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 For a while the
photovoltaic panel - electricity from the sun - was quite an
attractive cause for politicians. In the UK the EST would
give out grants usually for half the cost of an
installation. A good 1.5kWph installation might cost around
£9000 to install but the British Government then gave you
£4500 back in grant money - usually paid straight to the
installer who filled the forms in for you.
However, in 2007 the sun temporarily set
on the industry as the Government
cooled its enthusiasm. Grants under the Low Carbon Building
program were capped at £2500
per household - and that is IF you can get them. The
scheme had already suffered long delays in getting its monthly
funding from Government coffers leading to long waits for
many applicants. Why the change?
No, it has nothing to with the lack of Sun - in fact we have
loads of Sun - more than enough to make Photovoltaics work
very nicely! (Potentially 30 TWh annually alone in the UK.) No, but it is an absurdly
expensive way to save carbon. It is bottom of the list after
bio-mass, wind-turbines, nuclear, carbon capture on coal
power stations, and so on.
However, conventional economics
tend to tell only half the story. Indeed, Photovoltaics seem
very expensive in comparison to Fossil Fuels. However, Oil
prices do not include the cost of replacement technology nor
the potential cost of disposing of its waste products. Unlike all the
alternatives Photovoltaics has one massive advantage.
Whereas few of us will ever own a wind-turbine or be able to
grow energy crops, practically EVERYONE can participate in
Solar Power. Expensive as they may be, you can bolt those
solar panels to any building and their capital cost is far
lower than the smallest Nuclear or Coal Power station.
 Unlike Wind or
Wave Power you can cover a modern building with photovoltaic
panels and it will be cheaper than other expensive prestige
coverings. The Industry just needed to achieve market penetration.
Mass production was needed to decrease the cost. Photovoltaic
panels needed to be produced in every shape and size. They
needed to be direct substitutes for normal building coverings.
Such devices already existed - the "Solar Tile" had been on
the market for several years but suffered from being
1.8 times the cost and 5% LESS efficient than regular
'bolt-on' systems. Semi integrated systems were a good
compromise at 1.3 times the cost. Hybrid systems are now
available that combine Solar Electric with Solar Thermal -
electricity and hot water (picture below)! So there
were
plenty of good ideas and new options appearing all the time.
It is also believed that, with the march of technology, the
cost of photovoltaic cells could rapidly fall. We hoped so.
Take one case
study: When combined with Energy Saving Light bulbs a three
bedroom house in the south of England went from consuming
over 4400 Units of electricity per year in 2004 down to just 2500 (a
drop of 42%) after installation of 1.5kWph unit in 2005.
This household was earning over £70 a year from its exported
electricity. This was enough money to pay for another three
months worth of electricity. In essence this house got 7
months worth of free electricity every year. The per person
annual Carbon footprint of this house's occupants dropped to
2.2 tonnes whereas the UK average was 5.4 tonnes.
However, even in 2005, you would never
make your money back but it
still made a big difference. If every householder did it (or
the panels were simply built into every new home) then they
would quickly contribute 10% of our Power needs within the
United Kingdom. This is a very conservative estimate. You
could actually produce over 200 terra-watt hours (TWh) per year
just from the sunlight falling on rooftops in the UK. The UK
only needs 400 TWh per year! That is 50% just from rooftops.
That doesn't account for anything like the total available
landmass. So
much solar radiation reaches the ground that all of our
energy needs could be met many thousand times over with a
simple piece of technology with no moving parts. How
wonderful is that?
Very wonderful in fact. So wonderful that by 2008 the
Climate Change Bill was passed in Parliament. With it came a
new Energy Act that introduced the Feed-in Tariff. The so
called "clean energy cashback". The
Feed-in Tariff is modeled upon a scheme operating successfully in Germany
for many years. Its intention is to boost the use of
domestic renewable energy, hence it will boost the sector, 'kick-start' the
industry in the UK and create green jobs.
 From 1st April 2010 householders and communities who install low carbon
electricity technology such as solar photovoltaic (pv) panels and wind
turbines up to 5 megawatts will be paid for the electricity they generate,
even if they use it themselves. The level of payment depends on the
technology and is linked to inflation. It is tax free too. They will get a
further payment for any electricity they feed into the grid. These payments
will be in addition to benefiting from reduced bills as they reduce the need
to buy electricity.
The scheme will also apply to installations commissioned since July 2008 when
the policy was announced.
A typical 2.5kW well sited solar pv installation could offer a homeowner a
reward of up to £900 and save them £140 a year on their electricity bill.
Ofgem will administer the feed-in tariff scheme and suppliers will be
responsible to paying the reward to their customers. The electricity
supplier pays the Feed-in Tariffs (and bills users for the electricity
imported in the normal way). Suppliers may choose to 'net these amounts off'
and just pay a cheque or submit a bill for the difference. Claimants can
appoint an agent to collect the tariffs on their behalf.
Meters will be needed to measure each of the three energy flows (generation,
import and export). You will already have an import meter, and the others
may be similar - though the whole country is changing over to Smart Meters
in the next few years, and they will be able to cope with all this.
The UK currently gets around 5.5% of electricity from renewable sources and
that will need to increase to around 30% to meet the 15% 2020 target for all
energy.
Modeling show that small scale renewable installations could meet 2% of
electricity demand in 2020. The UK currently gets less than 1% of heat from
renewable sources. This this will need to rise to around 12% in order to
meet the 15% 2020 target for all energy.
There are a couple of good web sites you can check out if you wish for further
information. These are:
-
www.fitariffs.co.uk
-
www.ownergy.co.uk
Investors in Photovoltaics will be
largely insulated from price rises that Ofgem warn could see
household bills reach £2,000 pa by 2020. A typical 2.5kW
well sited Photovoltaic installation could reward a
homeowner with up to £900 per year and save them £140 a year
off their electricity bill. Householders making this
investment will get a further payment for any electricity
they feed into the grid. Could you say that about a new car
or fitted kitchen? Don't be deterred by the idea that the UK
doesn't get enough sunshine - the sun here is more reliable
than you think and only around one-third less powerful than
that in southern Spain. The technology can work on
south-east or south-west facing roofs too. Most of the
electricity generated is consumed by the householder so
virtually no energy is lost in transmission. More distant
power stations can lose over a third of their energy
generated in such a way.
For an example of all this working trip
over to our post-carbon homes section and see the 3kWp
system installed there. We will hopefully be getting our
first FiT payments in 2010.
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