Almost a quarter of Scottish homes to be solar-powered ‘within a few years’

The survey carried out on behalf of one independent suppliers, OVO energy, showed that while just 6 per cent of Scottish homes have been fitted with solar panels, 18 per cent of Scots are planning to fit them to their homes in the not so distant future.

This means that almost a quarter of all Scottish homes could be running on – and receiving all the benefits of - solar energy in the next few years.

The data also shows the reasons for staying with more traditional energy sources.

76 per cent of Scottish adults don’t have any panels installed on their homes, of those some (11 per cent) admitted they hadn’t thought about it, while others (17%) were not planning to stay at their current address long enough for the investment to make financial sense.

However, the main reason came down to price – over a third (34 per cent) saw the biggest stumbling block was the initial cost of getting panels fitted.

People might be put off by cost, but after the initial expense, solar panels have been proven to be extra efficient in paying for themselves – in terms of cutting energy bills and also allowing the householder the chance to be paid for the energy created.