Solar Feed In Tariff Website

Barnsley Football Club is to become the first in the country to be powered by solar energy.

Work will start next month installing photovoltaic panels on the roofs of two stands and the external wall of the south stand at Oakwell – enough to provide energy to for about 140 homes.

Electricity generated will be used within the ground, with any excess being fed back into the National Grid. It’s estimated it will save the club about half its electricity bills a year – equivalent to tens of thousands of pounds.

General manager Don Rowing said: “With energy costs spiraling and likely to continue that way it makes business sense to use the large amount of roof surface available to us to save the club money and also to reduce our carbon footprint.

“The icing on the cake is that the work is being done by a Barnsley company and that will help the local economy. This just shows what a green place Barnsley is and even though we are the Reds we can go green.”

Dodworth-based Solar Europa Limited is due to start work on the project, which is costing more than £1m, on May 9, with completion due in June. The panels on the south and east stands will generate about 0.5 megawatt of electricity.

The cost of the installation will be met by the company, which will recoup any money made selling electricity back to the National Grid via the Feed In Tariff.

David Hawkins, of Solar Europa, said: “I just hope that by doing this we can inspire other football clubs and other businesses to take advantage of the roofs they have. It could be a warehouse or office block roof – it doesn’t matter – it all helps cut bills and cut carbon dioxide emissions.”

Solar Europa, which manufactures its own solar panels, as well as installing them, receives business support from the Enterprising Barnsley programme.

Adrian Waite, who works for Barnsley Development Agency and Enterprising Barnsley, said: “Barnsley Development Agency provide business support to the football club and we introduced the benefits of solar power to the management team at Oakwell earlier this year.

“To their credit, Don and his staff realised the need to move fast on this opportunity, and a number of Barnsley based companies were invited to complete surveys.  We are delighted that Solar Europa has been selected for this high profile project.”

The Enterprising Barnsley programme offers business support to Barnsley businesses with growth potential. Enterprising Barnsley has attracted £2.89m investment from the European Regional Development Fund as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme. Enterprising Barnsley also runs networking events and provides office space throughout the borough.

For more information on Solar Europa go to www.solareuropa.co.uk

NOTE TO EDITORS

Don Rowing can be contacted on 01226 211300 or donrowing@barnsleyfc.co.uk or 07984 572739.

David Hawkins or his colleague Glyn Cooper can be contacted at Solar Europa on 01226 249852. David can also be contacted on david@solareuropa.co.uk

Adrian Waite can be contacted on 01226 787531 or adrianwaite@barnsley.gov.uk

Additional media contact: Kate Betts on 01226 766900 or 07910 165 444 or at kate@katebettsmedia.co.uk

Enterprising Barnsley is a partnership between Barnsley Development Agency, Barnsley Business and Innovation Centre and the University of Huddersfield ’s Barnsley Campus. It is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to provide an integrated programme of business support. For more information on Enterprising Barnsley go to www.enterprisingbarnsley.co.uk

Tags: Barnsley Development Agency, Barnsley Development Agency and Enterprising Barnsley, Barnsley Football Club, David Hawkins, electricity, feed in tariff, installation, National grid, solar, Solar Europa, Solar Europa Limited, Solar Feed In Tariff

Since the intoduction of the government’s feed-in tariff scheme in April 2010, renewable energy and the potential for individuals to cash in has been a running theme in the British media. While certain newspapers have taken a negative view of the potential for green energy and an even dimmer view of some of the companies attempting to take advantage of the new legislation, there is little doubt that feed-in tariffs have had a big impact on the British mindset on renewables.

Historically reactive and often adverse to change, the British public is becoming increasingly aware of the financial rewards that can come from investing in renewable energy based on feed-in tariff pay outs both for the energy used by the household and energy fed back into the national grid. Once commercially unviable, feed-in tariffs work by offering premium, guaranteed rates to renewable micro-generator thus off-setting the high costs of solar panels while offering attractive returns to investors over a period of 20-25 years. This financial mechanism has led to a great deal of companies springing up with offers to fit solar panels to households for free, the benefit to the homeowner being reduced utility bills and the benefit to the companies being long term returns from the tariff.

Indeed, British Gas research alone has shown that the tariff will spur around half of Britain’s homes to eventually invest in solar panels, bringing in an annual revenue of between £600 and £1000. The national grid, which has been criticised of late for its perceived inability to cope with the shift towards green energy has released findings about the future for solar energy in the UK. Certainly, with the UK on target to meet its climate change targets within the next decade, it seems that solar photovoltaic (pv) should also go from strength to strength on the back of the tariff legislation. The national grid has shown that within the next 10 years around 31,950 MW of solar panels will be connected.

The national grid has shown that around 29,000 MW will be needed to exceed government targets of generating 15 per cent of energy by renewable means. This would mean enough energy to power around 20 million homes, a massive change in the way energy is both generated and consumed in the UK. The national grid has shown that while we are certainly on the right track in order to bring about a root change in the way the UK generates energy, the government has to remain focused on renewable energy. With a review of tariff rates due, it will be essential that the government maintains a tariff rate which continues to incentivise long-term investment.

Tags: National grid, renewable feed-in tariff, renewable investment, solar energy, Solar Feed In Tariff, solar investments, solar PV