The Green Deal could be set for a boost after a government study found improving the energy efficiency of a home could increase its value.
Research by the Department of Energy and Climate Change on over 300,000 homes found that improving the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of a house could add up to £41,808 to its value.
The increase in value was different depending on the location of the property. Properties in the North-east with a EPC rating of G could expected to see price increases of 38% if improved to an A or B rating. Properties in London could expect to see a 12% price increase for the same improvement.
Energy minister Greg Barker said the study was evidence of the “huge potential rewards” of taking-up energy efficiency.
He added: “The Green Deal is helping more people make these types of home improvements, reducing high upfront costs and letting people pay for some the cost through the savings on their bills. The Green Deal is a great option for anyone wanting to improve the look, feel and potentially the value of their home.”
John Alker, director of policy at the UK Green Building Council, said the study provided “evidence that the retrofit industry has been craving for a long time”.
He added: “It also provides a timely boost for the Green Deal, which will bring down the upfront cost of a retrofit package for those who choose to use it.”
James Brooks, director at Brooks Estate Agents, said energy efficiency was become a serious concern for house buyers.
He added: “With fuel bills continuing to rise, buyers are becoming more and more conscious about the energy efficiency of their prospective new homes and are willing to invest more in a property now if they know it will cost them less to run in the future.”
Urban Energy
We are an innovative organisation specialising in the financing, design and installation of economical and environmentally sound green energy solutions for homes and businesses in the South West.
We only install products that lead the way within the renewable energy industry and that are renowned for their high quality and ecologically sound production. This reflects our own high standards and quality assurance.
We understand that introducing a renewable energy system i.e solar panels, to either your home or business is an investment that lasts for many years. With our in-house installation team and electrical division, it is our promise to you the customer, that your satisfaction and peace of mind throughout this period is our number one priority.
The Granary, Phillips Lane, Stratford-sub-Castle, Salisbury SP1 3YR
Tel: 0800 2321624
Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk
Showing posts with label solar investment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar investment. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Solar panel supporters given slither of hope in battle to stop cuts to feed-in tariff scheme
Supporters of Britain's hugely generous solar panel subsidy
scheme were thrown a lifeline today after the High Court agreed to hear an
application for permission to challenge a decision that would see it scaled
back.
Friends of the Earth and two solar companies will argue
their case at a hearing on Thursday 15 December.
An earlier High Court ruling, on 25 November, rejected
permission for a legal challenge.
But FoE will argue again that the Government's decision to
dramatically reduce the amount paid by 'feed-in tariffs' - on 12 December - is
unlawful because the Government is currently running a consultation into the
system that will not end until 23 December.
It will also ask the court to cap its potential legal costs
for the case because, it says, international rules specify that costs should be
limited in public interest cases on the environment.
Andy Atkins, FoE director, said: 'We strongly believe
Government plans to abruptly slash solar subsidies are illegal, we hope the
High Court agrees to allow our case to be heard as soon as possible.
'In a time of economic gloom, the solar industry has been
one of the UK's brightest success stories, enabling homes and communities
across the country to free themselves from expensive fossil fuels.'
More than 14,000 households registered for the scheme in
October, the last time full figures were published, taking the total to 90,000.
It compares with just 2,000 home registering in October 2010.
But November's full-month figures are expected to show
another 40,000 households have taken advantage of the scheme, taking the total
to 130,000.
Changes to the scheme were announced on 31 October, sparking
a rush to beat the 12 December deadline.
Urban Energy are delighted that nearly half the population would like to install renewable energy technologies; what worries us is the lack of awareness surrounding it. To bridge the Green Gap it’s essential we continue to educate consumers and break down some of the myths surrounding the Green Deal, energy efficiency and microgeneration.
Urban Energy has earned a reputation as the south’s leading renewable energy specialist. This has been achieved by ensuring that from the initial point of client contact we offer 1st class customer service and care.
We only install products that lead the way within the renewable energy industry and that are renowned for their high quality and ecologically sound production. This reflects our own high standards and quality assurance.
We understand that introducing a renewable energy system to either your home or business is an investment that lasts for many years. With our in-house electrical and plumbing division it is our promise to you the customer that your satisfaction and peace of mind throughout this period is our number one priority.
For further information about Urban Energy products and services:
Call: 0800 232 1624
Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk
Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/
Sunday, 4 September 2011
PV & Feed in Tariff (FIT) - self fund or rent-a-roof option?
Everyone engaged in property matters will have come across the
installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, in order to reduce
electricity consumption from the grid and to take advantage of
Government’s feed- in-tariff (FiT) scheme. Social landlords and local
authorities are making moves to undertake feasibilities and to
commission installations. A key issue for their feasibility
thinking is whether to self-fund installations or to do so via a third
party, also known as the ‘rent-a-roof’ option.
How does each option work?
Self funding is on the face of it very simple, the property owner might choose to finance it with cash (savings) or a loan. Indeed with interest rates on savings and other ‘low risk’ investments so low, using spare cash to fund smaller PV installation and then collecting the FiTs that are generated from it, represent very good rates of return. However, larger installations may require the owner to borrow part of or all of the sums required to finance the installation. In such circumstances, with lending costs around 4-5%, this still represents a viable option, with typical PV installations giving returns of approximately 10% per year for 25 years - very attractive in today's market.
Rent-a-roof is a mechanism to facilitate funding of the upfront installation by a third party. An investor will provide the funds necessary to undertake the installation; in return the investor will receive the vast majority of the FiT proceeds. This is established by the property owner granting a lease to the investor for the roof space, upon which the installation is fitted. The investors will typically be looking for returns in excess of other relatively low risk investments.
Assessing Feasibility
The starting point for any property owner thinking of installing PV panels through the rent-a-roof scheme is to contact the third party who will establish which properties are suitable, what the expected capital costs are and what revenue may be generated. The usual starting point is to undertake a desktop study where each property is assessed, via web-based imagery, such as Google Earth, to determine the suitability of the property for a PV installation. If the third party deems that they can make a good return on their investment they will send a sales team to validate the Google Earth survey by on-site surveys. The financial feasibility of any particular installation is a reflection of the electricity that it will generate.
This can be calculated for each property, by reference to:
- The size of the proposed installation
- The efficiency of the panels to be installed
- The expected amount of daylight hours that a property should be exposed to over the course of a year
- The orientation of the property, relative to South.
An algorithm will then calculate the amount of electricity that the installation should produce and hence the overall ‘income’ that is derived, made up of three things:
1) The tariff paid for the generation of the electricity
2) The tariff paid for selling surplus electricity back to the grid
3) The saving that the property occupier makes on using the generated electricity.
It would be usual to produce a cash-flow forecast, which would include the initial cost of installation and the forecasted ‘income’ over 25 years.
The forecast allows the property owner to:
- Assess in cash terms the revenue that would be generated.
- Assess the ‘attractiveness’ of the return, relative to other options.
- Determine if self funding or rent-a-roof might be the best option.
- The potential impact on the value of the property.
- The impact on others with an interest in the property.
The practical consequences of giving a long-term lease interest over the roof of the property, in the rent-a-roof option, must be carefully considered. While the lease will identify who has what rights and responsibilities, the involvement of a third party in the property will be an added complication, for example where maintenance has to be done to the roof, for home insurance quotes or potentially when the property is to be rented out or sold on.
- Where the property is tenanted, the lease or tenancy agreement may need changing to facilitate granting a lease under the rent-a-roof option.
How does each option work?
Self funding is on the face of it very simple, the property owner might choose to finance it with cash (savings) or a loan. Indeed with interest rates on savings and other ‘low risk’ investments so low, using spare cash to fund smaller PV installation and then collecting the FiTs that are generated from it, represent very good rates of return. However, larger installations may require the owner to borrow part of or all of the sums required to finance the installation. In such circumstances, with lending costs around 4-5%, this still represents a viable option, with typical PV installations giving returns of approximately 10% per year for 25 years - very attractive in today's market.
Rent-a-roof is a mechanism to facilitate funding of the upfront installation by a third party. An investor will provide the funds necessary to undertake the installation; in return the investor will receive the vast majority of the FiT proceeds. This is established by the property owner granting a lease to the investor for the roof space, upon which the installation is fitted. The investors will typically be looking for returns in excess of other relatively low risk investments.
Assessing Feasibility
The starting point for any property owner thinking of installing PV panels through the rent-a-roof scheme is to contact the third party who will establish which properties are suitable, what the expected capital costs are and what revenue may be generated. The usual starting point is to undertake a desktop study where each property is assessed, via web-based imagery, such as Google Earth, to determine the suitability of the property for a PV installation. If the third party deems that they can make a good return on their investment they will send a sales team to validate the Google Earth survey by on-site surveys. The financial feasibility of any particular installation is a reflection of the electricity that it will generate.
This can be calculated for each property, by reference to:
- The size of the proposed installation
- The efficiency of the panels to be installed
- The expected amount of daylight hours that a property should be exposed to over the course of a year
- The orientation of the property, relative to South.
An algorithm will then calculate the amount of electricity that the installation should produce and hence the overall ‘income’ that is derived, made up of three things:
1) The tariff paid for the generation of the electricity
2) The tariff paid for selling surplus electricity back to the grid
3) The saving that the property occupier makes on using the generated electricity.
It would be usual to produce a cash-flow forecast, which would include the initial cost of installation and the forecasted ‘income’ over 25 years.
The forecast allows the property owner to:
- Assess in cash terms the revenue that would be generated.
- Assess the ‘attractiveness’ of the return, relative to other options.
- Determine if self funding or rent-a-roof might be the best option.
- The potential impact on the value of the property.
- The impact on others with an interest in the property.
The practical consequences of giving a long-term lease interest over the roof of the property, in the rent-a-roof option, must be carefully considered. While the lease will identify who has what rights and responsibilities, the involvement of a third party in the property will be an added complication, for example where maintenance has to be done to the roof, for home insurance quotes or potentially when the property is to be rented out or sold on.
- Where the property is tenanted, the lease or tenancy agreement may need changing to facilitate granting a lease under the rent-a-roof option.
Urban Energy
Urban
Energy has earned a reputation as the south’s leading renewable energy
specialist. This has been achieved by ensuring that from the initial
point of client contact we offer 1st class customer service and care.
We
only install products that lead the way within the renewable energy
industry and that are renowned for their high quality and ecologically
sound production. This reflects our own high standards and quality
assurance.
We
understand that introducing a renewable energy system to either your
home or business is an investment that lasts for many years. With our
in-house electrical and plumbing division it is our promise to you the
customer that your satisfaction and peace of mind throughout this period
is our number one priority.
For further information about Urban Energy products and services:
Call: 0800 232 1624
Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk
Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
UK - Renewable energy feed-in tariffs set to transform rural estate incomes
Some key facts:
- Rural estates and farms can generate significant extra income from renewable energy feed-in tariffs (FiTs)
- FiT payments are index linked and guaranteed for up to 25 years
- You can still claim FiTs even if you use the electricity yourself
- Most rural estates can benefit from some sort of renewable energy scheme
Rural estates and farms could use the new renewable energy feed-in tariff scheme to increase their annual income by tens of thousands of pounds each year.
A hypothetical “renewable energy” estate is described below utilising all the main forms of renewable energy – solar, wind, hydro and anaerobic digestion. also shown is how much income could be derived annually from each using feed-in tariffs:
*Income figures will vary based on local conditions and equipment performance. They do not include tax.
** A 250kw turbine produces an equivalent amount of energy to that consumed by 125 three-bed houses for a year.
If the electricity produced is used on the estate the annual benefit increases to £1.1m. This is because the estate will still receive the FiT payments, but will be saving on its current electricity expenditure.
Feed-in tariffs were introduced in the dying days of the Labour government and were designed to encourage people to create their own renewable electricity. An index-linked payment guaranteed for up to 25 years is made for each unit of electricity produced even if it used by the generator for their own consumption. The tariff varies depending on how the energy is being generated and the scale of the scheme. The smaller the scheme and the longer its potential payback, the larger the payment.
FIT rates:
We have already seen a huge surge in enquiries from landowners looking to take advantage of feed-in tariffs. One of the most attractive things about them is that the payments are guaranteed for up to 25 years, which means it is now easier to get bank funding to set up renewable energy projects.
Reassuringly in the current fiscal environment, there is also no danger that FiTs will be hit by government cuts because they are funded by electricity generators (via our bills) not the exchequer.
Although it would be unusual for a typical rural estate to be able to utilise renewable energy to the same extent as our idealised estate, there are very few rural properties that cannot benefit from FiTs in one form or another. The estate shows the extent of the potential income available, even from relatively modest schemes. The wind turbines we are using, for example, are much smaller than those used in large-scale wind farms.
At a time when the income streams on many rural estates are under threat from poor agricultural commodity prices and falling farm subsidy payments, renewable energy will play an increasingly important role in securing a viable future for landowners and farmers.
Next year we should see even greater opportunities when details of the Renewable Heat Incentive are finalised. This will pay a tariff for heat produced by renewable sources and could be of real benefit to rural landowners who use a lot of heat themselves or who can supply heat to other users.
URBAN ENERGY
Our mission: “To provide and install, sustainable, world class, clean energy products with the highest level of service and care."
Urban Energy is an innovative organisation specialising in the financing, design and installation of economic and environmentally sound solar powered energy systems for commercial property (private and public) and domestic dwellings. Our expertise in the field of Government sponsored funding programmes and solar power products will provide individuals and organisations with an excellent opportunity to overcome capital cost barriers, save money on energy bills, increase profit margins, increase the value of their property and reduce their carbon footprint.
Urban Energy employ the very best engineers in this field, all of which are fully qualified, MCS certified and Government approved to carry out this task, complying with strict guidelines and are members of the Solar Trade Association.
For further information about Urban Energy products and services:
Call: 0800 232 1624
Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk
Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/
- Rural estates and farms can generate significant extra income from renewable energy feed-in tariffs (FiTs)
- FiT payments are index linked and guaranteed for up to 25 years
- You can still claim FiTs even if you use the electricity yourself
- Most rural estates can benefit from some sort of renewable energy scheme
Rural estates and farms could use the new renewable energy feed-in tariff scheme to increase their annual income by tens of thousands of pounds each year.
A hypothetical “renewable energy” estate is described below utilising all the main forms of renewable energy – solar, wind, hydro and anaerobic digestion. also shown is how much income could be derived annually from each using feed-in tariffs:
- Two wind turbines (two 250kW** turbines wind speed of 7m/s) create an annual income* of £300,000 assuming all electricity produced is exported to the national grid.
- An anaerobic digester (350kW system 200 cows & 600 acres of maize) creates an extra £460,000 per year
- A modest hydroelectric scheme (100kW water turbine) adds £190,000.
- The contribution from photovoltaic solar panels (900 sq/m - 450 panels - on dairy roof) is £26,300
*Income figures will vary based on local conditions and equipment performance. They do not include tax.
** A 250kw turbine produces an equivalent amount of energy to that consumed by 125 three-bed houses for a year.
If the electricity produced is used on the estate the annual benefit increases to £1.1m. This is because the estate will still receive the FiT payments, but will be saving on its current electricity expenditure.
Feed-in tariffs were introduced in the dying days of the Labour government and were designed to encourage people to create their own renewable electricity. An index-linked payment guaranteed for up to 25 years is made for each unit of electricity produced even if it used by the generator for their own consumption. The tariff varies depending on how the energy is being generated and the scale of the scheme. The smaller the scheme and the longer its potential payback, the larger the payment.
FIT rates:
- Anaerobic digestion 9.0 -11.5 pence/kWh over 20 years
- Hydro 4.5– 19.9 p/kWh over 20 years
- Solar photovoltaic 29.3 – 41.3 p/kWh over 25 years
- Wind 4.5 – 34.5 p/kWh over 20 year
We have already seen a huge surge in enquiries from landowners looking to take advantage of feed-in tariffs. One of the most attractive things about them is that the payments are guaranteed for up to 25 years, which means it is now easier to get bank funding to set up renewable energy projects.
Reassuringly in the current fiscal environment, there is also no danger that FiTs will be hit by government cuts because they are funded by electricity generators (via our bills) not the exchequer.
Although it would be unusual for a typical rural estate to be able to utilise renewable energy to the same extent as our idealised estate, there are very few rural properties that cannot benefit from FiTs in one form or another. The estate shows the extent of the potential income available, even from relatively modest schemes. The wind turbines we are using, for example, are much smaller than those used in large-scale wind farms.
At a time when the income streams on many rural estates are under threat from poor agricultural commodity prices and falling farm subsidy payments, renewable energy will play an increasingly important role in securing a viable future for landowners and farmers.
Next year we should see even greater opportunities when details of the Renewable Heat Incentive are finalised. This will pay a tariff for heat produced by renewable sources and could be of real benefit to rural landowners who use a lot of heat themselves or who can supply heat to other users.
URBAN ENERGY
Our mission: “To provide and install, sustainable, world class, clean energy products with the highest level of service and care."
Urban Energy is an innovative organisation specialising in the financing, design and installation of economic and environmentally sound solar powered energy systems for commercial property (private and public) and domestic dwellings. Our expertise in the field of Government sponsored funding programmes and solar power products will provide individuals and organisations with an excellent opportunity to overcome capital cost barriers, save money on energy bills, increase profit margins, increase the value of their property and reduce their carbon footprint.
Urban Energy employ the very best engineers in this field, all of which are fully qualified, MCS certified and Government approved to carry out this task, complying with strict guidelines and are members of the Solar Trade Association.
For further information about Urban Energy products and services:
Call: 0800 232 1624
Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk
Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Why solar panels are better than micro-wind turbines.
When thinking about renewable electricity for your home, two options spring to mind; photovoltaic panels and small wind turbines. But which one should you choose? The government has introduced a feed-in-tariff that pays a subsidized amount for the electricity they produce and the amount paid for small wind turbines is similar to that paid for small PV systems (34p/kWh compared to 41p/kWh).
The key criteria to deciding which technology will be the most profitable is the cost of producing a unit of energy from each one. For this you need to factor in the up front costs such as equipment and installation, and then look at how much energy they will produce once out there over an average year. Without going too heavily into numbers my argument is that in some instances, micro-wind turbines will have a lower cost of energy than solar panels, but for the majority of cases solar panels will be better and this can be explained by some basic science.
Without a doubt, on a large scale, wind energy is cheaper than solar. The cost of energy from large-scale wind farms is somewhere around 10p/kWh whereas the cost of energy from large-scale solar is three to four times greater at present. Big wind turbines are now very well designed products and many years of industry development means that the costs have fallen dramatically and continue to do so. Big solar farms are also rapidly reducing in cost and make a lot of sense in some locations, particularly in the many regions where wind farms are not suitable, but for now they do not compete.
On the small scale however, the economics are drastically different. As the size of a solar installation decreases, the performance falls linearly with the amount of area used, and therefore the cost of energy does not change so dramatically. In contrast, as wind turbines get smaller their performance gets disproportionately worse.
This is for two mains reasons:
The first reason is that as the turbine blade length gets shorter, the ‘swept-area’ decreases quadratically. This means that if you decrease the length of a blade from 80 meters to 40 meters, the area covered by the blade decreases from 20 thousand square meters to just 5 thousand. The ‘swept-area’ determines how much wind energy the turbine can use. So when you decrease the blade length you still need all the expensive moving parts like the generator, but you get disproportionally less energy – for one big wind turbine you would need thousands of smaller ones to cover the same area.
The second reason is that where you use micro-wind turbines the wind speed is generally slower. This is because most of us live in built up areas where there are other buildings nearby. These buildings disrupt the wind, making it irregular and slow. Wind speed is crucial to the effectiveness of a wind turbine, again because the energy contained in the wind is disproportional to its speed. If the wind speed drops by a factor of 2, the energy produced by a wind turbine decreases by a factor of 4. Comparing most built up areas, the average wind speed is much lower than half the wind speed found high-up in open spaces where you find most wind farms.
These two factors combine to mean that for most homeowners solar panels are the most sensible and safest option. Of course, if you live near an open space and get a lot of wind then a micro-wind turbine could be a great investment.
Reference: Solar Feed in Tariff
URBAN ENERGY
Our mission: “To provide and install, sustainable, world class, clean energy products with the highest level of service and care”.
Urban Energy is an innovative organisation specialising in the financing, design and installation of economic and environmentally sound solar powered energy systems for commercial property (private and public) and domestic dwellings. Our expertise in the field of Government sponsored funding programmes and solar power products will provide individuals and organisations with an excellent opportunity to overcome capital cost barriers, save money on energy bills, increase profit margins, increase the value of their property and reduce their carbon footprint.
Urban Energy employ the very best engineers in this field, all of which are fully qualified, certified and Government approved to carry out this task, complying with strict guidelines and are members of the Solar Trade Association.
0% interest instalment payment program available for domestic solar thermal and photovoltaic systems.
For further information about Urban Energy products and services:
Call: 0800 232 1624
Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk
Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/
The key criteria to deciding which technology will be the most profitable is the cost of producing a unit of energy from each one. For this you need to factor in the up front costs such as equipment and installation, and then look at how much energy they will produce once out there over an average year. Without going too heavily into numbers my argument is that in some instances, micro-wind turbines will have a lower cost of energy than solar panels, but for the majority of cases solar panels will be better and this can be explained by some basic science.
Without a doubt, on a large scale, wind energy is cheaper than solar. The cost of energy from large-scale wind farms is somewhere around 10p/kWh whereas the cost of energy from large-scale solar is three to four times greater at present. Big wind turbines are now very well designed products and many years of industry development means that the costs have fallen dramatically and continue to do so. Big solar farms are also rapidly reducing in cost and make a lot of sense in some locations, particularly in the many regions where wind farms are not suitable, but for now they do not compete.
On the small scale however, the economics are drastically different. As the size of a solar installation decreases, the performance falls linearly with the amount of area used, and therefore the cost of energy does not change so dramatically. In contrast, as wind turbines get smaller their performance gets disproportionately worse.
This is for two mains reasons:
The first reason is that as the turbine blade length gets shorter, the ‘swept-area’ decreases quadratically. This means that if you decrease the length of a blade from 80 meters to 40 meters, the area covered by the blade decreases from 20 thousand square meters to just 5 thousand. The ‘swept-area’ determines how much wind energy the turbine can use. So when you decrease the blade length you still need all the expensive moving parts like the generator, but you get disproportionally less energy – for one big wind turbine you would need thousands of smaller ones to cover the same area.
The second reason is that where you use micro-wind turbines the wind speed is generally slower. This is because most of us live in built up areas where there are other buildings nearby. These buildings disrupt the wind, making it irregular and slow. Wind speed is crucial to the effectiveness of a wind turbine, again because the energy contained in the wind is disproportional to its speed. If the wind speed drops by a factor of 2, the energy produced by a wind turbine decreases by a factor of 4. Comparing most built up areas, the average wind speed is much lower than half the wind speed found high-up in open spaces where you find most wind farms.
These two factors combine to mean that for most homeowners solar panels are the most sensible and safest option. Of course, if you live near an open space and get a lot of wind then a micro-wind turbine could be a great investment.
Reference: Solar Feed in Tariff
URBAN ENERGY
Our mission: “To provide and install, sustainable, world class, clean energy products with the highest level of service and care”.
Urban Energy is an innovative organisation specialising in the financing, design and installation of economic and environmentally sound solar powered energy systems for commercial property (private and public) and domestic dwellings. Our expertise in the field of Government sponsored funding programmes and solar power products will provide individuals and organisations with an excellent opportunity to overcome capital cost barriers, save money on energy bills, increase profit margins, increase the value of their property and reduce their carbon footprint.
Urban Energy employ the very best engineers in this field, all of which are fully qualified, certified and Government approved to carry out this task, complying with strict guidelines and are members of the Solar Trade Association.
0% interest instalment payment program available for domestic solar thermal and photovoltaic systems.
For further information about Urban Energy products and services:
Call: 0800 232 1624
Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk
Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/
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