How much should it cost?

What are the carbon benefits?

We are offering a “desktop ” survey special offer (for domestic clients), for only £150 + VAT (normally £200 + VAT), until the end of August..

If you are interested, then please call us on 0845 437 4484, or email info@viridisec.co.uk, for further details.

The answer to that can be explained by this case study of a recent project Viridis Energie Consultants have worked on:

Whilst the project included several renewable energy technologies, the main issue surrounded the main house-

The house (around 600m2) is over 100 years old, mainly single glazed, with minimal roof insulation, solid wall construction, and many of the original radiators were still in place. Due to the aesthetics, the client was unwilling to make any major insulation changes (in particular to the windows).

The client was interested in renewable heating, but in particular a ground source heat pump. They invited 3 “well known” installers to specify and quote for the installation. Each of them came up with different solutions:

The size of heat pump ranged between 33kw and 58kw. One company said that “slinkies” would work, whilst the other 2 said it would require bore holes.

Only one company mentioned the need for radiators more suitable for low temperatures, and only one company suggested that a GSHP would not be suitable for the project, and offered another solution. That solution was a biomass boiler (interestingly, they were the only company to install biomass too??!!).

Installation costs varied significantly too- From around £30K to over £100k!

The moral of the story??

At the very least, speak to a renewable energy consultant. But, be careful, many companies have “consultants”. However, they very often have a “sales and installation” arm to the company…..

See below for the new renewable energy feed-in tariff, as approved by the Italian Government’s Unified Conference of State and Regions.

The feed-in tariff rates for 2012 and 2013 will be reduced by 6% per annum from the rate for August to December 2011.

Viridis, which is advising on 9 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in its consultation pipeline, says the new feed-in tariff rates strongly underpin management’s forecasts for its solar PV projects portfolio in 2011 and beyond.

Peter Moore, Viridis partner, says: “As widely anticipated, the new tariff has been reduced compared to this year’s, but it remains higher than many had predicted.

“The Viridis partners therefore believes not only that Friday’s Government announcement will boost investor confidence in the renewable energy sector as a whole, but also that the rates themselves still represent an outstanding environment for investment in the Italian PV sector.

“Building on our significant existing partnerships and considerable authorisation pipeline, these ongoing tariffs will enable Viridis to accelerate the identification and development of further PV projects for installation in this year and beyond.”

From the mid-1980s the amount invested each year has fallen almost continuously. The figure today is about 0.01%, one 15th of what it was a generation ago. We now sit at the bottom of the international league. The US, for example, spends three times as much as a percentage of its GDP, Japan nine times as much.

The UK government announced last week that it was cutting yet more money from of the energy R&D budget. Some £34m is to be axed, affecting low-carbon technology programmes including offshore wind, wood fuels, building insulation and geothermal energy. This represents a reduction of just under 20% of total public expenditure on low-carbon technologies. This figure is on top of the cancellation of the £80m loan to Sheffield Forgemasters that would have paid for much of the installation of a new press to make the huge parts necessary for new nuclear power stations.

“Could this be bad news for the renewable energy industry?” Asks Barry Nutley, of Viridis Energie Consultants.

The full story can be read on The Guardian..

]]> http://www.viridisec.co.uk/2010/07/funding-cuts-will-finish-britains-clean-energy-race/feed/ 0 http://www.viridisec.co.uk/2010/07/solar-pv-installers-would-you-be-prepared-to-work-on-an-install-only-basis-on-large-projects/ http://www.viridisec.co.uk/2010/07/solar-pv-installers-would-you-be-prepared-to-work-on-an-install-only-basis-on-large-projects/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:29:03 +0000 barry http://www.viridisec.co.uk/?p=825 With the concept of solar farms becoming more “popular”, it is possible that a client may look to procure the equipment seperately, and then look to “recruit” a team of MCS qualified professionals, to carryout the installation??

If you are an MCS  accredited installer, how do you feel about this? For example, would you be prepared to do this? If not why not? What are the “pitfalls”? etc…

Spain has opened the world’s largest solar power station, meaning that it overtakes the US as the biggest solar generator in the world. The nation’s total solar power production is now equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station.

Spain is a world leader in renewable energies and has long been a producer of hydro-electricity (only China and the US have built more dams). It also has a highly developed wind power sector which, like solar power, has received generous government subsidies.

The new La Florida solar plant takes Spain’s solar output to 432MW, which compares with the US output of 422MW. The plant, at Alvarado, Badajoz, in the west of the country, is a parabolic trough. With this method of collecting solar energy, sunlight is reflected off a parabolic mirror on to a fluid-filled tube. The heated liquid is then used to heat steam to run the turbines. The mirror rotates during the day to follow the sun’s movement. The solar farm covers 550,000 square metres (the size of around 77 football pitches) and produces 50MW of power.

Protermosolar, the association that represents the solar energy sector, says that within a year another 600MW will have come on-stream and projects that by 2013 solar capacity will have reached 2,500MW.

The northern, though thinly populated, region of Navarra is already producing 75% of its energy from a range of renewables, including wind, solar, hydro and biomass. Spain’s windfarms now produce around 20,000MW of electricity and on one day in November they accounted for 53% of demand. Last year, solar energy met 2.8% of demand out a total of 12.9% for all renewables. In March, the government announced a plan to increase the renewable share to 22.7% by 2020, slightly ahead of EU targets.

With an average of 340 days of sunshine a year in Spain, solar is more reliable than wind, and can go a long way towards weaning the country off gas-fired and ageing nuclear power stations. Spain is now the fourth largest manufacturer of solar power technology in the world and both solar and wind power technology exports have become valuable earners in a country with a weak manufacturing.

Thanks to our friends at the Guardian for the story.

A ban on councils selling green electricity into the national grid is to be overturned, Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said that as the carbon footprint of every local council in England was published. In a speech to the Local Government Association annual conference, Mr Huhne will say that he wants local councils to be allowed to sell electricity they produce from renewables to the national electricity grid.

Mr Huhne said:

“It’s ridiculous that the 1976 Local Government Act prevents councils from selling electricity from local wind turbines, or from anaerobic digestion.

“I want to see this repealed and by the end of the year I hope local authorities will be able to sell electricity from renewables – generating revenue to help local services and keep Council Tax down. Local communities can truly benefit from the low-carbon transition.”

The carbon footprint of every local council in England is also published today, for the first time. The new figures calculate the CO2 produced by councils in powering and heating their buildings, such as libraries, schools and leisure centres, as well as emissions from business travel, fleet vehicles and even refuse trucks.

Mr Huhne said:

By calculating their own emissions and the estimated costs of energy use, local councils will be able to identify how to save emissions and save money.

“Wasting energy means that money that could be spent on local services is also being wasted. These new statistics should put energy wastage and energy efficiency at the forefront of the minds of councillors and council officials.”

The emissions data was collected from local authorities across England for the 2008/2009 financial year. It shows that:

• East Cambridgeshire (574 tonnes), East Northamptonshire (606 tonnes), Broadland (806 tonnes), Isles of Scilly (854 tonnes), and West Somerset (881 tonnes) local authorities were the lowest emitters
• Birmingham (177,360 tonnes) Hertfordshire (168,570 tonnes), Lancashire (157,890 tonnes), Leeds (136,900 tonnes) and Hampshire (133,950 tonnes) local authorities were the highest emitters.

In total, local authorities were responsible for 8.3 million tonnes of CO2 which is about 1.6% of the UK Total Net CO2 emissions for calendar year 2008 (532.8 MtCO2).

The data also shows how much electricity local authorities have generated themselves, with over 600,000 KWh generated from onsite wind or solar power, and 33,800,000 KWh from onsite biomass.

With the introduction of the Feed In tariff (FIT), Many land owners are looking at building solar farms as an easier, guaranteed, index linked form of investment. Paying 29.3p/kwh generated (plus any additional “export” fees) for a solar farm up to 5MW, the finances look attractive.

For example, a 1MW farm in the south/southwest of England (Kent, Surrey, Cornwall, Devon etc..), could generate around 850000kwh/annum, giving a year one return of around £250000, and this doesn’t include the “export” fee (set at 3p/kwh, but could be negotiated at this level?)…

Barry Nutley from renewable energy consultants, Viridis Energie Consultants, said “We have seen a huge amount of interest in solar farms, lately. The returns are very attractive, especially with careful procurement, and installation. What’s more, there are private funding and financing packages available to help land owners achieve it…”

Solar PV is, perhaps, becoming the investment choice for shrewd investors? With the introduction of the Feed in Tariff, many large investors are turning to renewable energy for a guaranteed (for up to 25 years), index linked. return (usually in excess of 10% pa), instead of more traditional (riskier?) investments.

Barry Nutley, partner at Viridis Energie Consultants (one of the few totally independent renewable energy consultants in the UK) said, “We have seen a huge increase in enquiries for solar “farms”, and other large scale applications. If you have a large roof (or lots of roofs!), or some spare land, it does make financial sense. That’s not all… The subsequent PR from such an installation, could also be invaluable for any business?? “

Work to install one of the city’s first major solar farms on the roof of a University of Sheffield building began on the summer solstice as part of a £120,000 investment into boosting photovoltaic research.

Sheffield Solar Farm, which is being funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), will be based around the installation of 70m² state-of-the-art photovoltaic panels on the roof of the University’s Hicks building. The panels will benefit both the University and photovoltaics researchers and developers around the UK, who will be able to use it to field-test their new and experimental photovoltaic cell designs in a bid to further our knowledge of renewable energy sources. It is thought the main installation of the new Solar Farm will be completed by the beginning of July.

Photovoltaics is the science of using semiconductors, such as silicon, to create energy. When photons of light hit the cells they are absorbed and their energy is converted into electricity. While providing a benchmark for the use of photovoltaics in northerly latitudes, such as the UK, the Sheffield Solar Farm will also be used to provide electricity to the Hicks Building and the National Grid – reducing the University´s carbon footprint.

To monitor the effectiveness of the photovoltaic technology being tried and tested on the roof, equipment will log data and display it on a specially designed website for the Solar Farm. This will include a live web-cam and web-feed demonstrating the actual power being generated by each panel, the total power the sun is radiating on the roof and how the weather is affecting the amount of energy produced, as well as offer a comparison of the different photovoltaic technologies.

In the University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, work is already underway to develop new generations of solar cells using plastic as opposed to silicon, something that would reduce processing costs and enable photovoltaic technology to be used on a wider scale. These new solar cells will now be put to the test on the Solar Farm.

The news of the Solar Farm comes as the University of Sheffield launches a unique venture entitled Project Sunshine. The project aims to unite scientists in finding ways to harness the power of the sun and tackle one of the biggest challenges facing the world today: meeting the increasing food and energy needs of the world’s population in the context of an uncertain climate and global environment change.

Dr Alastair Buckley, from the University’s Department of Physics, who is leading the Sheffield Solar Farm project, said: “The Sheffield Solar Farm is an important venture as it is bridging the gap between the research lab and how solar cells are used in the real world. We want to find out how new solar technologies perform here in Sheffield and compare them to the existing state-of-the-art technologies. This will help to align our research into next generation cell designs with real world requirement, as well as informing customers, policy makers and other researchers which technologies are best for the UK.”