By Neil Turner, Director, Howarth Litchfield.
I have written a great deal on green energy solutions and how to improve our current building stock. One of the most obvious ways of generating electricity in domestic and commercial properties is to install photovoltaic or (PV) panels.
It is estimated that here are 1.3 million solar installations and 1100 solar farms in the UK, which contribute towards approximately 5% of the overall energy demands of the country.
A few years ago, when first introduced, they were expensive and accompanied by healthy feed in tariffs (FIT) which were government grants to help fund their installation – these have now disappeared. But is now a good time to install them?
I have installed them at home and completed a large installation at our office. Both are ideal locations with low pitched south facing roofs. However, panels or solar thermal panels are not the most aesthetic items and can, if not considered properly, spoil the design of a building or more precisely the roof. There are now alternatives appearing which look much better including PV matts fixed directly to metal roofs. There are also some which can be integrated into a metal roof, so they are virtually invisible. Slate roofs can also have individual slates with cells built into them, replicating the pattern of a traditional roof.
The challenge is harder on historic or listed buildings and clearly fixing normal panels in sensitive highly visible locations is problematic. So, we need to find ways to hide them or disguise their use on our heritage building stock. We are already seeing more churches, colleges and historic buildings looking to incorporate them, but we do need to see the costs of the integrated systems becoming more competitive.
The panels can also be fitted on the ground or on directional sun systems that track the sun. For large estates it can be more efficient and less problematic to have a ‘farm’ of ground mounted panels. This is not so easy in cities or urban settings.
We have been involved with a large solar farm as local authorities look to self-generate energy to help them reduce their carbon use and footprints.
One of the challenges of PV farms is deciding what type of land to use. There has been recent publicity on large proposals wanting to use good quality arable farmland. This brings in wider issues of not wasting farmland and the effects on food production for the country. Although farmers will look to diversify and generate income and energy for themselves and for sale, ideally brownfield sites would be best for landbased PV farm production or low-grade quality land.
The cost of panels has dropped over the last few years – to the point where the market is being flooded with cheap imports. So, it is a good time to invest and do your bit for energy generation. Excess energy can be sold back to the grid on domestic and commercial properties, although the rates are not great. Far wiser to use the energy yourself, rather than buying (much more economic) or store it in batteries for a rainy day!
Neil Turner, Director, Howarth Litchfield can be contacted on 0191 3849470 or
email n.turner@hlpuk.com
www.howarthlitchfield.com
