Monthly solar PV installation cost in the UK 2016-2021

During the period of consideration, the average installation costs of small-scale solar photovoltaic systems in the United Kingdom have fluctuated. Up to September 2019, the installation cost per kilowatt has consistently been the most expensive for the 0-4kW band. From October 2019 onwards, installation cost for the 4-10 kilowatt hour surpassed the 0-4kW band costs. During the period in consideration, prices peaked at 1,977 British pounds per kilowatt installed for the 0-4 kW band in April 2016. By May 2021, figures decreased to 1.7 thousand British pounds per kilowatt installed.

Installations

In the financial year of April 2018 to March 2019, there were 32,370 installations in the 0-4kW band. This was an increase of 64 percent when compared to the same period the previous year. The highest number of installations occurred in March 2019, at 7,818. This peak was mainly due to the closure of the Feed-in Tariff scheme. Between April 2019 and March 2020, the number of installations declined by 30 percent compared to the previous year.

Feed-in-Tariff

The Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme was introduced in April 2010. It was a government program designed to promote the uptake of low-carbon and renewable electricity generation technologies. Since its introduction, the capacity of the FIT scheme for solar PV was highest in the first quarter of 2012 at 404,782 kW. By January 2020, the total capacity of Solar PV installations under the FIT scheme reached roughly 5.1 gigawatts. The scheme ended in April 2019.