One of EvoEnergy’s solar photovoltaic (PV) panel suppliers has been talking about a competitor installing a PV system on the It’s Not Easy Being Green (INEBG) house. The episode was screened last night (Wednesday 7th January) at 8pm on BBC. I do not know the viewing figures, but being prime time terrestrial it is certain to be at least a couple of million.
The solar PV installation world is a small one in the UK, with most of the firms having met one another. We recognise that the industry benefits from positive coverage that any one firm receives and we were therefore delighted to see the first terrestrially televised UK PV installation and the positive publicity that it received.
Already we have seen an increase in the number of enquiries through our website and expect, as the series goes on, that this will be maintained.
The solar system installed looked to be 15 x Sanyo 215 panels which would give a maximum output of 3,225W. The reading taken on the show was around 2,300W which would be entirely consistent with this as it was, as Dick Strawbridge commented in show, an overcast day. Where they are based geographically they should be generating in excess of 3,000kWh per year with this system, which is nearly enough for a standard household.
A very telling factor was the installation cost of £15,000 and the ‘bargain’ that it represented to the installers, to a somewhat taken aback customer (Dick). I don’t think I am going out on much of a limb to suggest that this didn’t include the very entertaining under road digging made with ‘the mole’. It might well also have been made with the full realisation that the extra TV exposure was something not to be missed (we’d probably have undercut this value for similar airtime).
The question of payback is one that is often asked, and addressed on a number of sites. I’ll only reiterate here what was said in the show; that panels last a very long time and do pay for themselves eventually. It was also mentioned that the Renewable Obligation Credit value is doubling in value this year; this will bring the amount paid per kWh generated to around 10p, which is suddenly not an insignificant amount of money at all, and almost doubles the worth of the electricity on an unsupported free market.
Overall, it was the first time that I’ve actually watch INEBG and loved the combination of hi-tech and low-tech solutions given, meaning that there was something for everybody. I am particularly looking forward to what they can make of an old Victorian house given a nicely sized budget of £100,000. This does sound a lot of money, even to somebody in the business, so I hope they manage to make it look good value.
