Financial information for Renewable Energy installations

We are all aware of the environmental impact of switching to renewable energy but there is little lucidity surrounding the economic paybacks that installing a renewable energy solution can offer the consumer. This article aims to bring clarity to the subject, whilst providing real-time figures.

Introduced in April 2010, Feed in Tariffs is a government-backed scheme that pays people who create their own electricity via renewable means such as solar PV. Feed in Tariffs are guaranteed to run for twenty five years, are retail priced indexed and completely tax free. Feed in Tariffs support a wide range of circumstances, from domestic to large scale industrial installations, guaranteeing a minimum payment for all electricity generated by the system. A further payment for the unused electricity that is exported back to the national grid, thus consumers can expect to earn back the price of their installation two or three fold in the twenty five years that the tariff runs. For example, a typical south facing, domestic 4kW solar PV installation could earn £1,380 per year from Feed in Tariffs, £50 per year from export tariffs and £220 per year reduction in their current electricity bills, earning the household total of £1650 per year.

While Feed in Tariff covers electricity generation, Renewable Heat Incentive will provide financial support for renewable heating solutions such as solar thermal, biomass boilers and ground source heat pumps. The scheme will be introduced in two stages: the first, due to launch in May 2011, will be Premium Payments for domestic installers. While the level of payment varies throughout the technologies, consumers can expect up to £950 for a wood pellet burning boiler and £300 per solar thermal unit; a substantial subsidy towards the installation of your renewable heating solution. The second phase, Renewable Heat Incentive tariffs, is due to be introduced from May 2011 to the commercial sector, and October 2012 for the domestic market. For example, a small mobile home site, providing hot water via a wood burning boiler for nine units, could receive over £1600 a year in Renewable Heat Incentive tariffs, as well as significant savings from the existing traditional heating solutions.

For more information, please contact Stove Shop Renewables, www.stoveshoprenewabless.co.uk, 01579 345018

Case Study: Penzance Project

Case Study: Penzance Project

These are six starter flats built on top of the old casino in Penzance. They are structural insulated panel construction. Stove Shop fitted one thirty tube solar thermal collector on each unit which runs a thermostore providing domestic hot water and three radiators via the solar collector and 3 kW immersion heater. These units were rated at Code 4.

PROS:

-          Doesn’t use oil or gas

-          Very economic to run

-          All future installations like this are applicable for renewable heat incentive

-          Automatic; no labour required

-          No servicing required

-          60% reduction in fuel costs compared to traditional fossil fuels

CONS:

-          No sunshine, no backup heat

FoFor more information on this case study or others, please call us on 01579 345018 or email sales@stoveshop.co.uk 

Case Study: The Linhay

PV-T Case Study
The Linhay

Brief

The property consists of a Grade II listed farmhouse with plenty of acreage, on which stood some disused stone barns. The customer wanted to create an income from the property so is in the process of converting the barns into holiday lets, one of which is The Linhay. The customer approached Stove Shop Renewables requesting a completely energy system that is both environmentally friendly and also able to run independently as the customer’s main residence is several hundred miles from the property.

Process

Stove Shop Renewables designed a bespoke system to fit the customer’s needs. A system of hybrid PV-T solar collectors has been installed to power low energy lighting, under floor heating and domestic hot water. The total system is 3.99kW which, as the average household uses 3.5kW, should be more than sufficient for these needs. The hot water is created as a by-product of making the PV panels more efficient, and with the addition of a heat pump, supplies ample hot water for the naturally low energy under-floor heating and hot water sufficient for sanitary use. While the system is suitable for running these main energy requirements, the system is also connected to the main grid to top-up the system should the tenant wish to run other electrical appliances.

Outcome

The alternative to this system would include costly, oil-fired, high consumption radiators and traditional electrical solution, which would require significantly higher running costs, both in terms of finance and environmental impact. Stove Shop Renewables have created a system for the client that is not only incredibly cost effective, but is also virtually carbon neutral. The system is automatically self-governing, due to an automatic control system attached to both the solar thermal collector and for the overall system. The back-up of being connected to the mains grid not only allows the customer piece of mind, should there be a bad spell of weather, but also enables them to sell back their unused electricity to the grid under the Feed in Tariff scheme. Essentially, the customer has a system that not only produces sufficient energy for the properties needs, but also generates a guaranteed tax-free income for 25 years.

FACT FILE

Sector	Domestic installation adapted for commercial needs
Completed	Ongoing – the first system will be completely March 2011
Output	3.99kW
Installation Time	5 working days
Specifications	PV-T panels, heat pump, multi function controller, solar controller

CASE STUDY: The Toll House

The Toll House

Stove Shop has supplied and fitted a Palazetti Ecofire Insert Idro wood pellet burning stove to provide all the heating and domestic hot water for this project.

The stove is connected to a heat store cylinder similar to the one shown below. From this cylinder is drawn the hot water to circulate through four independently controlled under floor heating circuits and the upstairs radiator circuit.

The cylinder also supplies mains pressure hot water at a blended temperature adjustable between 45 and 60 degrees.

PROS:

-          Domestic and automatic

-          Programmebale

-          Pellets cheap; saves over 60% compared to burning fossil fuels

CONS:

-     Not a large hopper; needs filling once every 24 hours

GOOD FOR:

-          Listed buildings

-          Small dwellings

FoFor more information on this case study or others, please call us on 01579 345018 or email sales@stoveshop.co.uk 

CASE STUDY: Estate House Installation

Baxi Solo Innova 50 Installation

Neil Austen and Stuart Bennett went to Denmark and spent three days at the Baxi factory, receiving lectures and hands on training in firing and commissioning techniques. This led to their being accredited installers of Baxi’s wood burning and multi fuel boilers.

 

Back in Cornwall, we met the challenge of fitting the Solo Innova 50 into an existing boiler room. Two 800 litre cylinders connected in tandem accept the heating loads and still leave space for a walk way. A new 1500 x 450 foam insulated hot water cylinder (out of frame) cares for domestic hot water to four bathrooms. To accommodate the increased expansion of the system (calculated at 150 litres) a new 300 litre head tank was installed in the loft. 

The entire heating load of 75,000 btu and the whole domestic hot water requirement can be met using dry wood from the estate managed woodland in the 50kW Baxi Solo Innova burning once, or sometimes twice a day. 

The house has formerly heated by an inefficient and expensive to run oil boiler but now grows its own fuel.

PROS:

-          Whole boiler run on waste wood from estate

-          Linked together automatic oil fired boiler with a wood burning boiler (50kW)

-          Developed bespoke system to fit into the property

CONS:

-          Incredibly labour intensive

-          Vast storage required

-          Wood needs storing for two years before it can be used

GOOD FOR:

-          Estate homes and manor houses

FoFor more information on this case study or others, please call us on 01579 345018 or email sales@stoveshop.co.uk 

CASE STUDY: Welsh Farm Cottages

Neuadd Farm Cottages

A Baxi Solo Innova 50 wood boiler coupled with four solar manifolds with twenty two evacuated tubes each. Supplies heat to a 3000 litre cylinder, this heat store feeds a great main distributing to nine holiday cottages, each of which has underfloor heating a small radiator circuit and mains pressure hot water. There is an immersion heater in each cottage as backup. As this heated water is pumped round the cottages on demand, indicator lights in the boiler room show whether heating or hot water is being called for and from where.

Other provisions in the boiler room are; 

-          a high limit thermostat on the cylinder will circulate water round the heat main. This extra 200 litres is intended to cope with possible over production from the solar panels. It has a yellow indicator light on the control board.

-          A low limit thermostat on the cylinder which prevents any demand from switching on the pumps. This allows for faster heating recovery and has a yellow indicator light on the control board.

-          Within the control box there are three 6a. Circuit breakers. Two of them isolate the cottages and are in groups 1-4 and 5-9. The third isolates the boiler and its controls. This means that the boiler can be fired independently if needed or with just one group of cottages.

-        Within the control box there are two 2a circuit breakers which isolate the pump sets. Using these one or two can be selected to match the load of occupation or in the event of a breakdown, the faulty one switches off and the system will still function.

-          As mentioned above the demand from each cottage is indicated on the control panel. A blue light for DHW and red for heating and these show against the cottage number.

PROS:

-          Batch burns in intervals, meaning more cost effective

-          90% reduction of heating costs

-          Collar input reduced refuelling cycles on boiler

CONS:

-          Labour intensive

-          Large storage units required

GOOD FOR:

-          Rural farms, big estate houses

-          Large detached properties with acreage

FoFor more information on this case study or others, please call us on 01579 345018 or email sales@stoveshop.co.uk 

CASE STUDY: Four Bedroom Farmhouse

Four Bedroom Farmhouse

In a remote boiler room a Baxi Multiheat 2.5 600f boiler produces hot water for the Farmhouse. At present the fuel is wood pellets but the boiler can be adapted to burn wood chips or even grain.

An underground submain of insulted pipes connects the boiler room to the main house. Then the hot water is delivered to a 300 litre heat store cylinder containing a high efficiency heat exchange coil which delivers mains pressure domestic hot water to the bathrooms and kitchen. The cylinder also supplies a distribution system for three separate radiator circuits: upstairs radiators, downstairs radiators, towel rails and airing cupboard.

These three circuits are separately timed to allow complete control. The cylinder has a 3kW immersion heater fitted for optional use in the summer.

The cylinder also has a coil to accept input from the solar panels on the roof and the control box has a contactor to isolate the immersion heater if the cylinder temperature rises above the set point of 90 degrees. Similarly, if the cylinder is blow the set point of 40 degrees, the radiator circuits are isolated to allow temperature recovery,

The system has been cleansed, flushed and protected with Fernox F1 and filled to a standard ½ bar pressure and sealed. The heat expansion is absorbed by an 80 litre expansion vessel in the boiler room. There is a temperature and pressure relief valve on the cylinder and a pressure relief valve in the boiler room.

PROS:

-          Utilises waste sawdust from joinery and runs farmhouse plus four holiday cottages.

-          Carbon neutral

-          All future systems like this would be eligible for Renewable Heat Incentive.

CONS:

-          Labour intensive

-          Needs a large space for plant and fuel

GOOD FOR:

-          Large estate houses etc

FoFor more information on this case study or others, please call us on 01579 345018 or email sales@stoveshop.co.uk