People today are facing increasing uncertainty regarding future energy costs. Average bills have risen by 36% since 2005, and some sources suggest that bills will continue to rise at an increasing rate. The continuing rise in energy costs, combined with being in the depths of the UK’s worst recession since the 1930s, puts an ever-increasing financial burden on businesses, giving a large incentive to find ways to reduce costs to maintain profitability and liquidity in the future.

The Government’s Feed-In Tariff scheme offers businesses and individuals the chance to earn money by producing their own electricity through the use of renewable energy sources, including solar power. As Chris Mattos of Randall & Payne, Stroud explains: “The Government will pay up to 41.3p per kWh of electricity produced, and an additional 3p (minimum) per kWh for electricity exported back to the national grid. The government guarantees this tariff rate to remain fixed (subject to inflationary rises) for 25 years. Most projects have a payback period of around 10 years, giving a further 15 years of income – and almost no electricity bills!”

The use of photovoltaics (PV) in buildings has come of age. It is now a proven mass-produced technology, typically sold with a 25 year performance guarantee and a life expectancy of 30+ years. There are no moving parts and absolutely no maintenance is required. Here in the UK the vast majority of PV systems are grid connected panels bolted onto domestic roofs - as long as you have good roof space, oriented correctly (i.e. not any degree of north), it should be possible to fit solar panels to it.

Solarsense UK Ltd, one of the UK’s most experienced installers of both solar thermal and PV systems, have been very active in installing systems for domestic, commercial and public sector organisations and are proud of the number of systems they have installed on schools, village halls, churches and other charitable organisations – many of which are being used to educate the next generations of power-users. “The majority of these systems are saving money, and with the feed-in-tariff, many are actively earning a revenue from otherwise un-used roof-space. We are also involved in some of the biggest and most innovative solar PV installations in the UK – the first commercial-scale solar farm was fitted in August last year to a 2000m2 barn roof in Somerset, and looks likely to net it’s owner up to 12% return on investment per year – for 25 years to come, and we’ve done quite a few more similar systems since then” says Solarsense’s General Manager, Kerry Burns.

Solarsense UK Ltd have teamed up with Randall & Payne LLP to host a FREE event at Randwick Village Hall, Stroud, on Thursday 10th March 2011, to explain the benefits of solar power and how businesses can take advantage of it. For more information, call John Barker on 01242 548600.