The British government has established a scheme with a lifespan of 20 years, costing a total of £8 billion, that allows homeowners to reduce their utility bills by letting a solar power company install their panels on the rooftops… for 25 years.
Isis Solar is the owner of the contract and they will put £10,000 worth of solar panels on north-south oriented roofs.
Isis Solar is being paid 41.3p per kWh (as opposed to a maximum of 18.5p per kWh paid by users) by the Government, to increase their sales and encourage the development of solar power.
The homeowners that want to have solar panels installed onto their roofs have to have at least 24 square meters available, and no shade must fall on that surface. Solar panels producing 3.3 kWh are to be installed on 18,000 British houses over the next five years.
While being expensive and setting the cost for all electricity consumers in the UK £8.50 more each year, the program resembles those already initiated in Italy and other countries, still backed up by the government through subsidies.
While I applaud the government’s efforts to get solar roofing a bit more traction, I think that every government building should be outfitted with solar roofing systems. According to this http://www.schulteroofing.com/college-station-roofing/ company, building-integrated solar technology will become the norm in 10 years or so.