyone. You are generating energy that you are using for free, and you are even getting paid to use it. You are benefitting the environment by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, and all of your feed in tariff income is tax free. Many companies that install these systems offer financing. Financing and the feed in tariff work together to make renewable energy more affordable and accessible.

This article is about "Solar Panels And The Feed In Tariff" This article was written on behalf of Enviko Solar Panels & Feed in Tariff