Solar Panels in Essex: December 2024 Guide

With more than 1,300,000 people, Essex is a county in England located north-east of London. Alike the rest of the UK, the government is doing a big effort to make this region more sustainable and get more engagement from communities, residents, and businesses into green energy projects. The Renewable Energy Roadmap is the guideline followed to reduce carbon emissions by delivering 15% of the UK’s energy demand from renewable sources by 2020.

If you'd like to join the thousands of UK homeowners who have switched to solar energy, we can help you find professional solar panel installers local to Essex. Fill in our contact form to get up to 3 free tailored quotes to compare. Any quotes you receive are free and come with no obligation to accept.

Since the introduction of the Feed-In Tariff Scheme on April 2010, the world of solar technologies has opened up and solar solutions became financially viable for a wider audience. Solar panels turned from being an expensive alternative to an attractive investment, which represents at the same time a solution for tackling climate change.

Photovoltaics (PV) cells convert sunlight into electricity which can be used immediately, exported to the national grid, or stored in solar batteries depending on the type of system and on your needs. Moreover, once installed, solar systems do not require a lot of maintenance, which makes this source of energy even more attractive.

In order to get the exact price of your domestic solar installation, it is recommended that you contact your supplier directly, which you can do by filling out the information form at the top of this page. The price of your solar system will depend on several factors like size, type, quality and strength, which cannot be estimated equally for each customer. Anyways, to have a broad idea about the costs, you can think between £2,500 - £3,500 to £10,000 - £11,000 for the cost of solar panel installation, and it should pay for itself in about 8 years.

If these numbers are too much for your budget, you can do some research and find solar installers that will “rent your roof” and install the solar panels free of charge. In return, they will keep the money you could get from the Feed-in Tariff scheme, but you will still enjoy free and clean electricity at home. This kind of agreement is generally a long term commitment lasting for approximately 20 years, and in most cases, you cannot choose to buy the panels when you have the money for doing so. Therefore, free panels is a good deal only in the case of those who cannot otherwise afford the initial costs of the panel. Otherwise, it is better to buy the panels yourself and earn money once the investment starts paying off.

The most popular scheme regarding solar energy was the Feed-in Tariff. If your system is not connected to the grid, you cannot benefit from the FiT but this type of system is a solution for remote cottages with limited access to electricity. On the other hand, if you install a grid-connected system, you can sell the surplus electricity back to the grid and get a bonus payment from the FiT. With the FiT, you could make money in three ways:

However the FIT scheme has expired on 31st March 2019.

Finding the right solar supplier can take up a lot of your time. Moreover, since the required investment is quite significant, you want to make a good purchase which will make you happy during the entire lifespan of the solar system. Therefore, you should compare different suppliers and their respective options and make sure that you pick a reliable and certified supplier. 

GreenMatch is here to help. You can complete the 1-minute contact form by clicking the button below and you will be contacted by up to 3 professional solar installers with their best offers to suit your particular needs. Our no-obligation service is 100% free of charge!