The best solar panels are an excellent investment to power your home sustainably for decades to come. And while energy bills remain sky-high, solar panel prices have dropped significantly over the years, making residential solar power a better buy than ever before. Contact online >>
The best solar panels are an excellent investment to power your home sustainably for decades to come. And while energy bills remain sky-high, solar panel prices have dropped significantly over the years, making residential solar power a better buy than ever before.
Buying solar panels isn''t like buying other home appliances. Instead of pulling them off the shelf, you usually go through a specialist solar power installation company. However, it''s well worth finding out in advance which panels are best for your roof, your needs and your budget. For example, the most efficient models are great for shady spots and limited space, while others are designed to withstand direct sunlight in a heatwave.
To find out more about how to choose the best solar panels for your home and your energy needs, read on for our buying guide, below which you''ll find our roundup of mini-reviews. Or, for a quick list of recommendations, see our at-a-glance list.
Most residential solar panel systems in the UK are roof-mounted collections (‘arrays’) of PV (photovoltaic) panels, made using either monocrystalline silicon or the cheaper and less efficient polycrystalline silicon.
There are a few other types of solar panel you can get for domestic energy systems. Thin-film and portable solar panels are less powerful than standard monocrystalline and polycrystalline panels, but are also lighter and more versatile, making them ideal for DIY and off-grid (separate from the mains) uses such as sheds, campervans and houseboats. You can also buy solar thermal systems, which look like a row of tubes and are designed to produce heat from the sun’s light.
We don’t recommend going the DIY route with a conventional rooftop residential solar PV array. Installing solar panels combines two of the riskiest trades going – roof work and electrics – so DIY installation generally isn’t worth the money it saves you. To meet legal requirements and qualify for the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), which reduces your bills if you produce more electricity than you use, your panels have to be fitted by an MCS-certified installer.
The DIY approach is only recommended for smaller projects such as sheds and campervans. Amazon has portable solar panels for as little as £70 that provide all the renewable energy you need for a camping trip. But for residential PV panels, you’ll want to get a quote from an installation company or three.
Even when going through a professional installer, you may still find it useful to check out the per-panel prices and detailed specs of panels that are sold individually online, either by the manufacturer or a third-party seller. For example, the Panasonic HIT N340 – our pick for best solar panel for old roofs – costs £250/panel from Plug-in Solar, where you can get more info and photos.
You can, but you don’t have to. Some big-name energy suppliers supply and install solar PV systems (EDF and E.On, for example), and if you’re particularly happy with them as your energy supplier then you may decide to use them for your switch to solar. But it may work out cheaper to have your panels provided and installed by a specialist solar company. All you need to do is let your electricity supplier know that you’ve had solar panels fitted.
Your best bet is to use the quote-finding tool above, then get three quotes from different providers. Each quote should include specs of the proposed solar PV system, including how much electricity it will produce, and how this compares with your current usage (which you can get from your energy bill).
Before you decide on a quote, the company should send a registered surveyor to carry out detailed checks of your roof in person, and give you a fully itemised list of what you’re paying for.
The average solar PV system costs a cool £6,000. So, considering the spend, any company worth its salt should happily take the time to answer your questions, explain your options, help you decide on the best solar panels for your home, and take your own preferences into account.
Efficiency: Industry average efficiency for a single solar PV panel is about 21%, with the top-performing solar panels achieving up to 23%. Great, but what does that actually mean? In this context, efficiency is the proportion of sunlight energy that the panel can convert into electricity. If you live in a shaded spot or you have limited roof space, you’ll want a system that’s particularly efficient at converting light into electricity.
Power: This refers to the amount of energy a panel can produce in peak conditions. Current industry standard is 400 watts per hour. The more powerful a solar panel, the bigger, heavier and more expensive it will tend to be.
Weight: The average 1 x 2m solar PV panel weighs up to 30kg (15kg/m²), on top of roof tiles that weigh around 30-60kg/m². Your poor roof! If your roof is on the old side or gets battered by the wind, lightweight panels are a better bet. Look for a high efficiency rating to offset any loss in power.
Product warranty: With solar panel prices coming down and energy bills going up, a solar PV system no longer takes more than a decade to pay for itself – it’s more like seven years now. Even so, you’ll want to make sure that your panels are working, and working well, after several years on your roof. Luckily, the average solar panel product warranty is an impressive 25 years, and one of our best solar panels even comes with a lifetime warranty.
Performance warranty: All solar panel manufacturers also offer a promise of future performance, calculated as a proportion of original performance level. A performance warranty of 75% after 30 years may sound good, but all our best solar panels do much better than that, with one even promising 88% after 40 years.
Heat resistance: Solar panels love a good heatwave, right? Nope. They thrive on light, not heat. Like humans, they start to flag when the mercury rises too far, losing around 0.4% in efficiency for every degree over 25°C. Note that when the ambient temperature is 25°C, the direct sun shining on a solar panel will be much hotter than that, probably 40°C or more, meaning a significant reduction in energy output. So if you live in a warm spot, look for a heat-resistance figure of under 0.3%.
If you live in a small terraced house with limited roof space, overcast skies and seasonal leaf fall (basically, you live in the UK), SunPower’s new Maxeon 6 AC panels are a superb choice. They’re lightweight, powerful and incredibly efficient, adeptly converting the sun’s rays into home electricity – even when the clouds take up permanent residence.
These panels look a bit different from the norm. Each one has a micro-inverter that works on its own to turn solar energy into electricity. Conventional systems have one central inverter, usually in your loft, and they only perform as well as their weakest panel (say, the one covered in leaves or shade). So a system of micro-inverters makes your roof much more productive.
Then there’s the green appeal. Each Maxeon 6 AC panel is made from recycled materials, which adds to the already significant eco credentials of solar. And with a product and power warranty of 40 years, these panels are effectively built to last and work for a lifetime. Definitely something to mention when you come to sell your home!
SunPower doesn’t publish individual prices for the Maxeon 6 AC, and the price you pay for your system will depend on many factors. But these panels are likely to cost from around £350 each, plus installation.
About Best residential solar panel
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