The latest data from MCS released by DECC shows that there is now 1GW of small-scale PV installed with an extra 245MW added since the December deadline.
The peak to beat the 2nd March deadline was almost as big as the December one, with 99.5MW registered in the final week.
MCS have released a Draft For Comment version of the third edition of what so far has been known as the DTI PV Guide.
Comments are requested to be submitted by 21st October 2011.
There appears to be much disquiet at the moment over exactly how PV installation works are covered by Building Regulations.
Many Local Authority Building Control (LABC) departments are advising concerned callers that a Building Notice application is required at a cost, in some instances, of over £350 – even where the installer will be both MCS accredited and a member of a Part P electrical competent person scheme – in order to cover the non-Part P elements of the work, which would normally be Part A, covering any structural work on strengthening the roof. And it seems that this situation has not been helped by some rather unguarded comments issuing from the NICEIC.
As far as I can see any Building Notice required under Part A would be for notifying that strengthening works are to be or have been carried out on a roof – as a result of a structural survey.
There is no need to notify LABC that a roof is simply being assessed as to its suitability to carry a higher load or that a higher load is being imposed – with no need to strengthen it.
And any building work that is associated with Part P work (which is what a PV install is as far as the Building Regs are concerned) is automatically covered by the Part P CPS self-certification. This is written into the Building Regs legislation and has been since day 1 of Part P. In fact the wording to cover associated building work under CPS self-certification was first introduced way back in 2002.
So, as far as the legislation is concerned, if an installer is competent to self-certify for the Part P electrical work then they are also considered competent for all the other work carried out at the same time and, as far as the LABC should be concerned, is covered by the same self-certification.
This all comes hot on the heels of the recent news that some Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) were advising homeowners that their planned PV installation required planning approval even though it would usually be covered by the revised Permitted Development legislation that has been introduced by central government over the past few years – specifically to remove this particular barrier to the wider roll-out of microgeneration.
I suppose that this sort of reaction by LABCs and LPAs is a result, in these days of financial restraint, of scrambling to get as much revenue in from their customers as possible. But this is not the right (or legal) way of doing it.
Reference.
The relevant parts are included in paras 17 and 20 of Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2010.
Here are a couple of graphs that demonstrate visually the impact that the recent DECC ‘fast-track’ review of over 50kW PV rates will have.
First we look at the full range of possible systems covered by FiTs from 0 to 5MW. The blue region shows the annual income (in £,000 on the vertical axis) for each size of system – shown in kW along the horizontal axis – using the existing rates. The red region shows the predicted annual income once the new rates will come into effect.
The size of the reduction is pretty clear. But let’s zoom in on that area in the bottom left hand corner and have a closer look at the effect on systems just up to 500kW.
Here we can now clearly see the effect of the new bands that have been introduced – at 50kW, 150kW and 250kW. You can see that the annual income from a 251kW system is very little more than for a system of only 50kW, and that the income from a 251kW system will actually be less than for a 150kW system.
The new rates are due to come into effect for new systems commissioned on or after 1st August 2011.
(Annual income figures based on production of 1000 kWh per kWp. About right for the south of England.)
Links to the full-size images if anyone wants to use them:
pv-500.png
pv-5000.png
Northern Ireland will introduce permitted development legislation for some microgeneration systems from 6th April 2011 – finally bringing it in line with the rest of the UK.
A few details are different and are worth highlighting:
- planning permission will still be required for solar panels on roof slopes in conservation areas where they face roads
- conditions that require minimising effects on appearance or amenity have not been included
- Air Source Heat Pumps and wind turbines have not been included
Marks and Spencer has joined the growing list of well known high-street brands who are getting into the solar pv and solar thermal business. M&S launched an M&S Energy home services division, in partnership with SSE, in February 2010. Tesco launched their solar division back in April.
Meanwhile British Gas has started to offer a two-year 0% APR deal for customers to finance solar panels.
Ken reports on progress with his Arduino-based control system – linking up with the guys from openenergymonitor.org during a long weekend in Snowdonia.
BBC TV’s DIY SOS series finally turns a shade of green – and not before time.
Tonight’s episode featured Charlie Luxton helping the team to install insulation, rainwater harvesting, low energy lamps and photovoltaic panels to help reduce a Welsh family’s energy usage – although only a small part of the programme covered these and not to a great depth. But let’s hope that this is the start of a trend.
Available on iPlayer (if you’re in the UK) for the next week.
I’ve just spent a few days in Manchester visiting one of my daughters and on getting off one of the free buses that run around the city centre I noticed the truly impressive number of solar panels on a section of the CIS tower that is located just next to the bus station. Back home I was able to check out the specs.
7,244 80W Sharp panels installed at a cost of £5.5 million in 2005 with about £1 million in grants. Generating approx. 180MWh a year giving a ROC income of £16,000 with maybe a similar saving from on-site use of the power. Financial break-even in the region of 170 years or 140 years allowing for the grants.
Quite an investment even if a part of the £5.5 million would have had to have been spent anyway on refurbishing the service tower.
http://www.sharpmanufacturing.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/sukm/hs.xsl/-/html/cis-tower-manchester.htm
Since the launch of Feed-in Tariffs back in April there has been a steady increase in the number of companies offering to install ‘free’ PV panels on your roof in exchange for them being allowed to keep the income, while the homeowner benefits from whatever amount of ‘free’ electricity – during the day only of course – that the panels produce.
The Energy Savings Trust have just published some advice for anyone thinking of taking up one of these offers.
