Egg has seen solar panel enquiries rise by 830% from this time last year. Image: Getty Images.
Clean energy company Egg has seen enquiries for solar panels rise by 830% in the past four months, as the UK was rocked by successive heatwaves in comparison to last year.
With solar energy generation rates high amid the heatwave in addition to the rise in the wholesale gas price pushing the UK economy to the brink of a cost of living catastrophe, the renewable energy sector’s popularity has increased significantly in the past few months.
In fact, Egg data showed that its customers generated an average of 11.2kWh from their solar panels on 29 August 2022 alone.
“We’re used to seeing spikes in interest for solar panels during sunny spells, but the level of enquiries we’ve received this year is unprecedented,” stated Gareth Greppellini, business to business director of Egg.
“There have been many weeks since the start of May when we’ve dealt with over ten times the volume of customers we had in the same period last year.”
With the heatwave highlighting the potential energy that could have been generated by consumers, it is clear why its popularity has risen sharply on the past year.
Egg offers solar panels with expert installation whilst also supplying and installing batteries in order to store the solar energy. This provides customers with a basis to supply their own energy at lower costs than that of gas derived energy.
Alongside this, the rise in the energy price cap additionally saw popularity for solar enquiries increase. Egg states that over 12% of new solar panel enquiries collected over 16 weeks were received by Egg in one week alone at the end of May, when Ofgem warned it would increase the energy price cap.
“There’s a sizeable upfront cost for solar panels, but it’s crystal clear that energy prices are likely to stay high into 2024 and possibly beyond,” added Greppellini. “We’re hearing from customers that they’re looking to invest and start saving as soon as possible; and given the wait time for solar panels to be manufactured and delivered, they’re wise to start the process now.”
Egg is not the only firm that saw a dramatic increase in solar enquiries amid the heatwave and energy price cap rise. Renewable technology provider Shawton Energy stated it had seen solar power enquiries rise ten-fold.
As temperatures across the UK soared to over 30°C amid August’s heatwave, The Eco Experts also disclosed a record amount for searches for 'solar panels’ had been reached.
According to Google Trends on Thursday 11 August, the UK collectively reached a score of 100 for the first time searching for solar panels – an increase of over 100% from the previous two months’ average score.
The heatwave additionally showcased the potential of solar panels as a means to supply the UK with sufficient amounts of energy. During the heatwave on Tuesday 19 July, solar power output met up to a quarter of the UK’s power demand.
Generation hit a peak of 7.7GW by midday according to Sheffield Solar’s PV Live website, more than six times the capacity of the country’s largest nuclear power station, the 1.3GW Heysham 2 plant in Lancashire.