Cost of solar ‘is main reason for slow public adoption’

The British public say cost is the main factor putting them off installing solar panels on their houses. That’s according to a new survey of 629 people conducted by YES […]

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The British public say cost is the main factor putting them off installing solar panels on their houses.

That’s according to a new survey of 629 people conducted by YES Energy Solutions, in which 55% of respondents said the technology was too expensive for them to invest in.

The firm said this indicates people may be unaware of the falling price of solar panels.

In 2010, the average price for a 1kW to 4kW array was around £15,000. In 2017, the same system costs about £6,000.

The Feed-in-Tariff (FiTs) programme paid homeowners for generating their own solar energy – it has been scaled back in recent years, which has passed on a larger financial burden to the homeowner.

Nearly a fifth (18%) said they didn’t want to install solar panels because they don’t look nice, 16% said panels were unavailable in their area and 7%, mainly older people, said they didn’t trust the technology to work.

YES Energy Solutions says these problems can be overcome through improved marketing, education and government incentives.

A new study suggests battery degradation means there is no economic benefit in installing combined solar and storage units in UK homes.

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