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The Feed In Tariff Is Here!

The Government has just announced the rate at which businesses and householders will be paid to generate their own electricity and sell back any excess electricity to the National Grid.

The Feed in Tariff (FIT) has been eagerly awaited and will become operational in April 2010. The rate ranges from 29.3p to 41.3p per KW of electricity self generated by your home or premises and in addition you will receive a minimum of 5p per KW of electricity exported back to the National Grid.

Sol2o who are the North East’s renewable Energy experts and one of a small number of businesses within the region to be Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) Accredited which enables them to fit Photovoltaic (PV) Systems that will be eligible for the FIT.

 PV will enable homes and businesses to take advantage of this opportunity.  Generating your own electricity will help you cut your energy costs, reduce your CO2 emissions and therefore cut your carbon footprint.

 Solar electricity systems capture the sun’s energy using Photovoltaic (PV) cells which convert daylight into electricity. PV cells are panels you can attach to your roof or walls. Daylight is free so once you have installed the equipment your electricity costs will be greatly reduced. A typical home PV system can produce up to 40% of the electricity a household or building uses in a year.

Head of Operations at Sol2o, Steve Wigham, said: “For many people the range of products and language around renewable energy is confusing. At Sol2o we offer the complete range of services and can advise customers in a way which is simple and easy to understand.

“From April 2010 the Government has announced that you will be paid for any electricity you generate and the excess electricity can be sold back to the national grid. If you install a Photovoltaic panel to your home or business you will be eligible to be paid money back to you from your utility company.  You can receive money for firstly generating your electricity and secondly for any surplus energy you export.

 The Feed In System is designed as an incentive for energy producers to move from conventional fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.  The exact government figures for the rate of the tariffs have now been announced and we can provide customers with a clear indication of the amount of money they could save.”

We think the PV industry will grow significantly this year as a result of the Feed In Tariff being introduced and we hope to see the benefits that other European countries have experienced. 

The announced rates are;

 

There has also been an announcement about ‘the renewable heat incentives’ which is expected to be introduced in April 2011 and will provide generation tariffs for other renewable technologies such as;

Solar Thermal at 18p per KW of energy produced, guaranteed for 20 years.

Air Source Heating at 7.5p per KW of energy produced, guaranteed for 18 years

Ground Source Heating at 7.0p per KW of energy produced, guaranteed for 23 years.

Biomass at 9.0p per KW of energy produced, guranteed for 15 years.

The introduction of FIT and ‘the renewable heat incentive’ will be a fantastic boost for the Microgeneration market in the UK”

Pay As You Save Scheme Looks to Reduce CO2 Emissions in Homes.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has asked the Energy Saving Trust to manage a pilot that will be testing a range of innovative finance solutions with consumers in order that they can install larger energy saving measures. This could play an important role in the reduction of carbon emissions for the UK. People tell the Energy Saving Trust that the biggest barrier that stops them from making their homes more energy efficient is the need to find money to pay for the upfront costs.

Research shows that householders are more likely to make larger investments, including micro generation and solid wall insulation, if the costs can be spread through the savings they make on their energy bills.

The primary objective of the pilots is to test consumer appetite and the feasibility of Pay As You Save (PAYS) and other finance models in order to overcome the higher upfront capital costs of more expensive measures like solid wall insulation and micro generation.

The pilots will run in select areas in England and not nationwide. The intention is to retrofit around 400 homes in a minimum of 4 areas so the need is not to promote the pilot to citizens. The retrofit is based on an average cost of £10,000 per home, met by the capital costs of the pilot scheme. However, the aim is that the £4m that Government has invested might be match funded by external partners e.g. a financial institution or local authority so we would hope to retrofit more homes in total.

Copenhagen Holds the Key To Worldwide CO2 Emissions

On 7th December, in Copenhagen, the long awaited two week international negotiations on climate change commence. It has been billed by Lord Stern as the "most important meeting since the Second World War". It has the potential to achieve a step change in the world's ambition to reduce man made carbon emissions and to definitively fire the starting gun on the race to a low carbon economy.

The negotiations are complex and have not always gone smoothly over the last 2 years. Specifically at stake are a number of key issues including:

Setting the level of the overall emissions reduction ambition, such as a global target for 2050.

Agreeing individual developed nation targets to 2020 and 2050 and the nature of developing nations' low carbon growth plans.

Putting in place new supporting mechanisms to ensure finance flows into low carbon investments including the expansion of the international carbon markets and a potential international fund to help developing nations.

Developing local capacity building for energy efficiency and technology innovation in developing countries.

The most important outcome of a strong deal at Copenhagen will be an increase in certainty for business and investors that action to tackle climate change will be rewarded and that a failure to take action will result in poor business performance. It is the private sector, through its investment in new low carbon technologies, which will primarily tackle climate change. Currently, investors and business are not investing at a sufficient rate to successfully limit carbon emissions.

For further information on the Government's role in the Copenhagen negotiations go to http://www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk/

5 Million Government Grant for Affordable Green Homes Project

An initiative aimed at increasing the use of renewable construction materials in affordable homes has been agreed by DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) and the government's housing and regeneration body the HCA (Homes and Communities Agency). DECC has provided funding under the Low Carbon Investment Fund, which will be administered through the HCA's National Affordable Housing Programme. The funding is to create a series of greener homes designed to minimise environmental impact through the increased use of building materials from renewable sources.

Only homes that start on site during this financial year, achieve Level 4 or above of the Code for Sustainable Homes and use a very high proportion of construction materials from renewable sources such as timber frame, natural insulation and timber windows will be eligible for funding. Developers will also be required to install smart meters to track energy use and monitoring will continue once residents have moved in to the homes.

Robert Napier, chairman of the HCA said: "This is a highly significant stepping stone in the bid to create greener homes and using renewable materials is imperative to the future of house building. The funding will be a catalyst in helping to develop the skills and methods needed to create a low carbon economy."

This new partnership with DECC is an innovative way of ensuring we help house builders achieve greater levels of sustainability when providing high quality affordable homes for the people who need them.

"The money is in addition to any normal grant funding awarded to our partners and allows them to get a head start in building greener homes that rely less on traditional carbon heavy materials and more on healthier, renewable products that should lead to valuable savings for residents over the long term."

Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said: "Making homes as energy efficient as possible makes environmental and financial sense. The money will help fund the new homes of the future, which will use less energy and keep heat in. By reducing carbon emissions in this way we can help to prevent dangerous climate change from happening."
The first three projects to receive funding from the HCA to construct homes from renewable materials and therefore help educate developers and RSLs on the use of these new materials and techniques are:

£3m for Denmark Lane, in Norfolk - a rural site being developed by Czero with Flagship Housing as the RSL partner. The scheme will include 114 homes built to Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, 102 of which will be affordable, due to start on site in November.

£840k for The Triangle in Swindon to deliver 42 affordable homes built to Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. Kevin McCloud's development company, Hab Oakus, will start work on site in December and Greensquare Group is the RSL partner.

£320k for Blackditch, Oxfordshire, a rural scheme including 16 affordable homes built to Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, due to start on site in March 2010. The RSL is Cottsway Housing and a developer is yet to be selected.

Further schemes to receive a share of the £5m will be announced later this year and the first homes are due to be completed by March 2010. The intention is to fund the creation of affordable homes on around 6 sites through the use of renewable construction methods.