Solar panels more popular than satellite TV with homebuyers

With the results of a new survey conducted by mortgage lender ING Direct recently revealing that British property buyers regard a solar PV installation as their most desirable "non-essential deal-sealer", Trina Solar's Ben Hill has spoken out to emphasise the need for panel manufacturers to step up their efforts to support installers as they look to meet increasing demand for solar technology. Solar panels were by some distance the most popular extra property feature, being named by 38 per cent of respondents to the survey and beating off competition as diverse as weekly refuse collection and satellite television connection (32 per cent each), good 3G mobile Internet coverage (20 per cent), and a garden pond (15 per cent). For Hill, Trina Solar's Head of Europe, these statistics are confirmation of the trends he is seeing in the UK market, where the number of homes generating their own energy using solar panels has risen by 349 per cent since August 2011: "The strong demand we are witnessing is a sure sign that the British public is embracing solar PV. More and more people are recognising the environmental and economic benefits that they can reap from installing solar panels," he said. But Hill cautions that manufacturers hoping to take advantage of the growing popularity of solar panels among British homebuyers need to make more of an effort to understand the business needs of their installer partners, providing services that match these requirements. "Mass-producing panels and leaving the matter of getting them onto roofs to someone else just does not cut it," he said. "There are still very few high-end manufacturers providing the training opportunities, support, and incentives that installers need. Trina Solar has just launched its UK truck roadshow to take its comprehensive installer programme out to the UK market, including visiting Solar Power UK on 2nd-4th October, and London on 8th and 10th October. "Giving installers and distributors this kind of assistance when it comes to increasing their competence and building their business can only be a good thing, especially as demand for solar PV continues to grow."

Solar panels – A new way to invest in your future

Solar panels are about to become more affordable. Over the past decade, solar panels – called photovoltaic or PV panels and solar heating have become increasingly visible.

They power street lamps and road signs in some counties, and are increasingly seen on homes up and down the UK. The key change the government are bringing in April next year is the feed in tariff and that means you and I can earn money from generating our own electricity.

So if there are doubts about how effective solar panels are, and overcast skies, the financial argument is about to get much better.

Especially as electricity costs have doubled in the last three years, says Stuart Lovatt from Heat my Home.

“If you put solar panels on your roof the government will pay you 36p – or 36.5p is the number out for consultation and what we expect it to be,” he said.

“The pay-back time on your investment could still be nearer to 10 years.”

“Even on a cloudy day, it can generate over 50%.”

“We do have doldrums. When we have heavy clouds, they cease to produce anything to let you run the washing machine and so on.”

Most days, on an average kind of day, there’s enough juice to keep our HDTV, surround sound stereo and other creature comforts running. No problem.

Ironically most solar panels manufactured in Wales are exported to mainland Europe, especially Germany. With more generous grants for householders to invest in lowering their energy bills there, solar panels are more common than here.

Possibly – if homeowners prefer to invest £8-£20,000 in solar panels rather than keep their cash in a bank – the feed-in-tariff system next April could see far more panels on houses all over Wales, utilising the power of the sun.

Source - BBC

The future’s bright for home owners with solar panels?

The solar panels are cheaper than ever and you can sell your surplus energy to the grid. No wonder, the future’s bright for home owners solar panels.

Real, gutsy solar power is as rare as hen’s teeth in this country. By the real deal I mean photovoltaic (PV solar) systems that convert sunlight into electricity as opposed to rather prosaic solar thermal systems that heat water. Last year just 6MW of solar PV solar panels were installed in this country. Compare and contrast the situation in Germany, where more than 1,500MW was installed last year and one in 10 buildings has a solar power system.

This is ludicrous because solar PV could provide 30-40% of the UK’s total electricity needs by 2050, reducing CO2 emissions by 15% a year. An average domestic system (a fairly modest 1.8kWp PV system) can provide at least 25% of a household’s energy. The sticking point has been the expense.

Luckily there are sunnier days ahead. We’ve been waiting years for a Feed-in Tariff scheme (rebranded as the Clean Energy Cash Back Scheme), and now it is expected to arrive in April 2010. This will guarantee domestic PV installations 36.5 pence per kw hour of electricity they feed back into the grid, probably for around 25 years.

If plans go through, they’ll get just 36p for their surplus output and be able to enjoy the more generous tariff and possibly a grant (£10m is available until April 2010 via the governments grants programme in the form of £2,500 per households.

And you’ll be able to take advantage of the fact that solar panels have come down in price. According to Sharp, a UK-based solar-module manufacturer, units are 30% cheaper than a year ago. You can get different types to stick on or integrate into your roof, not just the traditional crystalline cells using reject silicon from the electronics industry. The new wave is full of efficient, sleek models. Some look uncannily like normal roof tiles. Thanks to a recession in Spain (a voracious PV consumer) there are lots around.

But in the solar rush, remember to purchase responsibly. PV solar cells are far from ecologically innocuous, as they contain a concoction of toxic conductors. They should be manufactured in a closed-loop system to high environmental standards.

They also remain the only renewable really attuned to normal life. You can add them on to a house without incurring the wrath of planning departments or undertaking huge civil engineering projects.

Source - The Guardian

Solar panels are the new designer kitchen

Investing in solar panels or a wind turbine could add to the resale value of a property and could be as attractive to house hunters as a new kitchen or solid wood floors.

When arriving at a market value for a property, there are a variety of factors that can add value to a home. Improvements such as a conservatory or designer kitchen, can convince a purchaser to pay more for a home.

However, with an ever increasing emphasis on the environment, it would appear that buyers are willing to pay a premium for a house that has a renewable energy source.

The Energy Saving Trust has just released the results of a poll that they commissioned recently. Over a third (35 per cent) of those polled said they would be prepared to pay more for a home where some of their energy supply came from renewable resources such as wind, solar or hydro-power.

Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said: “It seems Britons are willing to pay more for a home with a renewable energy source so investing in a solar panel or a wind turbine could add to the resale value of a property and could be as attractive to house hunters as a new kitchen or solid wood floors.”

The term ‘feed in tariff’ is a direct translation from German. In Germany, the state has for several years encouraged the development of renewable energy sources such as anaerobic digestion plants, by paying the producer a premium per KwH for power generated from renewable sources. This has been a very successful model and is now being copied in the UK.

The poll also indicated that over half (53 per cent) of those polled were put off from installing a domestic renewable energy source by the high initial cost. The Energy Saving Trust can suggest grants that are available for certain green technologies. They feature case studies of people who are acting as “Green Ambassadors” by installing renewable energy sources in their homes.

An analogous situation would be vehicles converted to run on liquid petroleum gas (LPG). This is not only more environmentally friendly but actually costs less than half the price of petrol. Logically, any such vehicle should command a premium price over an identical petrol car. The reality is that neither an insurance company nor a retail purchaser will pay a penny more for an LPG vehicle over and above its petrol driven equivalent.

The research was done across 2696 adults in the UK in March this year. Unfortunately, like most polling exercises, it is deeply flawed. Asking respondents if they would be willing to pay more for a green home is one thing and many people will answer “yes” and bask in the warm, fuzzy glow of “helping the environment”.

Source - Property Confidential

People pay more for a house with solar panels

A survey of 2,700 UK adults, which “found that half of respondents are interested in finding out whether their home is suitable for renewable energy systems, such as solar panels”.

Meanwhile, over a third said they would be willing to pay more for a house where some of the energy was supplied by renewable sources, suggesting that those investing in microgeneration systems will be able to recoup some of the cost through increased house prices.

The same should apply in this country, especially since a lot Americans understand energy prices are going up whether or not there is a climate bill. The point is that as peak oil kicks in and the reality of human-caused climate change becomes painfully clear, energy efficiency, geothermal heat pumps, solar panels and the like will increasingly be seen as a desirable if not essential elements of a home, like an up-to-date kitchen, rather than just a “cost.”

The story on the from the Energy Saving Trust survey continues:

Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said that the findings were good news for the UK’s emerging onsite renewables sector. “It seems Britons are willing to pay more for a home with a renewable energy source so investing in a solar panel or a wind turbine could add to the resale value of a property and be as attractive to house hunters as a new kitchen or solid wood floors,” he said.
The survey also confirmed that the high upfront cost of renewable energy systems — the cheapest solar energy systems cost over £3,000 and most technologies take anything between five and 25 years to deliver a return on investment — remains the main barrier to adoption.

Hence the need for maintaining tax credits, until we have a price for CO2 that represents its full damage cost.

Source - WorldChanging

The UK government hates solar panels

Politicians, like the rest of us, are always being urged to “think big”. But, for me, the most interesting issue over the next week or so is going to be rather different: is Ed Miliband big enough to think small?

The question arises because our precocious young Energy and Climate Change Secretary is about to publish plans for a tenfold increase in renewable energy in Britain in little over a decade. The strategy will show whether Mr Miliband has more faith in the British people or in (and I fully realise that this is saying something) possibly the most incompetent and obscurantist collection of civil servants in Whitehall.

Let me explain. For decades, Britain has generated its energy from big installations: whopping great fossil fuel power stations that belch out carbon dioxide to add to global warming; mammoth nuclear power stations with a shocking record of construction delays and cost overruns; oversized wind farms, sometimes plonked down in wholly inappropriate places.

But it’s becoming clear that an excellent way to generate renewable energy is on a small – even household – scale, through rooftop solar panels. Despite the initial cost, the “fuel” is distributed free by nature, without the need for long pipes or power lines, and costs little or nothing to tap once the installation has been paid for. Families gain greater independence, and possibly some income from selling the surplus to the grid.
Last year, a report backed by Lord Mandelson’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (as was) concluded that, with proper encouragement, nine million British homes could be using such “microgeneration” by 2020, producing the same amount of electricity as five nuclear power stations. After just another decade, it went on, this could prevent the emission of as much carbon dioxide as taking all of the country’s buses and lorries off the road.

Sounds great? Not to the official ear. Civil servants in successive energy departments have always hated the idea of microgeneration, and done all they could to stifle it.

And why? Because it means someone else – worse, millions of someone elses – make decisions instead of them. And, as every mandarin believes, the man from Whitehall knows best.

In fact, as Daily Telegraph readers know, the man – and (let’s not be sexist) the woman – from Whitehall usually knows worst. After all, these people who trust you so little are the same bunch of dunderheads who pressed unrelentingly for the building of the mixed-oxide nuclear plant at Sellafield.

This white dinosaur, which has cost the taxpayer £1 billion, was supposed to produce 120 tons of nuclear fuel a year, but managed only a total of 6.3 tonnes between its opening in 2001 and April this year. (But never mind – there are proposals to build another one to make up for it.)

There might conceivably be some excuse for all this arrogance, if ordinary people took irrational, random decisions. But, of course, they don’t.

Other countries have easily devised measures that have ensured a rapid expansion of microgeneration. Germany guarantees generous “feed-in tariffs” for selling home-generated solar electricity to the grid; as a result, in 2007, 130,000 solar roofs were installed, compared with 270 in Britain.

Even in Bangladesh, more than 200,000 poor families have installed solar cells with the help of microcredit loans, bringing power to their villages for the first time and making money by selling it to their neighbours.
British ministers condemned Germany’s successful scheme as “a regulatory nightmare”. Instead, they reluctantly offered families grants to help towards the cost of installation – slashing them back to below incentive levels as soon as they started to be taken up. But now, in a U-turn, Mr Miliband is poised to introduce feed-in tariffs.

Will they be good and generous enough to work? Not, I’ll bet, if the officials can help it: they could well scupper microgeneration again.

A Tory minister would not let them do it: David Cameron understands the importance of this, and the self-reliance and individual initiative it encourages fits in well with his party’s values. But does perhaps the most promising Labour politician of the same generation get it, too? We’ll soon know.

Renewable energy is just the job

Is this an encouraging straw in a chill wind? In the South West, it seems, green firms and jobs are growing “at a dramatic rate”.

A new report – snappily entitled the Economic Contribution of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Sectors in the South West of England – surveyed 100 firms and found that their turnover had almost doubled over the last, recession-hit year, with the number of staff increasing by 40 per cent.

South Korea this week announced that it planned to create 1.8 million jobs over the next five years by developing solar power, hybrid cars and energy-efficient lighting. Barack Obama has promised to provide work for five million by investing in renewable energy, while David Cameron says: “Decarbonising Britain will help create hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

But will it work? Environmentalists brandish studies, like one from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that concludes that investing in green technologies employs nearly four times as many people as traditional investment. Sceptics repeatedly refer to a Spanish report that says that 2.2 jobs are lost for every new green one created.

In truth, no one knows. But green measures, like insulating buildings, are often particularly labour-intensive.
Renewable energy seems to provide at least three times as much work per dollar (or pound) as fossil fuels; recycling rubbish employs 10 times as many people as dumping it. So we may soon have a new term: “green-collar jobs”.

Green day? More like dirty brown
Sacré vert! Yesterday, as you may have noticed, was Green Britain Day. Except that it was actually organised by a nationalised French company, which boasts of being “one of the largest participants in the global coal market”.

The day aimed to urge us to “start living low-carbon lives” and to “start making changes” to “be part of a movement to reduce Britain’s carbon footprint”. Yet EDF proudly reports that it “imports around 30 million tons of physical coal a year”.

I don’t know if there is a French word for “greenwash”, but the firm might care to look it up.
Just to add injury to insult, EDF’s logo for the day – a green Union flag – is remarkably similar to one used by a genuinely green energy company, Ecotricity. Dale Vince, its chief executive, says he asked the French company to stop using it.

As a result, he received a phone call from an Andrew Brown, followed the same day by a message from a lawyer saying it would cost £6 million to do so. So he’s now taking the French giant to court.
Andrew Brown? Doesn’t that ring a bell? Yes, it’s the Prime Minister’s brother – the First Sibling, we might call him – who just happens to be EDF’s PR chief.

So here’s an idea for the company. Why doesn’t it “start making changes now” by getting out of coal, the world’s dirtiest fuel?

Otherwise, it could try colouring the flag Brown.

Source - Telegraph

Save money over the long term with solar panels

Right now many UK homeowners are under the impression that the UK simply does not get enough sunshine for solar panels to be effective. However, new reports have shown that this is wrong. According to solar panel advisors, solar panels actually do not run off “sunlight” but off solar radiation.

Heat my Home, the renewable energy advisor, has now explained to many UK homeowners that solar panels will help them with their energy bills. This is due to the fact that solar panels do not need sun rays to produce energy but solar radiation.

Stuart Lovatt, from Heat my Home, goes on say that one of the most unique selling points of solar panels is their longevity. Solar panels are not things that are suppose to last just a few years. Stuart points out that a good quality system could last the average household 30 years easily. Thus, the long term benefits of buying solar panels is very easy to see.

Lovatt also points out that there are not many things that people can buy nowadays that have a 30-year life span. Thus, solar panels, due to their long lifespan, are a perfect investment for people who are thinking along the lines of retirement.

Current reports show that Germany is one of the biggest installers of solar panels in all of Europe. Not only that, but Germany has a very similar climate to that of the UK. Both areas receive about 60 percent of the solar radiation levels that the equator does.

Solar panels use to be more orientated toward people who wanted to go green. Now these are systems that are also orientated to people who want to save money over the long run by cutting down on their energy bills.

Source - Electric

How long do solar panels last?

Solar photovoltaics slowly lose their generating capacity. Although some solar panels are still working satisfactorily 40 years after installation and 30 with solar hot water, the conventional view is that most will dip below 80% of their rated capacity within about 20 years. This will vary slightly between manufacturers and between different types of silicon.

The length of life of a photovoltaic unit is a critical element in the financial assessment of solar power. Cash payback may take well over a decade in northern Europe, even with substantial subsidies, such as the proposed new UK tariffs. So adding even a few years of expected life can mean a major difference to the viability of a project.

Recent evidence from Japan suggests that life expectancy is longer than expected.[1] A company that reuses old panels reports that it has tested 330 panels made in 1984. 90% of these units can still generate 80% or more of their initial output. The industry expects that products made today will be even more durable than those made in the 1980s. The backing materials used to create the solar panels should be less susceptible to discolouration. So typical lives of thirty or more years can probably be assumed.

These findings are important because they will improve the financial assessments of solar installations and, as importantly, because they will encourage banks to lend more money against the security of the panels because they are expected to last longer. Put another way, if the bank was forced to seize solar panels because the debtor failed to make payments, these panels would have a longer expected future life and thus be worth more to alternative owners. This makes banks more comfortable and we can expect that they will eventually agree to lend more and require repayment more slowly.

In a coincident development, the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change has announced that its feed-in tariffs for solar PV will actually run for 25 years, not the 20 envisaged in its July 2009 consultation document. This will also substantially improve the attractiveness of investment in PV systems.

Source - Scitizen

Laid off auto workers learn to install solar panels

In a crowded classroom at Henry Ford Community College, laid off auto workers are learning how to install and manage solar panels.

The class is part of a new alternative energy technology program the college created to help retrain the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the collapse of the auto industry.

"Everybody is scrambling," said Linda West, director of workforce development at the suburban Detroit college.

Money is tight. Enrollment is up. But the hardest part is trying to figure out what kind of training to provide so those people "can have a hope of getting a job," West said.

Sean Peppers, 37, has spent nearly two decades working in auto supplier plants but has not been called for a single interview since he was laid off from his engineering job in January.

He hopes the alternative energy degree will help him find work at a plant building parts for wind turbines, or solar panels, or anything that is not a car.

"I was trying to get out of automotive before I was kicked out of automotive. You could see the writing on the wall," Peppers said.

"But there's not a whole lot of options when your experience is totally for automotive."

Most of the 65 students taking the alternative energy classes are getting their tuition paid through an state program which provides scholarships to Michigan residents who are unemployed or earning less than 40,000 dollars a year.

They are the lucky ones.

The two year-old No Worker Left Behind program has so far helped retrain around 78,000 people. There were more than 740,000 actively looking for work in June, as Michigan's unemployment rate hit 15.2 percent.

The state recently extended unemployment benefits to 79 weeks because so many people have been out of work for so long.

In the past ten years, Michigan has lost half its manufacturing jobs as Ford, General Motors and Chrysler saw their share of US auto sales slide from 70 to 45 percent.

"We feel like the guy who made horseshoes when the Model T (Ford) came out," said student Brandon VanPoppelen.

VanPoppelen, 32, was laid off from three different jobs in four years after the housing market boom went bust.

He is hoping the certificate program will help him make the switch from selling construction materials to doing energy efficiency consulting or installation.

But he is worried about the guys he knows who were happy framing a house or making 15 or 20 dollars an hour in a factory, who do not know how to do anything but work with their hands.

Now, he says, their only options seem to be working for minimum wage in soul-crushing jobs like manning a fast-food drive-through window.

"It's emasculating," he said.

They cannot provide for their families and they cannot see a way out. So they get frustrated. And they drink.

"What do they want us to do? I'll be fine, but not everybody can be an engineer," VanPoppelen said. "There's got to be middle class manual work."

The state has "multiple strategies" for retraining its workforce, drawing new employers and diversifying its economy, said Andy Levin, deputy director for Michigan's department of energy, labor, and economic growth.

Green jobs are a major focus of the state's outreach program as it tries to capitalize on its strengths in advanced manufacturing and chemical engineering.

The state is also working with employers to design programs to train workers to fill specific needs and have revised its adult education programs to ensure that literacy and language skill training is job-oriented.

"We simply can't serve everybody," he admits.

The state's resources are too thin to extend training to everyone who wants it and to help community colleges develop new curriculums.

And a lot of the people who used to make a good income working with their hands will simply have to adjust to earning a lot less.

"The biggest plurality of jobs are going to be service sector jobs, which are low wage," Levin said.

Unless, he said, unions manage to do for service workers what they did for auto workers so many years ago.

Source - Solar daily

Cheap ‘green mortgages’ to foster energy-saving homes

The government is to offer “green mortgages” to fund the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and other energy-saving measure.

Householders who refuse to take part in the scheme could face higher council tax rates and, when they sell, the threat of raised stamp duty for prospective buyers.

Ministers want to cut the 150m tonnes of carbon dioxide generated by Britain’s 26m homes to less than 30m tonnes by 2050.

“Britain has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 80% between now and 2050 so we need to cut the emissions from each home to almost zero,” said David Adams, chairman of the UK Green Buildings Council.

Adams heads a government-backed taskforce that will propose the “green mortgage” scheme in a report to be published on Tuesday.

It will be backed by Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, who wants 7m homes to have undergone the energy upgrades by 2020, with the rest by 2030.

This weekend it also emerged that the renewable energy strategy is likely to add £200 to the average household’s utility bills. The strategy paper will say Britain needs to spend more than £100 billion on renewable energy infrastructure by 2020, including 7,000 wind turbines. This money will come from a levy on energy bills, which will have to rise by about 20%.

The green mortgages are expected to be made available by high street banks in partnership with local councils.

Householders may be encouraged to take out the loans by a temporary reduction in council tax, which may also be increased if they refuse.

The loans, likely to average between £10,000 and £15,000 for each home, would be secured by a charge on a property, repayable over periods of up to 25 years. If a resident sold the house, the charge would stay with the new owner.

Ministers believe this will not disrupt the housing market. “The aim is to make the monthly repayments so small that they will be outstripped by the savings on energy bills – meaning householders will actually save money by taking the loans,” said Adams.

Ute Collier, of the Committee on Climate Change, the government’s independent adviser, calculated that the owner of a typical three-bedroom Victoran end-of-terrace home, with three exposed walls, could expect to spend £10,280 on a package of energy-saving measures, along with a new boiler.

This would cost the householder £514 a year in repayments over 20 years, assuming a zero interest rate, while the savings on energy would total £802, a yearly “profit” of £288.

Alternatively, they could spend £32,180 on a top-of-the-range energy efficiency package with deluxe double-glaz-ing, insulation on every external wall, plus solar panels and a ground source heat pump.

This would cost £1,609 a year in repayments over 20 years, compared with annual savings on bills of £1,400. Although this appears a loss, the work could increase the value of the property and be a safeguard against future energy price rises.

Adams believes that an army of contractors could be hired to carry out energy saving measures street by street. He likens it to having an Olympic-sized building project every year for the next 20 years, generating about 50,000 jobs.

However, critics fear that a national insulation programme will see the destruction of many period features, such as Victorian sash windows, which are aesthetically pleasing but inefficient.

“This has to be done sensitively,” said Adams. “Sash windows and other period features can be improved rather than destroyed.”

The green mortgage plan is likely to irritate the Conservatives who announced a similar scheme for raising domestic energy efficiency months before the government.

Greg Clark, the Tory energy and climate spokesman, said: “It’s annoying to see our policies stolen like this but I feel proud that Miliband is a convert to recycling our ideas.”

The government will also introduce measures this week to restrict emissions generated by Britain’s 2m commercial and public buildings. These buildings produce about 80m tonnes of CO2 a year.

Source - The times

Solar power is heaven sent for parish church

SLEAFORD has become one of the first towns in the country to see its historic parish church fitted with solar power.

St Denys' Church has just taken delivery of 56 solar panels from Germany which are being fitted to the roof of the south nave by a team of expert engineers.

The £56,000 project will save 4.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions and generate 900KW or £1,300 worth of electricity a year in an effort by the church to do its bit for the environment and cut out greenhouse gases.

The project has been led by curate, the Rev Jeremy Cullimore who said that they were now looking at using some of the energy generated to heat the church, the rest will be sold to the National Grid.

He said: "This is the start of the project. Getting the panels has been a challenge and getting the funding has been a challenge, but we are going to save four-and-a-half tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. To get this on a Grade 1 listed church has been a real challenge, but also an opportunity because we can show here what we ought to be doing to protect out environment and save emissions, working with God given light that we can use to power out modern lifestyle."

The large panels, which are aluminium frames holding toughened glass backed with bulletproof Kevlar, are fixed to a system of racking to protect the lead roof. Cables run in through a window to a pair of convertors transforming the power from DC to AC current.

The Rev Cullimore added: "In Sleaford we are really cutting edge and leading the way. If more churches in Lincolnshire could do this the effect on our national energy consumption would be significant. We have set a precedent and a lot of other churches are looking at it with some enthusiasm."

The eastern side of England naturally gets more sunshine, ideal for solar power, but he now wants to arrange a conference for clergy to discuss the many ways of saving and generating green energy. He saw every school and local government office could be treated in the same way.

English Heritage had had concerns about how the panels may affect the views of the church but have been convinced to allow it to go ahead.

They cannot be seen from anywhere in town except for the top of The Hub.

The solar panels should be long-lasting as well, with similar equipment having been used on North sea buoys for over 20 years.

Having had to carry the large panels up scaffolding by hand, workmen, employed by a Lincolnshire-based company, Freewatt, should have the job completed within two weeks. Work had been delayed while rotten guttering was replaced at an additional cost of £16,500.

Half the funding for the scheme has come from a Government green energy grant while another 45 per cent was paid out by the BIG Lottery Fund and the remainder from church funds.

He said The Rev Cullimore said the parochial church council and Canon John Patrick have been totally supportive.

Source - Sleaford Standard

Solar panels are helping us to save money

Solar panels are helping to not only save a Worcester family money but earn them some extra cash as well.

The Jenkins household is reaping the benefits of having 16 photovoltaic (PV) solar panels installed on the south- facing roof of their home in Hillery Road, Spetchley.

Dad Matthew Jenkins reckons the family save at least £400 every year on their electricity bills.

He said: “When it’s sunny, like it kind of is at the moment, the panels generate electricity. Even on a cloudy day we get a bit.

“On a sunny day we get quite a lot and if we generate more than we’re actually using we export that back onto the national grid.

“We actually get paid for that and get a fair bit of money for it.”

Mr Jenkins, a website designer who runs his business from home, said he used money from his redundancy at Kays to help pay for the PV panels which cost £15,500.

The panels absorb energy from the sun and a converter fitted in the loft of the semi-detached home turns that into electricity that can be used to power lighting and everyday items such as kettles, irons, computers and televisions.

The panels have generated more than 6,160 kw/h since they were installed in October 2006. Mr Jenkins said while it could take up to 20 years before the panels actually pay for themselves it has helped to ease a lot of financial worry for the family.

“It will take quite a long time to get the money back but it’s a long-term investment,” he said. “If the cost of electricity goes up it doesn’t affect us and we will probably get paid more for any extra we generate.

“We don’t have to worry about whether electricity bills are going to go up.”

Mr Jenkins, who lives with his wife Mitra and sons Harrison, aged six, and Anton, three, said the panels have also turned their house into a talking point. “Our road is quite quiet and not many people go past but when they do we often see a few people looking up and pointing at the roof because they look different to other types of panels,” he said.

Mr Jenkins, who recently became a member of the Green Party, is now urging other people to think about installing solar panels on their homes to make Worcester a more environmentally-friendly city.

He said he would be willing to meet people interested in learning more about the PV panels.

He has even set up a website mitrajenkins.org.uk, which records how much energy the solar panels produce every month.

Source - Berrows Journal

New property will be installed with solar panels

Solar panels should be a fundamental part of all future housing stock built in the UK, the National Energy Foundation (NEF) believes.

The organisation, which helps homes and businesses to reduce their carbon emissions by pursuing energy efficiency measures, also called for new residences to be better insulated to reduce energy consumption.

A spokesperson for the NEF said that biomass could also be a “significant” technology for helping to lower emissions tied to the nation’s energy consumption, but suggested that it is limited by how much feedstock can be grown.

“Solar is an infinite quantity,” he added. “Every single property that is built in the UK, if it doesn’t have solar panels on it then I ask, ‘Why?’”

His comments came after research from UK Climate Projections warned that t

Source - Low Carbon Economy

The problem with Solartwin

Stuart Lovatt, ex employee of Solartwin, would like to share my experience’s, good and bad about Solartwin and it’s product, so you may benefit from my experience.

I began promoting their product on my website (aimed at promoting the use of solar panels) Heat my Home back in 2004. Like many of their customers I thought the concept and thinking behind the product was great and it was.

My website began bringing them many interested potential customers, so much so that they offered me a job within the company. I took their offer and moved to Chester to begin my new career.

My perception of Solartwin began to change, after a manager in charge of after-sales service left the company and told me how many unhappy customers they really had. (this was kept secret from other employee’s). This was the reason he was leaving, 76 and growing, customers all with broken panels, noisey pumps or leaks. He had enough and left.

Shortly after this they were banned from the government approved list of solar technologies, and the Solar Trade Association expelled them for good.

My conscious kicked in. Unhappy I confronted the managers that I was unhappy and their only solution was to encourage me to lie to new customers. This I could not do. Solartwin began a policy of bullying to make me toe the company line, but this came to a head when I left because the bullying and nastiness aimed at me became to much to bear. I handed my resignation letter in.

During this time the sales coming into the company drastically reduced and the unhappy customers had risen further. Panels only installed 5-2 years ago were encountering problems. (A good solar panel should easily last 25-30 years)

I took Solartwin to an employment tribunal, were they settled out of court.

My bad experience’s continued recently when they tried to accuse me of fraudulently using services worth £2000 when in fact it was only £69. This was due to a mix up when I left the company about website access. This issue was dealt with outside of court and the £69 returned.

The Solartwin Product – By my experience

Pro’s

1. You can use your existing old hot water tank.
2. It uses a PV solar panel to power the pump.
3. Can easily be installed as a DIY solar panel.

Con’s

1. Installing to an old tank is a false economy. You will need to change your tank anyway in the see able future and the panel will become unusable on your modern tank.
2. The pump is a cheap car’s windscreen washer pump.
3. The pump is strapped to your rafters with a cheap piece of insulating foam and tie grips.
4. The panel its self is only a large piece of builders (Kingspan) foam encased into a plastic box.
5. The price of the product does not match the quality of the product.
6. The performance of the panel is poor.
7. The pump is noisey and generally situated above your bedroom.
8. Solartwin promote their product as ZERO Carbon. Lying to their customer even in their marketing. Nothing is Zero Carbon not even tree’s.

I myself continued to promote QUALITY solar panels through my website Heat my Home.

Source - Heatmyhome

Perpetual Power Installs PV System On Budweiser Facility

Perpetual Power has announced the completion of a 416kW DC solar installation on a Budweiser cold beer storage building in Contra Costa County, Calif. The Markstein Sales Company, a family owned business operating since 1919, and a distributor of Budweiser and other beverages, decided to install solar power on its facility to reduce its energy costs while contributing to the protection of the environment.

The solar system was designed and installed by San Francisco-based Perpetual Power, and is the first system to use their new proprietary "Oasis" roof mounting system.

The system was designed with minimal connections and a low weight per square foot to reduce stress on the building's rooftop. The new mounting system also passed a rigorous wind tunnel test to meet the requirements in this area and ensure stability and safety.

Paul Townsend, founder of Perpetual Power, LLC, commented on the new installation: "We continue to focus our solar installations on large commercial buildings in California, including this new building for Markstein Sales Company. We also focus on large agribusiness installations where solar power makes a real difference in lowering energy bills for these companies."

The solar installation includes 2,240 185Wp Mitsubishi Electric polycrystalline photovoltaic modules, made with 100% lead-free solder. Mitsubishi Electric modules were chosen due to their reputation for outstanding quality and high power output.

Antioch is in the eastern part of the Bay Area and typically experiences hot summer temperatures which drives up the energy requirements of a cold storage facility.

"A cold storage facility is an excellent example of a building that can gain immediate benefits from solar power," said Gina Heng, general manager of Mitsubishi Electric's photovoltaic division.

"Due to the high temperatures and amount of refrigeration required for this facility, solar panels can help the company shave off its most expensive tier it pays to the utility, resulting in immediate savings."

The system will cover approximately 60 percent of the 110k square foot building's energy needs and is estimated by climatecare.org to produce 600,000kWh resulting in a annual savings of approximately $100,000. Based on this estimation, the amount of carbon saved by installing the system is equivalent to driving over 22 million miles over the 25 year life of the system, or keeping 8,000 tons of CO2 from entering the environment.

Source - Solardaily

Taiwan's solar stadium 100% powered by the sun

Taiwan recently finished construction on a solar-powered stadium that will officially open later this year to welcome the 2009 World Games. From Inhabitat, part of the Guardian Environment Network.

Taiwan recently finished construction on an incredible solar-powered stadium that will generate 100% of its electricity from photovoltaic technology! Designed by Toyo Ito, the dragon-shaped 50,000 seat arena is clad in 8,844 solar panels that illuminate the track and field with 3,300 lux. The project will officially open later this year to welcome the 2009 World Games.

Building a new stadium is always a massive undertaking that requires millions of dollars, substantial physical labor, and a vast amount of electricity to keep it operating. Toyo Ito's design negates this energy drain with a stunning 14,155 sq meter solar roof that is able to provide enough energy to power the stadium's 3,300 lights and two jumbo vision screens. To illustrate the incredible power of this system, officials ran a test this January and found that it took just six minutes to power up the stadium's entire lighting system!

The stadium also integrates additional green features such as permeable paving and the extensive use of reusable, domestically made materials. Built upon a clear area of approximately 19 hectares, nearly 7 hectares has been reserved for the development of integrated public green spaces, bike paths, sports parks, and an ecological pond. Additionally, all of the plants occupying the area before construction were transplanted.

Non-sports fans in the community have a lot to jump up and down for as well. Not only does the solar system provide electricity during the games, but the surplus energy will also be sold during the non-game period. On days where the stadium is not being used, the Taiwanese government plans to feed the extra energy into the local grid, where it will meet almost 80% of the neighboring area's energy requirements. Overall, the stadium will generate 1.14 million KWh per year, preventing the release of 660 tons of carbon dioxide into atmosphere annually.

• This article was shared by our content partner Inhabitat, part of the Guardian Environment Network

Source - The Guardian

Solar industry calls for “right mechanism” to grow

A leading figure in the solar industry has called for the “right support and financial” mechanism to encourage the growth of solar-powered heating systems.

Speaking at the New Energy Focus Renewable Heat conference in London on Thursday, Solar Trade Association chairman Howard Johns said that solar thermal technology was “ready to go”, but was waiting for government support.

“Solar thermal is ready to go, what we need now is the right support and financial mechanisms behind the industry to really get that out there,” he said.

Mr Johns, who is also managing director of solar installation company Southern Solar, highlighted the potential of solar thermal district heating to provide 9% of the UK’s renewable energy mix by 2020.

However, although the government is looking to provide a Renewable Heat Incentive from 2011 to subsidised the technology, the Solar Trade Association chairman said there were many uncertainties to come before such measures arrive.

He said: “This is where we could go if the heat incentive or other support mechanism comes in to place, bearing in mind there’s potentially going to be a change of government in between the feed in tariff coming in and the heat incentive coming in.”
District heating

Highlighting the possibilities of solar power, Mr Johns showed delegates a picture of a solar field, or large out-of-town array, which in Germany is being used to fuel a district heating alongside a biomass boiler.

“In Europe, they’re doing things quite differently,” he said. “You actually get more energy out of a field full of solar panels than you do from a field full of biomass. In this case they’ve got a biomass district heating system and a solar thermal district heating system all plugged in to that town. No-one’s done that in the UK yet, but hopefully if the incentives are right, they will be doing it.”

During his presentation, Mr Johns highlighted the fact that solar thermal technology was both low cost and versatile.

“Solar thermal fits on most houses and it is simple,” he said. “And it can be easily retrofitted, which is very good considering that in 2050 70% of our housing stock will have already been built.”

He also emphasised that in the UK solar thermal could provide most, if not all, of a household’s heating from April to September.

Source - New Energy Focus

Solar panels boost business goals

Tracy Hother runs Sameday, a courier service that likes to think of itself as friends with the planet. At their offices in Knutsford, Cheshire, they monitor their hot water usage, use minimal artificial lighting, do not heat spaces unnecessarily, and switch unused appliances off.

But Ms Hother is not a die hard green. She is a self proclaimed “penny pinching” manager who estimates that her frugality reduces her energy bills by 40% a year.

In these icy economic times, Tracy’s example may well be one to be followed.

The current downturn is seeing businesses, big and small, cutting costs at every possible opportunity.

Bad news for employees, perhaps. But good news for the planet.

The Federation of Small Business reports that over 99% of UK businesses employ less than 10 people. The Carbon Trust reveals small to medium businesses as generators of a quarter of the UK’s CO2 emissions.

Both agree that it is important for both the economy and the environment that these businesses make an effort to go green.

But for smaller businesses, reaping the rewards means first embarking on green initiatives.

And that is not always easy.

“One of the biggest barriers for small businesses is trust and belief in the methods and results,” says James Millar, environmental advisor for the Forum of Private Business.

It is hard to associate small actions, such as Tracy Hother’s, with potentially substantial rewards.

Sustainability boxes

Reducing costs was also the motivation of Premier Foods during the energy price rises of 2006.

They embarked on a two-year project that reduced the energy usage in the heating and cooling of products.

The producer of foods for well known brands such as Bachelors and Cambell was working in collaboration with a Nottingham University graduate, arranged by the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

As energy prices fell again, other benefits of the project were revealed as Premier Foods was then, because of the project, considered to be a leader business in its field.

This resulted in increased commercial security during a time when many food manufacturing plants were facing closure.

“In order to be an exemplary business these days, you have to be able to tick the sustainability boxes,” advises Andrew Darwent, supervisor of the partnership at KTP.

Dr Debbie Buckley-Golder, KTP Programme Director, agrees.

“We are seeing an increasing number of companies turning to KTP to find innovative ways of reducing costs…. and strengthening their environmental credentials”.

Their motivation is to “not only survive the recession, but come out the other side leaner and fitter”. Another challenge comes from lack of understanding.

In uncertain times, businesses are less likely to try out new, unfamiliar ways of operating, “especially if it involves an initial cost”, and would rather stick to what they know, says Mr Millar.

Nick Tims, manager of War on Waste, recyclable waste collection service, has reverted back to the security of collecting regular waste.

“We know people will always need their normal waste collecting,” he says.

“It’s just easier than trying to expand and find more clients to stay afloat.”

Despite this, Mr Millar has observed that “the ambition of what people want to do is excellent”. This is evident in the increase in enquires received by government funded consultancies such as Envirowise, who observe that “as the threat of a recession became more likely, businesses actively looked for ways to save money”.

“This was evident in increased [Envirowise] website registrations and more demand for events”.

But the effectiveness of these services has been called into question, with the FPB claiming that such agencies are not properly equipped, and the FSB suggesting that they are built on an incorrect model.

“All too often [managers] are stopped from adopting green practices by ill thought out regulation that fails to take account of the needs and characteristics of small businesses,” Mr Millar says.

Even Sameday’s Ms Hother is finding lack of government support a barrier, with an absence of infrastructure and government provided impetus preventing her from converting her fleet to biofuel powered vehicles.

Even for those businesses that do overcome these barriers and want to actually invest in greening their operations, the financing is largely unavailable.

“As the reality of recession took hold towards the latter end of last year… Envirowise noticed a slowdown in interest in projects where longer term investment was required,” says spokesperson Charlotte Knowles.

High Street banks have been turning down loan applications as credit has dried up and directing people towards those that have been surviving the economic downturn.

Triodos Bank, whose mission is to “make money work for positive social, environmental and cultural change”, is one of those.

As a result, it “has seen a marked increase in enquirers for funding and investments in the renewable sector,” says marketing manager Jane Clarke.

“All loans that we give have to go through an ‘in principle’ decision and this is based on whether we feel that the business/organisation is enhancing the world in either a social, cultural or environmental manner,” she says.

This, combined with the increasing volume of applications, means that many green projects are being put on hold or cancelled. racy Hother, FSB and other industry insiders agree that the missing link in the chain is big business.

“Big businesses could learn a lot from small businesses like us,” says Ms Hother, insisting that people such as herself cannot rely on the government.

Instead, they look to big business as they have the ability to adopt and scale up green practices already tried and tested by smaller, more agile businesses.

According to Emma Goss-Custard of environmentally friendly Honeybuns bakery, “there is a real opportunity for ‘big businesses’ [to] kick-start the industry and make it easier for small business to access more environmentally friendly products.”

As a big business representative, Susan Kendal, sustainability director at Akzo Nobel, contributes to the consensus, saying that even with “a planet that is dying around us”, government as well as big and small businesses need to realise that green projects simply “make good business sense”.

Source - BBC News

Cost of solar panels will match fossil fuels by 2013

Solar energy will fall in price to match the cost of conventional fossil fuel electricity far sooner than previously expected, the UK’s largest solar company has claimed in a new report. Solarcentury said British homeowners will see solar achieve “grid parity” – the point where solar electricity rivals or becomes cheaper than conventional nonrenewable electricity – by 2013. Most predictions suggest that technological innovation will not bring the price down far enough until 2020 or later.

The company suggested falling production costs for solar panels and increasing conventional electricity costs have brought parity closer. Prices for solar and grid electricity in residential homes are expected to crossover at around 17p to 18p per unit of electricity (kWh) in 2013, followed by parity for commercial solar electricity in 2018.

Last December, the renewable energy analysts New Energy Finance predicted silicon costs – a key material for much solar panel technology – would fall by 31.5% in 2009 compared with 2008 levels. Energy consultants Element Energy, under commission from the government, have also forecast solar PV costs will fall by around half between now and 2020.

Derry Newman, CEO for Solarcentury, said: “When you reach grid parity, you have a watershed moment where the perceptions of investors and consumers shift. People have been programmed to believe solar is expensive and takes a hundred years to pay back, but when parity arrives people realise it takes 8-10 years to payback, and they can then be making money out of it.”

Jeremy Leggett, executive chairman of Solarcentury said, “The feed-in tariff that the government has said it will bring in from April 2010 is vital. A burst of premium-pricing for solar energy, of the kind now on offer in 18 European countries, will stimulate a very fast-growing market.”

Experts said the projections were based on significant assumptions in future energy prices, which have been extremely volatile over recent years – last year saw gas and electricity prices double, but now household bills are falling again.

Ray Noble, solar PV specialist at the Renewable Energy Association, said: “The predicted grid parity by 2013 could be possible if all of the predictions, both in terms of grid electricity prices increasing and reductions in the cost of solar PV, come through. However that’s a big if – any slight changes in the pricing can add further years to this date.” He added that the important message is that even if grid parity slipped to 2016, the moment when solar can compete on cost is not far off.

Chris Goodall, Green party parliamentary candidate and author of Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, warned the grid parity predictions were based on unrealistic price assumptions. “This projection of residential grid parity depends crucially on continually increasing prices of conventional electricity, but I just don’t see any evidence that residential electricity will cost 17-18p a kWh in 2013. The ‘underlying’ retail price of electricity at the moment is no more than 11p per kWh,” he said.

Newman argued that China will continue to take more fossil fuel and believes peak oil will begin to bite in 2013, which will both contribute to rising prices in fossil fuel electricity.

Source - Heatmyhome

PSC Industries Establish Solar Business In Nigeria

PSC Industries will supply 5 turn key PV Solar module manufacturing lines, to be utilised in Nigeria. It is anticipated that PSC Industries will start producing Solar Modules in Nigeria by December 2009 or early 2010.

A total of 5 manufacturing plants of 10MWp each has been concluded upon and will all be operational by end of 2010.

Discussions are underway for additional Manufacturing Plants in Ghana and Gambia slated for 2011.

The manufactured Solar Panels will be Sold mainly for the West Africa Market.

Equipment will be delivered and installed by Rimas B.V. in the Netherlands who is active in the field of module manufacturing since 2000. The turn key solution is set up especially for this challenge and combines high quality equipment with a compact semi-automatic solution.

The initial is estimated at 12,000,000 Euros/2.8 Billion Naira and will create over 1,500 Jobs in Nigeria in 2009/2010.

Dr. Patrick Owelle, Managing Director of PSC, has been deeply committed to the idea of establishing the First Solar Manufacturing Plant idea in West Africa for more than a decade now and found the right partner in Rimas for the realization of his ideas.

Mark Verstraten, director of Rimas, believes that this opportunity is a new challenge to him and his team and will contribute strongly to his company's growth.

Source - Solardaily