UK Survey – More Would Invest In Solar If They Knew The Financial Benefits

 
The real picture — solar PV power is a good venture to invest in, surveys predict. However, there isn’t much publicity of what may be the actual financial benefits, so many are left simply guessing what they could save… if they are even asked or ask themselves. And, apparently, the large majority of citizens don’t realize how much money they could save if they installed a solar power system on their roof.

As per one recent survey, out of the 2000 Britons that were asked, the inference was that only 1/3 could answer the question correctly, showing that much more publicity is needed to propagate true information regarding “Returns On Investment” (ROI) for solar power system installations.

A spokesperson for Eco Experts, a UK solar panel price comparison website, said:

“If there was more publicity surrounding the financial benefits of solar energy, more people may be willing to invest.”

According to Eco Experts, a solar panel system offers a commendable 7% to 10% ROI, which is far more lucrative than High Street banks offer. Unfortunately, this figure falls third in the order of “acceptable rates,” according to the respondents. And of the respondents who thought 7% to 10% was an acceptable rate, about 50% thought solar offered far less than that.

Interestingly, it was seen that just a meagre 32% of respondents had come up with this correct response.

The chairman of the British Photovoltaic Association (BPVA), Mr. Reza Shaybani, said:

“There should be teamwork between the government and renewables industry. The government sets the policy and provides infrastructure, but they can’t do all the work for businesses.

“We have a huge problem in this country with our energy supply and bills.

“The reasons most people should be interested in solar photovoltaic is the generous ROI, it is true that feed-in-tariffs have dropped, but so has the cost of a panel, and installing it. People should also be looking to ensure they have secure supply of energy and of course renewable energy is so much better for the environment than using fossil fuels.

“People may be worried that we are in a recession and they don’t have the money to invest in solar panels, and that may well be, but the cost of energy will continue to rise and producing your own is the best way to protect yourself from that.”

As per the survey, the denizens of Bristol, London, and Manchester were most up to date with information about the ROI that photovoltaics offer, out of which 11% of the lot supposed that PV offered 0% to 2% ROI; 26% of them assumed that it offered 3% to 6% returns; and 10% of the respondents were highly hopeful and believed that they offered up to 20% of returns.

“Here we have a potential sixth of the market who are interested in an ROI of 7-10 percent but have no idea solar PV can provide it,” added the spokesman for The Eco Experts. “We also saw that more than 50% of people wanted an ROI of 11% or more. This is something that may well happen in the future as the cost of photovoltaics comes down and conventional energy bills increase.

“Again, if there was more publicity about this, we could well see more interest in the renewables market,” and a lot more solar power systems installed.

Source: PV-Magazine