Clean Energy Cashback Scheme

20 October 2010

When the Government introduced the Clean Energy Cashback Scheme in April 2010, it was intended to make Renewable Energy measures such as Solar PV a cost effective and a sound investment. The scheme’s generous Feed in Tariffs, paid for by utility companies, was warmly welcomed by the Renewable Energy industry, but it hardly made the front pages at the time.

With the news that planning permission has been given to install 32 solar panels on the roof of Clarence House in London, at a cost of £30,000, the Clean Energy Cashback Scheme has been given the sort of publicity that money can’t buy.

Prince Charles has been a long-standing supporter of efforts to tackle global warming, and is hardly short of a bob or two. So he may not have been waiting for the Clean Energy Cashback Scheme to be introduced before having a Solar PV system installed.

Nonetheless, his proposed Solar PV system does provide excellent publicity and a good example of what can be achieved with Solar PV, and the benefits of Clean Energy Cashback Scheme.

The proposed Solar PV installation at Clarence House had been held up for six months due to objections that the large-scale solar panel array would have a negative visual impact on the appearance of the 19th Century building.

When it was confirmed that the Solar PV modules would be situated on the south-east facing roof and could not be seen from the ground, these objections were over-ruled. The UK Clean Energy Cashback Scheme offers domestic households up to 41.3p per kilowatt hour. That means for every kWh of electricity produced by a Solar PV system, a utility company will pay you a Feed in Tariff (FiT) of 41.3p.

The 4kWp system installed by Prince Charles should produce sufficient electricity to provide him with nearly £1500 per year from the Clean Energy Cashback Scheme, and reduce his electricity bill by about £255 per year. – TAX FREE

So the prince should see a full return on his investment within 17 years.

If this figure doesn’t sound impressive, bear in mind that the installation costs on a property such as Clarence House are greater than on a normal semi-detached house. A 4kWp system installed in your home would cost more like £20,000. So you would have the cost of your system met within 11 years. For every year after that, the Feed in Tariff payments and money saved would go straight into your pocket.

However, you would need to have an above average sized roof to accommodate a Solar PV system of the same size as the one planned for Clarence House.

On a typical house you would expect to see a Solar PV system of around 2kWp installed. This would generate an annual income of £800 per household from the UK Feed in Tariff.

The household also benefits from not having to buy so much electricity from the Grid - which assuming you pay around 13p per kilowatt hour will save around £100 per year; and a further 3p kilowatt hour for exporting 50% of the electricity produced (typically around £30 per year).

Adding all this up, a Solar PV system will pay you over £900 pounds per year. With the system costing around £9,000 to £10,000, you will recover your costs within10 to 11 years.

Of course, Hollywood royalty, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Woody Harrelson, and others have all been keen to associate themselves with the campaign to tackle Global Warming. But now, in the UK we have proper royalty doing the same. And thanks to the Clean Energy Cashback Scheme, and the generous Feed in Tariffs, you can do the same.