300 billion Euros? How much is that in kilowatt hours?

The Greek economic tragedy is scarcely out of the news these days, but the future might just be a little sunnier, thanks to solar PV.

Project Helios (Greek for ‘sun’) is Greece’s plan to take advantage of one of its greatest natural resources – its high levels of sunshine – and turn it to its economic advantage.

Oddly enough, although Greece gets about 50% more solar radiation than Germany (the world leader when it comes to solar PV), the Greek capacity for solar PV is dwarfed by the Germans’.

Project Helios aims to change all that, with an almost tenfold increase in capacity from 206MW to 2.2GW by 2020.

Indeed, Greece may eventually find itself exporting solar-generated power to Germany.

So while the short-term future is bleak, perhaps the current economic crisis will be just the catalyst needed to turn Greece into Europe’s clean energy power house.

Solar red tape

It’s tempting to think that there is far too much red tape involved in solar PV installation in the UK.

The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is highly regulated, and ensuring compliance is virtually a full-time job in itself. There’s a lot of paperwork, which customers sometimes find confusing, and installers must be meticulous in their record-keeping.

It can be a pain. But last week we were reminded that it does have a purpose. The Watchdog report on BBC1 last Thursday highlighted the fact that while solar PV installers have to be MCS accredited and follow the REAL (Renewable Energy Assurance Limited) code of practice, there are plenty of companies out there acting as middle-men, and they are not subject to the same strict rules and regulations.

We shouldn’t be too panicked about this. We’ve seen lots of new consumer protection legislation over the past few years, thanks largely to EU Directives. In theory, consumers have never been better protected than they are now (although it’s arguable that it’s simply too much for the average person to wade through). Most of the unscrupulous practices that solar PV companies could get involved in are ones that could cause them to fall foul of pre-existing rules, regardless of the requirements of the MCS.

But solar PV is huge. And it’s continuing to grow. Industry specific rules and codes of practice should help to ensure that no loopholes are left. Except that by not requiring brokers and agents to be MCS accredited, this seems to be precisely what’s happened.

Solar PV on the ground

You’ve heard about the benefits of solar PV, and you’ve decided that you want to take advantage of the savings and Government incentives. However, when a helpful installer comes to visit your property, you find that your roof just isn’t suitable. Perhaps you have too much shading from nearby trees and buildings, or perhaps your available roof space is simply too small to make solar PV viable.

All is not necessarily lost.

While your roof is an excellent location for a PV array if you can get it on, it doesn’t have to go there. If you have some land, a ground-mounted array might be the solution.

Indeed, you might have seen large-scale solar PV power plants springing up all over the UK. Quite a few were commissioned in July, as companies scrambled to beat the deadline that heralded a fall in incentives for industrial-scale (not domestic) PV installations.

The main advantage of siting your array on the ground is flexibility. You can normally point it in precisely the right direction and at the optimum angle. Maintenance is also a little easier, with modules close to the ground somewhat easier to clean, for obvious reasons.

The drawbacks are really only threefold:

1. Opportunity cost – Erecting a PV array on your land obviously precludes you from doing anything else with that land – roof space, on the other hand, doesn’t have too many alternative uses, unless you’re planning to extend. That said, if you have the land available, solar PV makes a lot of financial sense for a lot of people.

2. Building work – If you’re not fixing PV modules to an existing structure, then you’re going to have to build a framework on which to put them, as well as anchor that framework to the ground.

3. Planning – You will need planning permission in the UK, which you often don’t need for a roof-mounted system. This takes time, and means that anyone considering a ground array should probably start the ball rolling soon. Feed in Tariff incentives for systems installed after April 2012 will be somewhat lower than they are for systems installed ahead of that date – so it’s best to plan ahead!

Why our next red car might be a shade greener

You’ve just bought your brand new incredibly fuel efficient car, and you’re feeling very pleased with yourself. Not only will you be saving yourself money, but you’ll also be doing your bit for the environment. Or will you?

We recently bought a small company car, mainly so we can get to customers’ properties in order to carry out surveys. Since we’re in the renewable energy sector, we wanted to make sure we have the smallest environmental impact possible when driving around. We therefore settled on a shiny new red – and highly efficient – Toyota Aygo.

However, one criticism that’s sometimes levelled at buyers of new, greener vehicles is that while you’ll certainly be responsible for fewer noxious emissions than if you’d bought an old gas-guzzler, you still need to take into account the environmental impact of the manufacturing process. If we all decided to make our existing vehicles last a little longer, might the planet actually be better off than if we bought brand new ones?

If this is true, it’s nice to see that if we buy from Toyota again, our conscience may be just that little bit clearer.

That’s because the company has just announced that its massive solar PV array in Derbyshire has been switched on and is now helping to generate the electricity it needs for vehicle production: http://blog.toyota.co.uk/here-comes-the-sun-toyotas-solar-switch-on. It’s easy to be cynical, and to say this is just a smart PR move or a money-saving exercise, but, frankly, who cares? If it does have the effect of reducing harmful emissions and our reliance on fossil fuels, it’s got to be good.

The UK’s renewable future?

Despite the media attention that solar panels have been getting lately, working with solar PV for the domestic market, you sometimes feel like a very small cog in what’s going to have to be a huge renewable energy machine.

And there’s nothing like the new white paper (http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/policy-legislation/EMR/2176-emr-white-paper.pdf) from the Department of Energy and Climate Change to bring home the scale of the problems currently facing the UK.

Not least among them is security of supply, as, increasingly, we have to rely on imports to satisfy our ever-growing energy demands. Furthermore, we have to compete for those resources at a time when other countries are also facing rising demand, and that is likely to lead to further price increases. For consumers, it seems, the question is not whether we will continue to see greatly inflated energy bills, but just how big those increases will be.

I think security of supply (or at least an affordable supply) is just as much motivation for domestic investors in renewable energy as it is for the country as a whole. In my experience, it’s not just the lure of feed-in tariff incentives, but a degree of insurance against soaring energy costs (the irony being that there are those who blame some of the expected price rises on the cost of the UK’s investment in renewable energy). And while solar PV is not going to take care of all your energy needs, it should help dilute the effect future price increases and help some of us weather the coming storm.

Sun, sea, sand and … more sun

I doubt we’ll be seeing this in the high street any time soon, but here’s an interesting use for solar PV: solar powered swimwear – http://www.ecouterre.com/solar-powered-bikini-soaks-up-the-rays-powers-your-ipod/.

This is, of course, a bit of a gimmick, but as manufacturing techniques continue to improve, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t see solar PV incorporated into more and more everyday objects, including clothing.

Rise in Feed-in Tariff brings a little spring sunshine

It’s been a gloomy couple of weeks for some. Not only has ‘worse-off Wednesday’ finally hit, but inflation figures have continued to rise.

It’s not all bad news, though. Those with index-linked incomes are, to some degree, insulated from the rising cost of living. This includes people who have installed solar PV panels and who are earning from the Government’s Feed-in Tariff scheme. April saw the payment for solar PV systems (up to 4kW in size) go up in line with inflation from 41.3p to 43.3p per kWh.

That may not sound like much, and, to be fair, the difference over the course of the year is more likely to be measured in tens of pounds than in hundreds for people with domestic solar PV installations. However, it’s worth bearing two things in mind:

1. Rising energy prices affect inflation figures. Those earning from Feed-in Tariffs can derive some satisfaction from the fact that rising energy bills overall are actually helping to boost their own income.

2. Interest rates are very low. High inflation and low interest rates are bad news for savers, as money in the bank actually loses value over time. While it may cost a little to invest in solar energy, at least the income derived from that investment will keep pace with inflation for the next 25 years.

Finally, I must declare my own interest here, since my business involves installing solar PV panels. Nevertheless, the effects of this increase are very real and very welcome for those who have decided to take advantage of what solar power has to offer.

Jay Leno’s garage

While we do get enough sunshine in the UK (especially in the South-East of England) to make solar power very worthwhile indeed, there are other parts of the world in which it can produce incredible results.

Famous American comedian Jay Leno is well-known for his commitment to green energy, and the roof of his ‘green garage’ boasts a huge solar PV installation, which he’s combined with wind turbines to help him achieve total self-sufficiency day and night (see http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/green-garage/242010/). Based in California, it also benefits from some of the highest levels of solar radiation in the world.

It’s easy to criticise celebrities who make apparently token gestures towards environmentally sustainable solutions, but the sheer scale of what Jay Leno has done shows that it’s anything but tokenism. You just have to watch one of his short films to see that this is a real passion for a man who’s put his considerable resources into ensuring that this world remains habitable for future generations.

Of course, this is still only one man. But Jay Leno is one of the most famous men in a country that produces more CO₂ emissions than any other except China.

The example he’s set has the potential to influence tens of millions of people, and I think he deserves to be applauded for that.

Solar panel farms: blot on the landscape or a lifeline for hard-pressed farmers?

It’s often called the Garden of England and, despite the ever-encroaching housing developments, Kent retains some of the most beautiful countryside to be found in the UK.

But could we start to see some of that some of that countryside covered by PV solar panel installations on an industrial scale? Government incentives are making this an increasingly attractive option for farmers and other landowners, some of whom struggle to make a living from their land.

And who can blame them? While we may prefer pastoral scenes of quietly grazing cattle to row upon row of gleaming solar panels, those at the sharp end can’t afford to be quite so sentimental.

The reality is, though, that we’re unlikely to see whole swathes of land covered by such developments. For one thing, Government support for them is in question amid concern that they’re diverting much-needed feed-in tariff funds from domestic installations (see http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn11_010/pn11_010.aspx).

But we should also bear in mind that many aspects of conventional farming have been industrialised for years. Are solar panel farms really so different from the rows of greenhouses dotted around the county?

Much of this is about what we’re used to. Arguably by far the most intrusive man-made structures in rural Britain are electricity pylons. But we scarcely notice them any more, while wind farms (which, in my opinion, can actually be quite spectacular to look at) attract far more public scrutiny.

I think we will start to get used to renewable energy installations as part of our landscape. And, as we gradually cut our reliance on fossil fuels, I believe that has to be a positive thing.

What’s the difference between solar PV and solar thermal?

It’s a question I’m often asked.

Although, by the time customers come to me to ask about installation, they’re normally very well informed, I find that many people just don’t know that there’s more than one kind of solar panel commonly used in homes.

Let’s start with solar PV (photovoltaic), since that’s my speciality. The details are also relatively complex, but essentially, when light hits a solar cell, electrons (in the material that makes up the cell) break free of their atoms. An electric field forces those electrons to move in a certain direction, which causes a current to flow.

As the end user, though, you don’t really need to know all that. All you need to know is that PV solar panels are used to generate electricity.

Solar thermal panels, on the other hand, convert the sun’s radiation into heat energy, which is then used to heat water directly.

This can make a significant difference to energy bills, even in the UK’s climate.

In warmer countries, with more guaranteed sunlight, this method can even be used to generate power on an industrial scale, with the heat used to power huge steam turbines.

For domestic purposes, the UK gets more than enough sunlight to make either type of solar power something worth having. While solar panels work best in direct sunlight, they function in daylight of any kind.

And whether you go for solar PV or thermal, you stand to make big savings for many years to come.