Why a solar array can really pay!

LAST MONTH’s big Transition Town Exmouth event was a fascinating and informative talk about renewable energy and the new Feed-In Tariff (FiT). Jonathan Davis, a professional energy consultant and member of TTE’s Energy Group, presented a detailed examination of the current renewable energy market and the changes that will take place in the UK when the FiT arrives in April.

Jonathan explained that once the FiT is here, if you have a photovoltaic (PV) solar array fitted to your roof and are producing electricity from it, the Government will pay you 38p for every kilowatt-hour that you create, whether or not you use the electricity yourself or feed it to the National Grid. So, as well as the saving that you’ve got from not having to buy electricity from the National Grid for that hour, there’s also the FiT, which will subsidise you for generating your own renewable energy.

The conclusions were clear. If you’re living in a property that is capable of having a renewable energy system installed (not easy in a Grade II listed building, for example), you should certainly consider doing so. The downsides are the high initial outlay (around £12,000 for a 2.2 kilo watt PV array on the roof of a conventional three-bed house) and the fact that you will probably need to allow at least 10-20 years for the system to pay back its original outlay before you are in profit.

But the potential of becoming self-sufficient in energy, going green and building local resilience – all key TTE aspirations – is there. And if you’re patient, you could definitely make some healthy profit for yourself.

For more about TTE, go to Transition Town Exmouth