Is Solar Energy a Realistic Source of Power in the UK?

When looking at solar energy advantages and disadvantages one of the disadvantages of solar panels is the impact of cloud cover on the efficiency of photo voltaic solar panels. In fact, one of the only legitimate concerns related to solar panels UK householders raised was the effect of cloud cover. How severe is the problem?

Well, that bad news is that cloud cover does have a very significant effect on the efficiency of solar panels. Estimates vary, but realistically on a day with low, thick cloud cover you could see your solar panels running at around 25% of the level that you would expect on a clear day. That is a reasonable impact on the amount of electricity generated of course.

Generally though, the prevailing weather means that you will see fluctuations between clear and clouds, rather than having an entire day of only clear skies or only cloudy skies. On days when there are only scattered and broken clouds in fact you will see barely any difference in the output of your solar panels.

So, is this a really big problem for solar panels in the UK? Surely its always cloudy here? Well, although you could be forgiven for thinking that at times it is, in fact our weather is nowhere near as dire as we sometimes think. In fact, when you study the weather patterns over the south of England for 365 days, for just over 50% of that time you have either totally clear skies or few clouds. Then for a further 20% of the time there are scattered or broken clouds.  During all of these states, you can expect your solar panels to generate electricity without any meaningful effect on efficiency.

In fact, studies show that it is only around 30% of the time that the skies over southern England are entirely overcast due to cloud, rain, fog and snow. Who would have believed it? Yes, a lot of that time will be during the winter so you will still need to rely on the grid (if solar power is the only form a sustainable power that you generate) but it is still well worth investing in solar panels here in the UK. Remember that on all of those clear days or days with low cloud cover you are likely to be generating and selling electricity back into the national grid, so overall this is still a very solid investment.

For the most part your solar panels will be efficient here in the UK and if you choose the right system your gain could be even greater. Also, next time that you look into the sky and see nothing but cloud cover, rain, fog or snow just remember that around 70% of the time its much better than this!