A new scheme in the UK will help energy consumers to reduce the costs of installing solar panels on their property.
Solar energy firm Sunny Britain has become the first company in the UK to apply a group buying model to solar power and boasts that it can negotiate discounts of up to 50 per cent on the costs of buying and installing solar panels for homeowners.
The company says it has already installed over 200 MW of solar panels across Europe, and has identified the towns St Albans and Hemel Hempstead to the north of London for its first UK schemes.
The UK government wants to boost levels of micro-generation by homeowners and offers a feed-in tariff as an incentive. However, the upfront cost of solar panels remains a barrier to adoption across the UK, says Sunny Britain.
The group buying scheme involves residents of a town teaming up to buy solar panels as a group, thereby boosting their purchasing power. Sunny Britain estimates that the discounts achieved will enable homeowners to see a full return on their investment in solar panels within five to seven years, compared to the current average of over ten years.
With up to 2400 kWh of energy being able to be generated from solar panels each year, Sunny Britain predicts that London residents could save over £300 from their energy bills each year and get over £1000 from the government in the form of feed-In tariffs.
The company says that 150 households have signed up to its first scheme, which will offer a 41 per cent discount on installation costs. This means that the purchase cost of a medium sized system of 2.4 kWp would be just £6200 for local residents rather than the normal retail price of £10 877.
Sunny Britain says that it ensures that the right panels are installed on each house and offers a 5 year guarantee on the installation, and a 25 year guarantee on the panels themselves.
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