Many households and businesses have already made the move to solar and are enjoying the bill savings that solar PV systems can bring. But what about solar panels for a home business — those commercial setups that operate from home — are solar panels a good option?
Big or small, your business would undoubtedly benefit from a solar installation. The main question is whether your property is capable of housing a solar PV system of sufficient size that it would produce enough electricity to meet your electricity needs.
Is My Home Business Suitable For Solar?
The answer to this question lies very much in your electricity needs. You might struggle if you are planning on running both your home AND your business on your solar system, especially if you have a large family or large workforce..
A one man band operating from a small home office may be able to meet their electricity needs from a domestic solar system. On the other hand a business consisting of multiple people, perhaps working in a small workshop, and requiring electricity to run power tools, lighting and computer throughout the day, would inevitably require a larger solar array.
In some instances you may not have adequate roof space to accommodate the on roof solar panels in the numbers that you require, or perhaps you need to consider ground mounted solar panels if you have free space available.
Factors such as location, angle, shading, amount of sunlight can all impact on the effectiveness of your solar panels, so these will need to be taken into consideration. To check the suitability of solar for your home business, contact us and one of our team will
visit you and prepare a no obligation quote and outline your system options.
Why Choose Solar For Your Home Business?
There are many different reasons to choose solar to power your home business. These include:
- Bill savings – you’ll see immediate reductions in your energy costs and in the long-term
- Environmental reasons – as a renewable generation alternative, this will reduce your use of fossil fuels and carbon footprint
- Reduced dependence on the national grid – protects your business from future price shocks for electricity
- Appear as a eco responsible business – market your company as being environmentally responsible
How Many Solar Panels Will My Home Business Need?
Every commercial business has different electricity requirements and therefore the number of solar panels they require will vary. Larger home businesses, consisting of multiple staff, will generally require more panels than a smaller business based on increased electricity requirements. This however, might not always be the case, because it is possible that some businesses might have many employees, but none of whom require large amounts of electricity to do their job.
How Much Will My Home Businesses Solar System Cost?
The cost of a home business solar system will depend on the size of system that you require. A very small home business operating from a home office might be able to operate on just a standard small-scale domestic solar system (costing in the region of £6,500-£8,000), whereas a larger business would need a larger setup, likely to cost in excess of £10,000.
Whatever the cost, you will soon find that the annual savings (from not consuming as much electricity from the national grid) will very soon add up, meaning that your savings could cover the cost of your installation within 10 years. With solar panels, in most cases, lasting in excess of 20 years, this provides savings year-on-year long into the future.
How Long Will A Home Business Solar PV SystemTake To Install?
For small home businesses only requiring a small solar array, a solar installation will usually be quite straightforward and could be completed within one day. This would cause minimal interruption to your business. More complex solar installation, including those with much larger solar arrays and combined with solar batteries, could take several days to complete.
Is Solar Reliable Enough For My Business?
The reliability of your solar system will depend on factors such as your location and the amount of sunlight you receive. You can also bolster your solar setup with the addition of battery storage, allowing you to store excess energy generated in the daytime, for use when your system is not generating. You will always have the failsafe of being able to call upon electricity from the grid at such times that your solar system is not able to meet your electricity needs.
