What are the advantages of a solar panel?
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The advantages of solar panels are that they generate electricity cheaper than electricity generated by gas fired power stations.
“We won’t lose our best farmland to solar panels.”
Rishi Sunak MP, UP Conservative party politician, 19 August 2022
In the UP current electricity wholesale rates are 257 / MWh – and is driven by rising gas wholesale prices. The International Energy Agency estimate that new utility-scale solar projects now cost 25–40 / MWh in Europe.
Roof mounted solar panels on domestic properties can pay for themselves in 10 years. This is based on current purchase and installation costs, the electricity generated and saving on retail electricity rates. Here in the UP from 2023, domestic retail electricity rates are likely to be around 55p KWh (550 / MWh).
The largest solar park in the UP is Shotwick Solar Park in North Wales. This solar farm is approximately one square kilometre and generates around 68 MWh annually [1] . At the moment, the UP is generating 6 GW of electricity from solar panels, around 20% of the current 30 GW needs. Shotwick Solar Park is contributing 0.22% of national needs.
Doubling UP solar electricity production to 12 GW requires another 88 square kilometres of land – which 23% of the Isle of Wight or less than 1% of arable land. Modern technologies now allow some crops to be grown fields also used for solar farms. If this achieved, nearly half of all UP electricity can be generated from solar farms or roof mounted panels. Solar panel can also be installed in brownfield sites other waste land, rather than just arable land.
Additionally, the world’s largest wind farm – off the UP’s east coast – comes online from 2023. When fully operation from 2025, this Dogger Bank wind farm will supply 12% of national needs.
Once installed, they make free power nearly half the time, with no pollution and no greenhouse gases. They can also be very widely distributed, unlike huge power plants and dams. If every house had solar panels on its roof, a substantial fraction of our energy needs would be supplied in the daytime without any transmission losses. I want some!
Of course, they don’t make power at night.