The High Court today ruled th
at the Governments action was unlawful, and overturned their appeal.
This means that the existing higher rate of 43.3p still exists for all installations until the 3rd March.
The ‘win win’ we predicted earlier this month at Eco Innovations now exists, as anyone buying now will get the new prices for the solar installation, and the old FiT rate.
If you want to know more about any aspect of this, call Eco Innovations now.
The Green Deal will help millions of home owners to make a real difference in SAVING energy.
Much has been written about generating Green Energy over 2011, but at Eco Innovations, we have been advising our customers for some time, first you must save the energy you have generated.
If you have installed Solar panels in the last 12 months, you WILL be benefiting from lower energy bills, but you can reduce your spend further if you can keep more of what you use in your business or home.
This is what the Green Deal is about.
If you want Energy Advice, or even a formal Energy Performance Assesment, call Eco Innovations, and lets see what we can do to help you save your energy. You paid for it, dont throw it away!
Directors of Eco Innovations Ashley Martin (left), Simon Lovering (right)
Its not often that opportunity comes knocking, and presents you with a ‘Win Win’ situation, but that’s just what the new Feed in Tariff does for people over the next two and a half months.
Since the cut in the Feed in Tarrif was announced, and the December 12th deadline has passed, prices have been slashed by the suppliers of panels and inverters, making it cheaper now than ever in the UK to buy a Solar installation.
So much so, that Eco Innovations believe they can still offer installations that offer the customer an 8% return on investment (ROI), which is where we all started 18 months ago.
The ‘Win Win’ here is for customers who take up the opportunity before March 31st.
Between now and then you will receive the enhanced rate of 43.3p per unit generated as a bonus on the 21p rate that will come in on 1st April, but if the High Court uphold their decision that the Government were unlawful in cutting the rate before the given deadline of March 31st, (and remember, the High Court have already made that decision), you will have bought a Solar Installation at today’s prices and receive the full Feed in Tariff from yesterdays rate!
This would give you a ROI of around 16%. You cant loose, but you certainly set yourself up to gain if the Government loose their appeal.
If you want to know more, call Eco Innovations now on 0845 362 8503.
Eco Innovations Workers happy about the news!
Government plans to slash incentive payments for householders who install solar panels were on Wednesday ruled “legally flawed” by a high court judge. The ruling opens the door for a judicial review that could force the government to delay its plans, potentially allowing thousands more people to claim the higher subsidy.
The judgment comes after a challenge by Friends of the Earth and two solar companies who argued that the government’s decision to cut the feed-in tariff from 43.3p to 21p with only a few weeks’ notice was premature and unlawful, and had led to unfinished or planned projects being abandoned.
The judgment, made by Mr Justice Mitting after a two-day court hearing, comes hours before two powerful committees of MPs are due to release their report on the government’s handling of the solar subsidy. The environment audit committee and energy committee are expected to add to government’s humiliation by saying it was “clumsy” and had threatened the survival of a nascent industry promising thousands of jobs.
Many thousands of individuals, farmers, councils and community groups had applied to instal solar PV to take advantage of the generous subsidy which had been set deliberately high by the energy secretary, Chris Huhne to encourage people to invest.
But the government announced in October that it would cut the subsidy with effect from 12 December. This was 11 days before the consultation ended.
The judge’s decision was hailed as a major victory by green campaigners and the solar industry, after firms warned that the scale and pace of the proposed cuts would have a crippling effect on the sector resulting in thousands of job losses.
Mitting said the minister was proposing to make an unlawful decision.
Friends of the Earth’s executive director, Andy Atkins, said: “These botched and illegal plans have cast a huge shadow over the solar industry, jeopardising thousands of jobs. We hope this ruling will prevent ministers rushing through damaging changes to clean energy subsidies – giving solar firms a much-needed confidence boost.
Howard Johns, chairman of the Solar Trade Association, said the high court decision gives hope to the 29,000 people currently employed in the industry throughout the country.
“The feed-in tariff cuts are madness. The facts are clear, the public want to see more solar power, but politicians have signed off proposals to deliver a lot less.”
“The government has acted unlawfully and it is right that they are held to account. Now they need to act to rectify the damage, raise the ambition and work with industry to get solar in the UK back on track. We are happy to have cuts but not if they kill the industry.”
Lawyers for the Department of Energy and Climate Change immediately moved to apply for permission to appeal the judge’s ruling.
A comercial installation by Eco Innovations
Today, Greg Barker has laid out his proposal for the revisions to the feed in tariff, much in line with the leaked document from last week by The Energy Saving Trust (EST), the only difference is the date has shifted to 12th December.
Here is the statement laid before Parliament by Greg Barker MP;
Today I am publishing a consultation paper on proposed changes to Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) for solar photovoltaics (PV). The consultation will close on 23 December 2011.
Since the FITs scheme started it has been successful in encouraging people up and down the country to get involved in local, clean green energy generation. Over 100,000 homes now generate their own electricity, and this is just the start of a move towards a far more decentralised local energy economy. An economy in which homes, businesses and communities are empowered to generate their own energy, and in which low carbon innovation helps sustain green jobs at a critical time for our economy. A sustainable FITs scheme has an essential role in delivering that vision.
However, the green economy does not exist in a vacuum and it is important, particularly in the current climate, that our approach to public subsidy is responsible and results in the widest possible deployment. To date, solar PV has been by far the most popular technology with consumers. We know that the costs of an average PV system have fallen by at least 30% since the FITs scheme started (and we are aware of reports that the global costs of PV modules have fallen by as much as 70% since 2008). This is resulting in returns for investors in solar PV that are simply not sustainable and, without action, could result in the spending envelope for the scheme rapidly being breached.
Today’s consultation document therefore focuses on addressing the budgetary problem and proposes reducing the tariffs for solar PV. Full details of the proposals are set out in the consultation document. The headline is that we are proposing that the generation tariff for PV installations with a total installed capacity of 4kW or less will be reduced to 21p/kWh, which our modelling indicates should deliver around a 4.5% rate of return. We are also proposing reductions to the generation tariffs for PV installations above that level and up to 250kW. These changes are vital if we are to ensure a lasting FITs scheme.
We are proposing that the new generation tariffs should apply from 1 April 2012 to all new solar PV installations which become eligible for FITs on or after an earlier ‘reference date’ which we propose should be 12 December 2011. Installations which become eligible for FITs before the reference date will not be affected and will continue to be eligible for the current generation tariffs.
The consultation also seeks views on two other changes to the FITs scheme for solar PV. Firstly, the introduction from 1 April 2012 of new multi-installation tariff rates for aggregated solar PV schemes. These are schemes where a single individual or organisation owns or receives FIT payments from more than one PV installation, located on different sites.
A final but crucial proposal in this package is to strengthen the link between FITs and energy efficiency by introducing a new energy efficiency requirement for FITs for solar PV. The new requirement would apply to all new solar PV installations which become eligible for FITs on or after 1 April 2012 which are attached or wired to provide electricity to a building. If the building does not meet the energy efficiency requirement the installation would receive a lower FITs rate of 9p/kWh.
This consultation is the first of two on the comprehensive review of FITs that was announced at the start of the year. We will be publishing a separate consultation around the end of 2011 which will consider other aspects of the scheme including the tariffs for other FIT technologies. It will also consider proposals to make the FITs scheme more intelligent and responsive to change, improving the system that we inherited from the previous administration to remove the need for stop start reviews and provide greater transparency, longevity and certainty to the industry.
Eco Innovations summarises as follows.
A lucky few will still manage to get an installation done before the deadline, those who come after will still make a return that will exceed anything they can achieve in a bank or building society, but not as high as has been available before.
Eco Innovations will be able to provide solar Installations to any prospective customer that will still offer 8 to 10% ROI.
With the leaking of the EST document this week, declaring we are about to see the FiT rate cut to 21p a unit, implemented in early December rather than March, there has been widespread ‘doom and gloom’ articles from the Solar industry.
But all is not as bad as it appears.
With the steady fall in the cost of panels and inverters over the last 12 months, the cost of installations has fallen, (although you can still pay silly money for installations from some less reputable companies), and so the return for some of our customers has reached the lofty heights of 12 to 16% ROI.
This is not sustainable, and the government and energy companies know it, so something has to be done.
At Eco Innovations, we believe that even if the worst forecast were to come to pass, we could still achieve an 8-10% ROI for our customers. The actual ‘pounds and pence’ figures are not as impressive, but it still makes great sense to install solar.
Don’t forget, energy prices will continue to rise, and having your own energy generation plant will only get more and more rewarding over the coming years.
So, if you cant get in quick over the next 6 weeks, don’t despair, you will still get your chance. Make no mistake though, if you can finance an installation over the next few weeks, you will be among the most fortunate people in Europe!
It looks like the way to go is solar solar solar! Blackfriars station platform is now under the world’s largest solar bridge!
The bridge, built in 1886 is now the structure of the future as 4,400 solar panels are placed in London’s largest solar array, providing around 900,000 kWh of electricity a year. This will be a saving of half the station’s energy and reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 511 tonnes.
Apart from solar panels, the station is having rainwater harvesting systems and sun pipes which provide natural lighting.
The 6000 square meters of photovoltaic (PV) panels will be a green template for the future. This Victorian station has come steaming into a future of clean, green energy provided by Solar Power.
If you would like to be part of a cleaner, greener future contact Eco-Innovations Products & Services Ltd.
If you live in West Sussex you have good reason to smile, as we are the sunniest place in Britain-it’s official!!
If you have solar panels installed by Eco-Innovations of Worthing, West Sussex you have even more to smile about!
A solar panel installation of just 11 panels on an average home will enable you to use a computer 49 times for 5 hours at a time, power a dishwasher 4 times a day, hoover your home for more than 3 hours and use your tumble dryer (without feeling guilty!) and after you have cooked five family dinners in an electric oven, you can put your feet up and enjoy 166 cups of tea!
Covers of Bognor, West Sussex must have a lot to smile about after Eco-Innovations installed 217 solar panels on their roof. Each panel provides 230 watts of power and the whole installation generates 49,910kWp!! Covers also benefit from the Feed-in Tariff as an added bonus, giving them even more to smile about!
If you would like a ’solar smile’ then don’t hesitate to contact Eco-Innovations Products & Services Ltd on 0845 362 8503
So, you’ve read all the press, you’ve googled ‘Solar panels’ into the small hours of the morning, you’ve driven around your town, dangerously staring at roof tops instead of looking at the road, you’ve measured your roof using Google Earth, and after all this……………………you’re none the wiser, still confused and realise for every question you have answered, 2 more have emerged.
You know that the Feed in Tariff is something you should be making the most of, but that’s the point, how do you make the most of it?
What you need to do is get a company round who knows all about the mysteries of Solar installations, who aren’t going to get you to sign on the dotted line before leaving you or push you into buying the latest offering from the far east.
What you need is a company who can show you their own German built Solar panels and inverters, installed on their offices and warehouse, demonstrating they are confident in their offering.
What you need is a company who will insist on sending you a written quotation offering more than one solution, showing you a computer generated roof layout, before asking you to sign anything.
What you need is a company that have installed enough Solar panels, (in excess of 2000 should do it), to be able to offer good constructive advice on whats best for your individual situation.
What you need is a company who will give you a monitoring system so you can have peace of mind about your investment.
What you need is to call Eco Innovations, or come in and see us at our offices.
As the solar industry evolves at a pace not seen in the rest of UK industry, there is a danger that bad selling and pushy techniques will creep in, and spoil the reputation of the industry.
Unfortunately, there is already a lot of evidence of this, and it you are considering investing in Solar power, you need to be able to sift through the multitudes and find the top companies, who offer reliable, honest advice.
But more than this, you need to be sure that the figures you are quoted are acurate, and your projected returns are going to perform.
At the time of writing, every Eco Innovations customer poled had achieved their predicted annual returns in kWh, in only 10 months.
We put this down to accurate information gathering at the survey stage and the use of quality products that perform or even out perform their predictions.
These are the words of one customer;
At the end of summer 2010 we decided to purchase solar panels.
Initially we obtained quotes from a variety of suppliers, both local and national.
From the resulting variety of information, both technical and financial, received with these quotes we decided to undertake research to answer our queries and check on the various claims.
We felt that some of the suppliers just wanted to sell us their favoured products, whereas we felt we had learnt a lot about what we wanted and what was best suited to our particular circumstances.
We found discussions with Eco Innovations to be most helpful – especially concerning the type/make of panels and the inverter make/capacity and answering various technical points. Their overall costings were competitive. Their response was timely. Their enthusiasm and expertise in both roofing and electrics was helpful.
We felt confident working with them in an industry where there are many new companies who may not have the correct experience.
We feel lucky that our roof faces almost due south and is big enough to take a useful number of panels (17 panels 3995ratedkWH)
Installation was well planned and took place over two days just before Christmas.
We have been very pleased with the system performance, which has exceeded, by a considerable margin, the expected forecast annual total and we believe it to be a very good investment.
We would have no hesitation in recommending Eco Innovations .
For the best, quality advice and products, call 0845 362 8503 now.