Guernsey seeing rise in demand for solar panels amid higher electricity prices

Guernsey is seeing an increase in demand for solar panels to be installed on houses with homeowners looking for cheaper energy alternatives. There is now a six-month waiting list for islanders to have panels installed on their homes.Solar power installation firm Little Green says it has seen a 30% increase in their total residential solar capacity installed in 2023 alone. Another company, Renew Guernsey, says the uptick in demand began in July when Guernsey Electricity increased its prices, with the average primary standing charge going up by 20.5 pence per day. Jack Fletcher, from Renew Guernsey, told ITV News that widespread solar panel installation across Guernsey could not only produce greener energy, reducing the island's carbon footprint, but could also bring "mouth-watering" economic benefits to the island.

Mr Fletcher said: "If there were panels everywhere and batteries everywhere, the economic benefit would be absolutely profound. "When you look at the figures, they're absolutely mouth-watering [in terms of] what the island could save in the next 30, 40, 50 years."It's a way to solve the economic situation we're currently in."

Plans for large-scale renewable energy production are not new to the Channel Islands. In October, Jersey Electricity installed a 4.3 MegaWatt ground-mounted solar panel farm in St Clement in an attempt to drive down energy prices in the long run and reduce the reliance Jersey has on imported energy going forward. Jersey's politicians also voted overwhelmingly to explore an opportunity to build a wind farm around ten miles southwest of Corbière in April. And in June, it was announced that company Spiralis Energy had approached the States of Alderney to explore the possibility of trialling two tidal energy generators in the island's waters.

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