Business Solar Panels

Business solar panels are not much unlike residential solar panels in that they both absorb photons from the sun and convert them into clean and renewable solar electricity. The main difference would be their application and perhaps the upgraded components that can make a fully fledged business solar panel system more durable.

The cost of solar panels for business themselves are no different from residential solar panels in that a 200w solar panel will cost from as little as £400 in the UK regardless of its use.

The difference will be in the overall power rating of a solar PV system which could start from around £15,100 for a 4kW Sanyo solar system comprising of 16x250watt panels providing 18% efficiency and including a desktop wireless monitoring system for business system. By comparison, it would cost around £10,000 for a 2kW residential system.

Large business solar panel system prices can range from £15,000 for an installed 10kW system right up to around £60,000 for a 50kW system. For those businesses unable to meet the entire costs of solar panels, the UK government introduced a number of grants in the past with the most recent being the Feed-in Tariff or FIT for renewable energy.

Feed in Tariff and Grants

Feed in Tariffs replaced the previous grant scheme and can help businesses to finance a loan by paying businesses for every kilowatt hour of electricity generated. The profitable scheme was introduced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change or DECC and pays up to 15.44 p/kWh of electricity produced.

Business solar panels have been known to earn tens to hundreds of thousands of pounds for commercial ventures with 200kW systems upwards. A bonus part of the scheme is the Export Tariff which pays an additional 4.5p/kWh for electricity generated that is surplus to the business requirements and automatically diverted to the National Grid.

Business Eligibility for FITs

Any business will have the opportunity to earn money from FITs so long as they follow guidelines laid down by the scheme which includes only using government approved suppliers and products. This requirement was put in place to ensure that only high quality products and services are promoted in the UK and is regulated by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme.

Only MCS accredited products and suppliers can install FIT eligible solar panels so interested businesses should make sure that any supplier is actually MCS approved.

How to find MCS Installers

Finding MCS accredited installers that offer the best prices would not be so difficult if it were not for the hundreds or thousands of websites offering the cheapest solar panels without any proof of their experience and skills. A personal recommendation would most likely be the best way to get a quality solar panel supplier reference but many businesses may not be aware of any other Companies that have installed a system.

The best way to read consumer reviews and comparisons of solar energy Companies capable of supplying a professionally designed business solar panel system is to use a specialist business solar information website such as Eco Experts.

These sites can compare the prices of selected MCS installers and make sure that you only get prices from highly experienced and qualified business solar panel suppliers.