Steyning is Going Solar!
Does your house have a sunny roof? If so, have you thought about installing solar panels? With the new incentive schemes, this is great time to go solar. You can save on energy bills, cut your carbon footprint, and create a nice little earner on the side (of your house!)
More and more people are catching the solar bug. The Steyning Centre has had photovoltaic (PV) panels for more than a year and St Andrew’s Primary School has just fitted a big solar array.
The photo above shows a recently installed solar PV system in Steyning.
Why don’t we turn Steyning, Bramber and Upper Beeding into solar powered villages? If everyone with a suitable roof put solar panels, we could generate over 50% of our total domestic energy requirements. This is according to Sam Barnard, a former Steyning Grammar student, who did a detailed study of the potential for solar energy in Steyning for his university dissertation.
How does it work?
There’s two types of solar panels. Some produce hot water; others, known as photovoltaic or ‘PV’ panels, generate electricity. There’s government-backed schemes for both these days, but the incentives for installing PV systems are particularly good – dazzling in fact!
Under the new ‘Feed in Tariff’ scheme you get reimbursed for every unit of electricity you generate. And if you don’t use it yourself you can sell it back to the national grid and earn even more. If you have a good roof, you can get a return of 8-10% a year, guaranteed for 25 years. It’s index linked, and tax free, which is pretty impressive. That’s better than any building society account, and more reliable than the horses.
So what makes a good roof for solar panels?
Facing due south is obviously the best, but anything between southeast and southwest is good too. It needs to be largely unshaded, and not have too many obstructions, like dormer windows.
How much does it cost?
Solar panels are not cheap. But they can be a very good investment. A typical hot water system costs £3000-£4000, whereas an average-sized PV system is more like £10,000-£12,000. If you’ve got some savings sitting in the bank earning peanuts, fitting solar panels could be a great way of making a ‘green investment’ that will keep paying back for years to come.
If you’re savings won’t stretch to this, all is not lost. There are a number of so-called ‘rent-a-roof’ schemes where if you have a really good roof commercial companies will agree to install PV panels for nothing. You benefit from free electricity, while they take advantage of the Feed in Tariff.
Interested in finding out more?
The Greening Campaign is organising a public event on Wednesday 25th May where you can find out all about it. Come along to Steyning Cricket Club from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. You can learn all about the incentive schemes, meet some hand-picked companies that fit solar panels, and talk to local residents who already have panels on their houses.
You’ll also hear about the special deal that the Greening Campaign team has negotiated with the companies involved. For every system they install, they have agreed to make a contribution to help Steyning Museum put solar panels on its roof.
Find out more from the Steyning 10:10 website: www.1010steyning.org.
So we can gauge numbers, we’re asking people to sign up online if they would like to come along. There will be small voluntary collection on the door to cover costs.
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