The new FiT rates for installations with an eligibility date on or after 1 July 2013 are as follows:

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/SUSTAINABILITY/ENVIRONMENT/FITS/TARIFF-TABLES/Documents1/FIT%20Tariff%20Table%201%20July%202013%20PV%20Only.pdf

What this means in reality to installs after 1^st July: (all scenarios are on a South facing, 30 degree pitched roof)

1. To a domestic customer that installs a 4kwp system they will receive a reduction in annual FiT payments of approx £15 per annum.

2. To a small commercial/farm installing a 10kwp solar PV system there will be a reduction of £49 p.a.

3. A larger commercial 50kwp system will be approximately £230 lower p.a.

So this is very good news and means all the projects above will still deliver rates of 10%+ Returns on Investment so Solar PV definitely still stacks up – at least till 30/09/13.

So, act now and call Eco Environments for a review of your on-site Power and see if you can benefit from the Solar PV feed-in tariff:

0845 6868 111 or complete the Survey Request form on the site.

This good news means that customers now have 3 months to get their new Solar PV system (up to 4kWp)  installed and will be guaranteed the 15.44p per kilowatt hour of electicity generated for the next 20 years. The rate is also index linked to the retail price index and is adjusted every April.

Ofgem.Gov.Uk – Feed-in Tariff tables:- http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/fits/tariff-tables/Documents1/FIT%20Tariff%20Table%201%20May%202013%2PV%20Only.pdf

Ofgem have stated that the 2 month extension has been implemented to bring the solar Feed in Tariffs in-line with calendar quarters and make it easier to understand and manage / Jan-Mar / Apr-Jun / Jul-Sep / Oct-Dec which makes sense – well done Ofgem!

To make sure you don’t miss out on the higher tariff rate and 10-12% returns request a ‘Free No Obligation Home Suitability survey’ NOW via our website or call us on 0845 6868 111

Opportunity to earn an extra income of £500 per year

Description:

An excellent opportunity has arisen for you to earn an extra income of up to £500 per year. This will increase year on year for the next 20 years in line with inflation. This comes from a government incentive called the Feed in Tariff which is available for all owners of solar PV. For an initial investment of £4,000 – £7,000 depending on the size of the system, home-owners can earn 15.44 pence per kilowatt of electricity that their solar panels generate.

This is an excellent opportunity as solar panels operate in daylight hours, little work and maintenance is needed after the initial installation which lasts just one day in most domestic cases.

Person specification:

Are you interested in the environment, reducing your carbon footprint, reducing your electricity bills or just earning a bit more money? This could be the perfect opportunity for you! To be eligible to earn an additional income from the feed in tariff your home must fit the below criteria.

• You must own your own house or property
• Your roof must be able to fit at least 8 solar panels for a 2 kilowatt peek (kWp) system. An expert installer will be able to advise you on the number of panels that will fit on your roof.
• South west – south east facing roof
• Energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of at least a D. Again, an expert installer will be able to advise you if your house can achieve this. Double glazing, efficient boiler, cavity wall and roof insulation all contribute to this assessment.

Perks and benefits:

Solar panel systems will bring a range of benefits to your household, both financially and environmentally, these include:

•  Earn an extra income of up to £500 each year just for generating renewable energy through the feed in tariff for a 4kWp solar pv system.
•  Reduce the financial strain on your by lowering your electricity bills by up to £300 annually. This saving will increase as and when electricity companies increase their prices, for example in December, prices increased by as much as 10.08% by EDF, the other “big six” energy companies increased their prices by between 9 – 10%.
•  As a bonus, you will also receive up to £45.00 annually for exporting your excess electricity to the national grid.
•  Help in the fight against global warming whilst increasing your green credentials with in your neighbourhood and amongst your friends.

Annual earnings:

• Earn 15.44 pence per kilowatt hour of electricity generated. On a 4kWp system, the estimated output is 3,20kWh so you will receive £500 each year for generating clean electricity. This accounts for all the electricity that your system generates whether you use it or not.
• Receive an extra 4.5p for every kilowatt hour that you export to the national grid, this works out at around £45 each year for a 4kWp system.
• Save around £300 on your electricity bills by generating your own electricity.
• You will reduce your carbon output by 1,800kgs annually
• Total benefits over 20 years, taking inflation into account will be £33,500 for a 4kWp system, your initial investment will be paid back in just 6 years and you will achieve a 23.86% return on investment throughout the lifetime of your system (20 years).

Other similar opportunities

You may also be interested in a similar feed in tariff scheme for wind turbines where you can earn 21 pence per kilowatt hour generated and around £2,100 annually on a 6kWp small wind turbine. Or the upcoming Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme for air source heat pumps, we will update you with more details as they are released.

Experienced Solar Sales PV Consultant

Your role will be field based so we are looking for experienced Solar PV Sales Executives who are based in the NorthWest preferably in the Cheshire or Staffordshire regions. The role is for the Domestic & Agricultural Solar PV side of the sales team however as the company also offers renewable heating solutions, then as the Domestic RHI comes on board in the summer the role could develop into this area also.

This is a self employed position and Eco Environments will aim to provide you with 10-20 qualified appointments per week and you will receive a set amount for each system closed (depending on size).

To be considered you MUST have experience selling Solar PV systems to either the domestic or commercial sector and MUST have your own vehicle, mobile and laptop.

Package details: Commission Only (OTE £70k+)

To apply for this role, please e-mail recruitment@eco-environments.co.uk

(We thank all applicants who respond, but only those short listed will be contacted)

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

So you’ve decided you want to start generating your own clean energy, now you need to make a decision as to how you’re going to do it. Firstly you must consider your motives, do you want to reduce your electricity bills? Are your heating bills going through the roof? Do you want to make some extra cash? Or are you carbon conscious and would like to improve your green footprint?

Electricity Bills

If you are tired of your electricity bills rising every other month then solar panels or wind turbines are the most effective renewable technology systems to generate electricity.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are the most mainstream renewable technology, with constant advances in technology, the efficiency of the panels is increasing inline with decreases in the cost. These generate electricity in daylight hours from sunrise to sunset and their efficiency depends on the aspect of your roof. For example, a south facing roof with the sun shining on it all day long will generate considerably more electricity from solar than an east or west facing roof and a north facing roof will generate next to nothing. Shading will also affect the output of your system.

If you have solar panels installed, you should consider changing your habits when using household appliances. Use your washing machine and dish washer during the day, rather than at night to take advantage of the free electricity your system will generate.

Small scale wind turbines generate electricity whenever it is windy. Unlike solar panels, wind turbines do not depend on daylight to generate electricity. However they do have a high installation cost depending on the size, this is from £30,000. They also require a large area of land, planning permission and are subject to DNO approval.

Heating Bills

Do you feel that your heating bills rising out of control? If you have electric, oil or LGP powered heating, this might be all too true. In this case, an air source heat pump is one of the best solutions. It is relatively simple for qualified engineers to install, requires considerable less land and is less expensive compared to its counterpart, the ground source heat pump.

An air source heat pump uses electricity to convert air from outside to heat your house. Installed correctly, an air source heat pump can run at 300% efficiency, this means for every kilowatt used it will create 3 kilowatts, and is even more efficient if it is installed in conjunction to a Solar PV system.

Another solution would be to install a solar thermal system, this will provide hot water. Solar Thermal works in the same way as solar pv, generating energy from the sun. Collectors are placed on the roof, preferably south east – south west facing, the number of collectors that are needed depends on the number of people living in the property. Advantages of solar thermal include an inexpensive install price, a simple, straight forward installation and a reduction in your heating bills.

Both solar thermal and air source heat pumps are eligible for the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) which is a government grant given depending on circumstances such as your current source of heating.

Extra Income

Solar PV and wind turbines offer feed in tariff schemes which are paid to owners of the systems by the government.

The solar PV feed in tariff rate depends on the size of the system. For example, a domestic sized system (up to 4kWp) will offer 15.44 pence per kilowatt hour generated; the owner will receive up to £512 annually and this will increase with inflation. A larger commercial system (over 250kWp) will receive just 7.1 pence per kilowatt hour generated, receiving as much as £15,000 annually.

Wind turbines also have a feed in tariff scheme which is at 21 pence per kilowatt hour of electricity generated for small scale wind turbines under 100kWp. A 6kWp wind turbine generating 10,000 kWh of electricity annually will receive £2,100 for the electricity generated.

Air source heat pumps are currently in consultation to receive their own feed in tariff type scheme known as the renewable heat incentive (RHI). This is still in discussion and we update you when more details are released.

Improving your carbon footprint

For the carbon conscious, each of the renewable technologies mentioned will enable you to significantly reduce your home or business’s carbon output and improve your reputation for looking after the environment.

Summary of things to consider when making your choice:

Solar PV:

• Do you own your house?
• Aspect of roof – Facing south east to south west with no shading
• Enough space for an adequate system
• The system will generate electricity in daylight hours.
• You will generate your own energy and will be able to sell this back to the electricity suppliers via the feed in tariff.
• You will also reduce your electricity bills, using appliances during the day to benefit most.

Wind Turbines:

• Do you have a lot of land?
• You will need planning permission
• DNO approval
• Capital available to fund the system.
• The system will generate electricity from wind so you need to be located in an area with a high wind speed.
• You will generate your own energy and will be able to sell this back to the electricity suppliers via the feed in tariff.

Air Source Heat Pumps

• Do you rely on oil, LPG or electricity to power your heating?
• Do you have space on a sunny wall outside your house to place the external unit?
• ASHP will heat your house all day and night and have 300% efficiency.

Solar Thermal

• Would you like to heat your water all year round?
• Is your roof south east to south west facing?
• Do you have a large annual usage of hot water? I.e. for baths or washing machine and dishwasher?

Keep warm this winter with a Heat Pump

Do you spend thousands of pounds every winter on LPG, oil or electric for heating? An air source heat pump (ASHP) could be the perfect solution to save you money while keeping you warm.

ASHP’s work by drawing in the cold air from outside via a quiet fan. Energy is extracted from the air by the system’s heat exchanger. It will then convert this energy to heat your home. Due to their short, straight forward installation, this type of heat pump can be used with existing heating system in your home as well as for new build housing. What’s more, they will generate energy all year round and do not rely on light or wind to work.

A typical ASHP is 300% efficient. This means for every one kilowatt (kW) of electricity it uses, it will generate 3kW of energy. With a solar PV installation, this will become even more efficient as you are generating free electricity for the heat pump to use to convert air into heat.

Renewable heat premium payment (RHPP)

If you have your ASHP installed before the 31^st March 2013, you will receive a grant from the government to help towards the cost for the system. The grant depends on your current fuel for heating, if you do not have mains gas you can apply for a grant of £850 towards your system. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is similar to the solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) and in its consultation period, any system installed after 15^th July 2009 is eligible for this incentive, we will update you on this as soon as further information is released.

Is an air source heat pump right for me?

It is important to consider the following when deciding to install an ASHP to ensure it is the right solution for your home and will bring you more benefits than expenses.

• You will need a place outside your home for the heat pump to be fitted to a wall or placed on the ground. Ideally the unit will be placed in a sunny area.

• It is essential that your home is well insulated and draught-proofed for the heat pump to be effective as they work best when producing heat at a lower temperature compared to traditional boilers.

• If you are replacing an electricity, coal, oil or LPG heating system, you will achieve a faster return on investment on your air source heat pump. Although if you are connected to mains gas, it will take significantly longer for the system to pay for itself, and therefore may not be the best option.

• If you have an underfloor heating system or warm air heating, your air source heat pump will perform better because of the lower water temperatures required.

• If you combine the heat pump installation with other building work such as a new build property or an extension on your existing property, this can reduce the cost of installing the system.

Alternatives to Air Source Heat Pumps

If an ASHP is not the correct solution for your home there are several alternatives for you to provide heating, hot water, generate electricity, earn an additional income or to become more environmentally friendly.

Solar Thermal

Solar thermal or solar hot water provides up to 60% of your annual hot water usage. It requires a solar thermal collector to be installed on your roof; the size of the system will vary depending on the number of people living at your home. This system is less expensive than a heat pump but it only provides hot water and will not heat your home.

Solar Panels (Solar PV)

The most popular form of renewable energy, this will generate “free” clean electricity from daylight and earn an income from the feed-in tariff, currently this is 15.44 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh) generated and an additional 4.5 pence per kWh that you export back to the national grid, these payments are guaranteed for 20 years and increase with inflation. The cost of Solar PV systems has significantly dropped over the last year making it an affordable option and should be considered to be installed in conjunction to an air source heat pump to make it even more efficient.

Wind Turbines

Wind turbines are considerably more expensive compared to other renewable energy systems; they require large areas of land and are subject to planning permission. If you have the land and capital of the initial outlay, a wind turbine is definitely worth consideration as a small wind turbine can generate enough electricity to cover your annual usage. You will also receive 21 pence per kWh of electricity that you generate.

Ground Source Heat Pump

This is the same concept as an air source heat pump to heat your home from natural resources, although this solution is considerably more expensive as it requires pipes to be laid on a large area of land horizontally or for a well to be extracted for the pipe vertically. This will extract heat from the ground and achieves even higher efficiencies than the air source heat pump.

So what’s the catch?

Well the solar panels and installation are in fact free. So no catch? Not quite, although the panels are free and you do receive free electricity produced by the panels but you don’t actually own the solar panels. These are owned by the company that installs them. This company also receives all the Feed-In-Tariff Payments(FIT’s) which are guaranteed for 25 years.
 

What are FiT payments?

Feed-in Tariffs (also known as FiTs) are the the payments received by the owner of a Solar PV system. This a government backed scheme that pays people for creating their own “green electricity”. If you opt for an installation of free Solar PV you will see nothing of these payments, which in the long run would give you a great return on investment if you purchased your own Solar PV system.

Selling your house? You may have a problem

There has been various problems exposed for home owners that are trying to sell their house with free solar panels installed on their roof. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), have advised against making offers to buy properties fitted where free solar panels have been installed.

The problem is partly due to the company that installed your solar panels now own your roof for the duration of the Feed-in Tariff life time, this is now 20 years. It is difficult for buyers to secure mortgages on houses with “free solar pv” due to not having full ownership of the roof.

What are the alternatives to free solar panels?

Solar panels have halved in price over the last year meaning the capital outlay is significantly lower that you might expect. A typical solar PV system now costs between £4,000 and £7,000 depending on the size. Another alternative to “free solar panel schemes” if you can’t afford the initial outlay upfront you can secure a low interest loan, such as the home improvement loans from Tesco.

The original outlay may be more costly initially, but in the long run you will be better off and will avoid running to any issues with your roof. You will also receive the full Feed-in Tariff, export tariff as well as generating your own electricity to reduce your bills. The total income on a typical 4kwp Solar PV system for example is £869.58 annually, this will increase year on year with in-line with inflation.

All payments and savings are tax free, index linked and guaranteed for 20 years. So a Return on investment over 20 years = 21.77% (Based on annual inflation of 4% and annual energy price increases of 8.7%).

Energy Trends covers statistics on Energy ‘production and consumption’, in total and by fuel, and provides an analysis of the year on year changes, and now includes a section on renewables.

The main points for the third quarter of 2012 are:

• UK production of Oil fell by 12.1%
• Gas production fell by 11.3%
• Total UK energy consumption increased by 1.2%
• Of UK electricity generated in the third quarter of 2012;
  

  2012 3rd Qtr DECC UK Energy Stats

  1. Gas accounted for 28.2 per cent (it’s lowest third quarter share for 14 years) due to high prices
  2. Coal accounted for 35.4 per cent (it’s highest third quarter share for 14 years)
  3. Nuclear generation accounted for 22.3 per cent
  4. Renewable Energy share of electricity generation increased by 2.6% to 11.7%

So, as we can see from the DECC analysis the UK Oil and Gas production has fallen yet again and total UK Energy consumption is rising, imports of fuel sources from abroad is increasing putting the UK in a dangerous position when it comes to Energy security so the obvious solution has to be to increase UK home-grown clean renewable energy.

To play your part in generating your own renewable electricity (or heating) request a Free No Obligation Home Suitability survey via the form opposite or call us on 0845 6868 111 to see if you can participate in the Renewable Energy revolution.

Take control of your future in 2013

Eco Environments has a proven track record for reducing businesses CO2 emissions and energy costs. Our products and systems are bespoke commissioned to suit the needs of businesses of all sizes, whether it is to complement your CSR policy, to help address your Carbon Reduction Commitment, or to reduce energy costs.

Carbon Reduction is an area which is now widely recognised by many businesses as an integral part of forward planning. There are numerous legislations from both the UK government and the EU enforcing carbon reduction by businesses. The Carbon Reduction Commitment came into force in 2010 for companies that use over 6,000mWh of electricity annually with electricity bills of over £500,000 per year.

Eco Environments has enabled thousands of clients to achieve their environmental goals. Our product range consists of Solar PV, Air Source Heat Pumps, Energy Efficient Lighting, Solar Thermal and Wind Turbines. Each system we install is tailored to meet our clients’ goals whether they would like to reduce their energy costs or enhance their CSR policy.

Cold Move, a refrigerated logistics company had Solar PV systems installed by Eco Environments on two of its sites in 2012. Cold Move had a 250kWp solar PV system installed which to date is the largest system in the North of England; they then added a 150kWp solar PV system at another site. It has reduced its carbon output by 176,386kgs a year across the business, generating 324,240 kWh of electricity annually.

“We have committed to reduce our carbon footprint by 25% by 2020 and aim to introduce innovative ways to improve on this goal. We are already seeing both the environmental and financial benefits of our Solar PV systems” James Woodward, MD, Cold Move.

Children of customers that have installed East/West Solar PV systems and covered both sides of their roof have been particularly worried.

The Eco Environments project team therefore contacted the the North Pole Administration (NPA) and were told not to worry as the good folks at NASA had already been working on it and had come up with a solution . They were the guys that invented Teflon so all they had to do was reverse the process and design a coating for the sleigh runners and reindeer hooves that would enable them to grip. All tests have gone very well so Santa is not expecting any issues at all and will be able to deliver his presents to all.

Santa’s progress will be monitored closely by NASA and NORAD to see if the installation of Solar panels on roofs around the world will slow him down at all.

You can follow his progress too at http://www.noradsanta.org/

Have a great Christmas everyone from all at Eco Environments.