The Southern Solar team install solar PV panels for a BBC DIY SOS makeover show.

Southern Solar was approached by the BBC following a recommendation from eco architect Charlie Luxton. Charlie was working with DIY SOS to do an eco makeover on a house in Brynmawr South Wales, and they wanted to include a solar photovoltaic (PV) system in the renovation.

We were able to provide a fully installed solar electric system for the project with support from our main solar electric panel supplier Sharp Energy Solutions Europe.
This was the first project that our new Welsh office had worked on and it was delivered with the help of our Bristol team. We installed a 1.05kW PV system that will produce 900 kWhrs of electricity every year, as well as saving nearly half a tonne of carbon emissions. The Price family will benefit from a reduced electricity bill as well as income from the feed in tariff - which should be more than a few hundred pounds every year.
David our welsh branch manager said about the install “ I found it an amazing experience with so many contractors working seamlessly on a small site, all cooperating together for one cause and achieving a phenomenal amount in just 9 days.”
All in all the Southern Solar team had a fun and rewarding time working on the show, we would like to thank all the team at DIY SOS for making our welsh offices first installation a very memorable one!

Free Solar Photovoltaic (PV) vs Buying Your Own

Recently there has been a lot of press about companies that will come and install a solar system free of charge, sounds great and for some people it is, but have you really considered what you could be losing out on by letting a solar company benefit from your Feed-in Tariff payments?
Several solar companies are offering free solar systems, they can do this because they fund the upfront cost of the system and lease your roof from you, and the system still belongs to them. They can then claim the FiT payments on the system, but leave you to claim the free electricity that the system produces.
The point of the Feed-in Tariff is to provide a very attractive benefit for the homeowner to invest in solar technology, offering returns of up to 12% for a well sited system.

The money you get back each year from the system comes from 3 sources:

1.    An above market rate paid for every unit of electricity you produce thanks to the Feed-in Tariff (currently 41.3p for every unit generated by the system)
2.    An additional export rate of 3p for everything that you don’t use and sell back to your electricity company
3.    The savings on your bills from not having to buy the electricity from your electricity company

If you don’t own the system then you are losing out on the money from parts 1 & 2. Basically if you do have the money to pay for the upfront cost of the system then DO!! You will have paid for the system within 10 years and because the payments are guaranteed for 25 years, inflation linked and tax free, you will have a very healthy wad of money back in your bank at the end – plus you will have had free electricity the whole time.

Another consideration is what if something happens to the company who owns the panels on your roof, are they likely to demand them back? These schemes are based on very long term business models and you have to bear in mind what may happen if the company goes out of business.

We aren’t saying that these schemes are bad – they offer a great way for people who don’t have the upfront money to benefit from solar panels and free energy, it’s just that you will get much better benefits if you buy your own system!

Southern Solar have been banking with Triodos, the worlds leading sustainable bank for some years and have now been lucky enough to attract a £300,000 investment from them.

We have ambitious plans and this investment from Triodos will provide the much needed capital for further expansion. The money came at the perfect time, just as the government introduced the Feed in Tariff (FiT) this guaranteed payment for every unit of electricity that is generated from renewable technologies aims to dramatically increase the number of microgeneration technologies like solar electric systems and wind turbines installed across the UK. 

Triodos bank only invest in ethical and environmentally sound businesses and have set up the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Green Fund to provide capital to businesses like ours. We have already used the money to expand, opening two new offices one in Wales and another in Oxford. The extra money means that we can build direct relationships with suppliers and manufactures, and we are hoping to do some of the biggest PV system installs for private investors and communities over the coming years.

Triodos EIS Green Fund Manager, Gareth Zahir-Bill said in a Triodos press release, "Southern Solar;s steady business growth over the last four years has led them to become a perfect investment opportunity for the Triodos EIS Green Fund. We are very pleased to have invested in a company who we feel are at the forefront of a growing market.

"The UK looks set to follow the lead of continental Europe in the uptake of solar energy generation. The planned Government incentives, the falling cost of equipment and a commitment from the public sector and social housing sector to build to higher environmental standards will result in a significant increase in sales for well positioned and managed companies."

For full details of the investment have a read of the Triodos press release here