Renewable Heat Incentive triggers £52m solar deal
Emily Smoucha
19th April 2011
The Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is being credited with triggering a new £52 million solar equipment deal.
Surface Power, a
solar thermal technology manufacturer, has entered into a partnership to supply
Solar Fusion, a solar systems integrator, with £52 million worth of solar equipment over the next five years. The deal has been made possible by new renewable heat subsidy, the RHI, which comes into effect in July. The two companies are expecting up to a 15 per cent internal rate of return on the investment from the RHI.
Heating is responsible for 46 per cent of UK carbon emissions and the RHI aims to cut that by 10 per cent by 2020. The scheme enables owners of buildings that install technologies such as biomass, solar thermal and ground source heating, to receive money based on how much heat they generate. The RHI will pay homeowners and businesses 8.5 pence per kWth generated by solar thermal projects under 200 kWth in size.
High performance solar technologySurface Power has designed a solar hot water
technology that generates 738 kilowatt hours (kWth) per square metre, which the company claims is more powerful than most solar hot water technologies and 10 times more than most solar photovoltaic panels.
"High performance per square metre equals the highest RHI tariff paid per year by the Government, and Surface Power's technology sets a new standard of performance on rooftops compared to conventional solar hot water technologies in terms of installation cost, rooftop loading, non-penetrating wind performance and energy production per roof," said Michael Byrne, ceo of Solar Fusion.
Leading position
Solar Fusion said the deal with Surface Power would give it a leading position in the UK market for RHI, especially in the housing, hospitality and care home sectors.
"Surface Power's innovative Thermal Power Point Tracking technology and fast and easy mounting systems are leading the way toward a clean energy future," said Kevin Edge, Solar Fusion technical director.
Like this story? Please subscribe to our free weekly e-newsletter at the top of the page for more stories like this.
Related content:
