Solar Power
Ascham Homes solar
installation to 1,000 properties will save hundreds on tenants’
energy bills.
1,000 Waltham Forest Council tenants will save
up to £140 per year in their energy bills with Ascham Homes’
installation of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roofs of
their homes, by March 2012. This is the result of an innovative
partnership agreement between Ascham Homes and Waltham Forest
Council.
This will be the largest Solar scheme on
social housing in London and is an important element of the
Council’s Sustainability Strategy.
Ascham Homes’ has appointed JRP as Project
Managers with contractors Apollo and Breyer Plc. The contracts
include the provision of 20 year warranties on the equipment, an
innovation that passes the risk of any future costs for equipment
failure to the installers and manufacturers. They have been
assigned to install the Solar PV panels on the roofs of eligible
properties to help generate electricity from sunlight. This helps
to save energy used for household appliances and lighting, hence
reducing energy bills and the overall carbon footprint for the
borough.
Solar PV panels generate cheap, green
electricity from sunlight and provide one of the best
options for a sustainable and renewable source of energy for
our homes. The 2.4 kWp systems being installed will also save
approximately 1 tonne of carbon per year per household.
Tenants in homes with the solar PV scheme
installed can use the electricity being generated from their system
for free, in addition to the Council being made by one of the
electricity providers for all of the electricity produced. This
will enable the initial cost of the installation works,
approximately £7,000 per home to be repaid over the life of the
scheme.
The homes which will have solar panels
installed are those that have a suitable south facing roof, which
is a requirement in order to generate sufficient electricity from
the panels. The agreement of individual tenants is being obtained
prior to the works commencing.
Ascham Homes will act as the Council’s agent
for the management and maintenance of the solar scheme over its 25
year life, ensuring that electricity payments are received,
monitoring the scheme, commissioning any repairs and ensuring that
the business plan is operated effectively.
David Barrett, head of retrofit at
John Rowan & Partners commented on the project:
“With many of the issues surrounding the
Green Deal still up in the air, it is great to see projects like
this moving forward. Not only will this improve the carbon
footprint of the existing housing stock, but it will also deliver
significant benefits to the residents involved. While
the focus is to complete the 1000 home installations to gain a
year’s higher rate on the Feed In Tariff, a matter that will be
determined on the 9th February with the outcome of DECC’s appeal, I
would also hope that it also acts as encouragement to other
affordable housing providers to show them that projects like this
are commercially viable. I for one are convinced that going forward
PV panels will be part of the solution for affordable housing to
deliver their obligations under the Climate Change Act.
The project has been undertaken with a partnering approach, showing
how lessons learned from large scale Decent Homes projects can make
this project achievable in the tight timescales.”
Paul Lowenberg Chair of Ascham Homes
states:
“We are delighted to have entered into this
partnership agreement with the Council. It is designed to achieve 3
key objectives:
- First it will assist approximately 10% of our
tenants by reducing their electricity bills by 25 to 50%.
- Second it will reduce the carbon dioxide
emitted in producing electricity for these homes by approximately
1200 Tons of CO2. This is like taking 500 cars off our roads.
- Third, we hope over the 25 year life of the
scheme it will achieve a savings of £1 to £2 million through the
price of the electricity being sold back to the grid, which will
enable other regeneration works to be undertaken in the
Borough”.
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