There are significant financial and environmental benefits for businesses that invest and install commercial solar panels.

Less than a decade ago, solar panels were considered a niche and experimental technology. Ten years on, solar has become the fastest growing energy source worldwide. Technology and finance has aligned to move the technology into the mainstream; solar is now a mass-produced product, delivered at a cost-competitive price. In fact, the price of energy generated by solar panels is estimated to cost less than a third of electricity bought from the grid.

A typical commercial solar panel system will provide free electricity for more than 25 years, achieve financial returns of up to 20% per annum and pay back installation costs within approximately 5-years.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), NASA and the world’s leading scientists have warned us that if we continue to burn fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil we risk a man-made disaster of global scale. We must increase and accelerate the rate at which we generate, store and distribute our energy from solar panels and renewable sources if we are to avoid irreparable damage to our planet.

Solar panels offer a means to considerably reducing your organisations’ carbon footprint. A typical 250kWp solar PV system will offset approximately 64 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent to driving 155,000 miles in a petrol car.

A number of UK organisations including Bristol City Council and Bristol University have already announced a climate emergency and pledged to go net zero carbon by 2030.