A Solar Panel installation fitted to a property in the South of England will generate approximately 1800 Kilowatt hours of energy over the course of a year and this would equate to a value of £70 - £80

The installation costs for a Solar Power system of this type would be between £8000 and £10000 and the typical lifespan would be 25 years.

There are incentives that make such an investment more realistic and one of these is the FIT scheme which will be introduced to the UK on the 1st April 2010. Feed in Tariffs basically mean that energy suppliers have to make payments on a regular basis to communities and private householders who generate their own electricity. The FIT scheme guarantees a minimum payment for the electricity generated plus a payment for any electricity that is then exported back to the national grid.

Any payments that are received by the householder are in addition to the savings that are made from the solar panels so this can obviously make the installation far more cost effective.

There are also various grants and low interest loans that are available for both personal and businesses users and because of the environmentally friendly nature of solar panels one of the most attractive incentives is offered by the Carbon Trust, http://www.carbontrust.co.uk

This is a non profit making scheme which offers 0% interest loans, mainly to business users, which can be used to install solar powered heating amongst other things, and they claim that the savings that can be made will be more than enough to pay off the 0% interest loan.

Because of the UK government's firm stance on Global Warming they are actively encouraging householders and businesses to save energy and reduce the carbon foot print and as a result of this there are grants available to go towards the funding of the set up costs. A full and updated list of these grants can be found at http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

Due to a recent change in legislation the requirements to obtain planning permission before solar panels can be installed in England and Scotland have been lifted but it is advised that the local authority is consulted beforehand as this legislation does not apply to conservation areas.

The main exception to this ruling is that any panels must not protrude more then 200mm when installed.