Solar Panels-2

Over the last couple of years the UK government ‘Feed In Tariff’ (FIT) scheme for Solar Photo Voltaic (Solar PV) has been a very attractive proposition for those householders with the right roof in terms of size and orientation and the ability to access around £8,000 to £10,000 to afford the installations cost.

For those that decided to go ahead they got free electricity in the daylight hours and a payment of 43.3 pence per kilowatt hour generated, whether used by the householder or not. This payment of 43.3 pence is called the feed in tariff (FIT) and was guaranteed for 25 years! The current scheme was to end at the end of March 2012. After which a new scheme for Solar PV would be announced.

https://cardiffplumbers.sport.blog/2021/12/10/welcome-to-cardiff-electrical-services/

The end result being that many typical 3kW- 4kW installations would be paid for in 8 to 10 years. The feed in tariff then providing income to the householder for a further 15 years or so. Photo Voltaic (PV) panel do degrade over time. But one might estimate between £500 and £1000 per year depending upon the orientation and geographical location of the installation.

Many larger installation companies offered a solution whereby they would rent the householder’s roof. The householder would get the benefit of free electricity during daylight hours and they would take the FIT payment for the next 25 years. The problem came when the growth in these companies swamped the market and consumed much of the allocated funds set aside for the FIT scheme.

Thus whilst the FIT scheme generated much manufacturing and installation activity, it did not necessarily promote the installation and benefits of Solar PV amongst the householder community!

In October 2011 a working Cardiff Electrical group announced their findings from an assessment of the Solar PV market and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced that they were to bring forward the end of the current FIT scheme to December 11th 2011. Any system not commissioned and registered by that date would not attract the 43.3p FIT and instead the FIT would drop to 21.5p.

This caused a flurry of acitivity within installation companies trying to satisfy orders before the deadline, causing shortages of equipment and in many cases some private clients deciding not to go ahead with installations in the new year because the numbers just didn’t stack up any more.

The public who were becoming more aware of the benefits of Solar PV began to question the Government’s long term reliability – ‘Would it honour the 25 year commitment?..’. Installers felt undermined by DECC’s apparent whimsical approach to administering changes and larger installation companies decided to take DECC to court as they had changed the goal posts.

On the 25th January 2012:

After deliberating since January 13, the Court of Appeal has today denied the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) a hearing for its appeal against the High Court’s December ruling on UK solar feed-in tariffs. This means the feed-in tariff will now go back to 43.3p for sub 4kW systems installed until March 3, 2012.

Whether this short time frame of 6 weeks really assists clients and installation companies is questionable. In many ways the damage to the industry has been done. Those systems that were cancelled prior to Christmas 2011 may still not be installed. And what if DECC takes it’s case to the supreme courts?

Stables and agricultural environments

Special considerations apply for agricultural environments due to the need for all equipment to be proofed against water jets and the fact that livestock are more susceptible to electric shock.

Any prospective fault currrent must not allow a potential difference of more than 25 volts a.c. to exist between any point of contact and earth. This means that the supply and protective devices need to be coordinated to provide the required protection and discretion.