Due to the uncertainty of fuel prices and the generous Feed-In Tariff offered by the goverment, now is a very good time to be investing in Solar PV.
Below is a graph showing the rising cost of power generation over the last 10 years
Whilst it looks like prices have fallen, by the last quarter of 2010 the prices were back up again quite dramatically, as shown in the table below.
 |
Tariff levels |
 |
| |
| Year |
Coal |
Oil |
Gas |
| |
pence |
pence |
pence |
| |
per kWh |
per kWh |
per kWh |
| 1992 |
0.66 |
0.48 |
N/A |
| 1993 |
0.61 |
0.47 |
0.71 |
| 1994 |
0.53 |
0.53 |
0.67 |
| 1995 |
0.50 |
0.68 |
0.64 |
| 1996 |
0.51 |
0.71 |
0.63 |
| 1997 |
0.47 |
0.75 |
0.65 |
| 1998 |
0.42 |
0.60 |
0.66 |
| 1999 |
0.41 |
0.72 |
0.61 |
| 2000 |
0.41 |
1.01 |
0.60 |
| 2001 |
0.44 |
0.98 |
0.66 |
| 2002 |
0.41 |
1.06 |
0.61 |
| 2003 |
0.39 |
1.31 |
0.68 |
| 2004 |
0.45 |
1.20 |
0.76 |
| 2005 |
0.50 |
1.93 |
1.02 |
| 2006 |
0.52 |
2.12 |
1.28 |
| 2007 |
0.57 |
1.98 |
1.24 |
| 2010 (3rd Qtr) |
0.88 |
3.57 |
1.40 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
It appears very unlikely that energy costs will decrease so the installation of Solar PV is a sound investment