I get asked this a lot. People want to know if there is a clever time of year to have solar fitted, a moment when it makes more sense than any other. They picture timing it just right.
The honest answer is simple. The best time is now. The day your panels go on the roof is the day they start working. They start cutting your electricity bill, or removing it entirely, depending on how many panels you have and how much power you use. There is no perfect month to wait for.
In this post I will explain why timing matters far less than people think, why waiting costs you money, and what you can realistically expect from a system across the seasons.
You install once and benefit for decades
A solar system is a long term thing. A good quality install is built to keep working for 30 years or more. When you stretch the decision over that kind of lifespan, the exact week you switch it on barely registers.
What does matter is the total amount of electricity it generates over all those years. Every month you delay is one month of that lifetime gone, with no generation and no saving to show for it. The panels you put off fitting this spring would already be paying you back by the autumn.
So the question is not really which season. It is whether you want to start saving now or later.
Seasons change generation, not the decision
It is true that solar produces more in summer than in winter. Longer days and a higher sun mean more energy. But that is the rhythm of the system once it is on the roof, not a reason to delay putting it there.
Here is roughly how it works through the year in our part of the country:
- Spring and summer are your strong months. Long days and good light mean high output, often more than the house can use in the middle of the day.
- Autumn tapers off as the days shorten, but you still get useful generation.
- Winter is the quiet season. Shorter days and a low sun mean less, but the panels still work whenever there is daylight, and even cloudy days produce something.
A panel does not switch off in winter. It simply produces less. Across a full year it all adds up, and a typical south facing 465 watt panel produces in the region of 465 kWh annually.
Fitting in winter is not a problem
Some people assume you cannot fit solar in the colder months. You can. We install all year round. The work is the same in January as it is in July.
Fitting in winter has a quiet advantage too. Your system is up, tested and ready before the strong spring and summer months arrive. You catch the best generating season from day one, rather than missing the first half of it while you make up your mind.
What you save while you wait, you lose
Think of it this way. Electricity you generate yourself is electricity you do not buy from your supplier. At a day rate of around 30 pence a unit, every kWh your roof makes is money kept in your pocket.
Delay the install by six months and you simply hand that money back to your energy supplier in the meantime. There is no version of waiting that puts you ahead.
And there is more to it than just the units you use. Anything you generate but do not use yourself can be exported to the grid, and under the Smart Export Guarantee, known as SEG, your supplier pays you for it. So even on a sunny day when the house is empty, the panels are still earning.
A battery changes when you use what you make
The one timing question worth thinking about is not the season, it is how you use the power day to day. Solar generates during daylight, but most households use the most electricity in the morning and the evening.
A battery bridges that gap. It stores the surplus your panels make in the middle of the day and gives it back to you when you need it, in the evening. That means you use far more of your own free electricity instead of exporting it cheaply and buying it back dear.
Batteries are modular, so you can size one to suit your home and add to it later if your needs change, for example if you go on to fit an air source heat pump or get an electric car. Again, none of this is a reason to wait. It is a reason to get the design right from the start.
The bottom line
There is no magic month to fit solar. The best time is whenever you can get it on the roof, because from that point on it is generating, saving and earning. Winter installs work, summer installs work, and every month you delay is generation you will never get back.
We design and fit solar and battery systems all year round across Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, around Huntingdon, Brampton, Buckden, Grafham and the surrounding villages. If you want to stop putting it off, call the office on 01480 400607 or request a survey through our website.
Jason Pope
Owner, Selec Group