Only half of the grants offered by government to businesses and councils to install renewable heating schemes are being claimed.

One of the main reasons appears to be lack of publicity, but the grant conditions also are claimed to be too tight.

Under the Renewable Heat Incentive, businesses and public sector bodies can claim a subsidy for every unit of power generated from technologies such as Solar water heating panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps, in the same way as can be claimed for renewable electricity under the feed-in tariff scheme. Read the rest of this entry »

Some customers who have had Solar PV panels installed have noticed their electricity meter runs backwards.

This means they’re receiving free electricity from their energy company.  However, while households may be reluctant to tell their supplier about this some customers have been landed with additional bills retrospectively.

The problem occurs when the electricity generated by the Solar panels is exported to the grid as part of a scheme called the feed-in tariff (which pays people for electricity they produce at home), making the meter run in reverse Read the rest of this entry »

The reliability of Solar photovoltaic installations in the UK is set to improve even further with the launch of a new PV guide and improved standard for the industry.

The new solar PV guide and updated MIS 3002 standard were launched on Friday 8^th February 2013 and its aim is to raise the standard of Solar PV installations in the UK and provide more accurate performance estimates of Solar systems for customers.

It will be the third revision to the ‘Guide to Installation of Photovoltaic Systems’ and is the culmination of two years of work to bring it up to speed with newer technologies and the fast-paced changes in the Read the rest of this entry »

Oxford Photovoltaic (OPV), a spin-out from Oxford University, has received an investment of £2 million from MTI Partners as part of its latest round of funding.

As reported by Solar Power Portal’s sister site Design-Build Solar , the investment will be used to help OPV to commercialize its new Solar cell technology which applies a tiny layer of transparent dye sensitized solid-state Solar cells directly onto glass in a range of colours. These cells are manufactured from inexpensive, abundant, non-toxic and non-corrosive materials and can be scaled to any volume.

The technology is particularly suitable for use in glass building facades. The facades will be able to Read the rest of this entry »

Over a third of people think making money is not as important as protecting the environment and would install solar PV panels, regardless of the financial benefit.

A Solar comparison website surveyed 2,000 people and found 36% of people would embrace a renewable technology simply out of concern for the environment over slashing their energy bills.

A spokesperson for the energy efficiency specialists said: “The findings suggest a large proportion of people care about the environment more than money, which is wonderful. As it happens Solar panels are a great financial investment too but we suggest that if more people knew more about the environmental benefits of PV, we could see a greater interest in them. This could also provide a great boost to the industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Ofgem’s Annual Feed in Tariff (FiT) report shows that  Solar PV has once again proven to be a popular technology with the British public, with figures showing for around 99% of all total installs registered under the FiTs scheme from 2011 – 2012.

• The FiT scheme has seen a massive 620% rise in installations from its first year.
• In total, the FiT scheme paid out almost £136 million in generation payments during this period.
• Solar PV’s 244,844 registered systems for that period accounted for just over 90% of the scheme’s total installed capacity, just surpassing the 1GW milestone.
• The next largest contributor in terms of capacity was wind, which saw 54.6MW of capacity installed under the FiT. Read the rest of this entry »

The government is set to release details of the £125 million cash back scheme that it hopes will kick-start interest in its flagship Green Deal energy efficiency programme.

Although final details will not be announced until next week, Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said he hoped the measure would be the first step towards instituting the “sea change” he wants the Green Deal to engender in the UK’s energy efficiency standards.

The Green Deal is due to go live on 28 January, at which point homeowners and businesses will be able to sign the first contracts under the scheme. Read the rest of this entry »

Tip 1- Research

You can do a lot of research on the web with regards to Solar PV. One of the best places to start is the Energy Saving Trust (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk), where you can find a list of Micro generation Certification Scheme (MCS) accredited installers.

You’ll need an MCS accredited installer if you want to claim the FiT  Look for a solid business history and relevant sector experience.

Finally, Solar PV companies should also always supply warranties on both equipment and systems. Read the rest of this entry »