Photovoltaic how much can you save

Photovoltaic how much can you save. Every investment we make in life is calculated in such a way as to bring us a certain profit or a certain saving. In fact, if we approach the subject in this way, it is, you could say the same thing. The same applies to the installation of photovoltaic sets. A lot of people who are considering installing solar panels would like to know how much they will save by investing in solar panels. Let’s discuss the issue of photovoltaic installations from the economic point of view.

Are solar panels worth it?

The last few years have been our country’s photovoltaic revolution. A photovoltaic installation from a very expensive option, basically not very profitable and one could say something that was treated more as a whim for rich and ecological people, has become something that is worth investing in. A photovoltaic set as a thing that is available to most people, and above all in the long run, will bring us certain savings.

This happened, among others, for two reasons. First of all, the rules on which we can use photovoltaic panels have been changed. By producing energy in photovoltaic panels, we can give energy to the general grid, and at the same time, when we lack power, we can download this energy from the grid, more or less for free (in fact, 80% of what we gave to the grid is free for us) . This is really a very important change, because before the introduction of various types of legal regulations, if someone installed any installations on their home (not only photovoltaics), they could not be connected to the general grid.

If it connected to the general grid, its installation was treated as a power plant, and as a power plant it is subject to completely different regulations. In general, it did not pay off, because in order to use the energy surpluses, we had to invest in expensive batteries in which the energy was stored. This is the first fundamental change that has taken place in Polish photovoltaics.

The second change is the price. First of all, we must note two facts here. The first is the aforementioned lack of battery. We do not simply need to have batteries to draw on energy surpluses. The second thing is that the popularity of photovoltaic panels has simply made the price of their purchase and installation down. There are also many companies that compete with each other for customers. These are of course very positive aspects.

How much will we save on a photovoltaic installation?

There is no really clear answer to the question of how much will we save on a photovoltaic installation? We can make various approximations or predictions here. Of course, if our photovoltaic installation is professionally installed and is primarily tailored to our energy needs, we will save as much as we normally pay for electricity during the year. Ideally, we will not pay a penny for energy drawn from the electricity grid. Of course, photovoltaic cells work differently, depending on weather conditions, so there may be years when we have to pay something for energy. Bills are estimated to drop by around 90% on average.

Of course, we must also assume that solar panels will not install themselves on our roof and will incur some investment costs. In the case of an average Polish household, it is estimated that the cost of a photovoltaic installation will be in the range of PLN 25,000 to PLN 30,000. If we assume that on average we pay about PLN 4,000 per year for electricity, then the entire installation will pay for itself in less than 10 years.

It must also be assumed that such an installation works for about 25 years, so the next years of its operation are real net savings that we can put in our pockets and, for example, use this money to finance the replacement of panels when the previous ones are worn out. So, in a way, we finance the construction of another photovoltaic installation ourselves.

Uncertainty factors

Now let’s talk about what we’ve called uncertainty factors here. We will focus on two such factors in particular, as they are quite significant. The first thing is the cost of electricity, and in fact how it will develop over the next few or a dozen or so years. When we make all kinds of calculations, we base them on current energy prices. Most likely, the price of energy will increase from year to year, so we can assume that the return on investment of photovoltaic panels installed now will be shorter than the current calculations.

The other side of this coin, however, is the fact that photovoltaic panels, along with the time they work, produce less and less electricity. It is assumed that a panel is considered used when it produces 50% of what it produced as a new panel. This time is set at about 25 years, but depending on the type of panels, type of photovoltaic cells, etc., the rate of wear of these panels may vary.