Overview - Solar Photovoltaic's
- the ideal low carbon power source for the built environment?
The time has never been better to install Solar Photovoltaic’s (PV). The price of PV modules is considerably lower than in previous years and the Feed in Tariff – announced at the beginning of Feb ’10 – has significantly improved the financial payback.
By way of an explanation to the popularity of PV; whereas less than 12 months ago, wind turbines were the technology of choice for green electricity in the built environment, not least due to the obvious PR value, there is now industry wide acknowledgement that they are not well suited to these environments. That’s not to say that suitable locations cannot be found, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the more turbulent and less predictable wind speeds found in these locations have a substantial impact on output, with correspondingly longer paybacks.
Why do we mention this? Up until recently there did not appear any alternatives if you wanted green electricity. Green electricity could only be met by wind turbines or biomass Combined Heat and Power plants (CHP), the latter requiring heating or cooling loads in addition to electricity. For many this technology is considered a sledgehammer to crack a walnut and now with the introduction of the Feed in Tariff (FiT) and much lower product costs, PV could stack up financially.
Unlike some of our competitors we’re careful not to oversell it because payback criteria’s vary by companies and households. For example, Company A paying 8 p per kWh for its grid supplied electricity will see a quicker return on a PV array, than Company B paying 6p per kWh, assuming an identical design and output.
The following pages in this section aim to help you understand some of the considerations which contribute to the decision process. Naturally we hope you remain very interested and would welcome a call or email (link to contact us page) from you to discuss further.
· Paybacks