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Brent Housing Partnership hopes to be one of the first landlords in the country to retrofit solar panels that can make money by exporting any excess power they generate to the National Grid
What A retrofit of more than 80 properties with solar panels to generate power and money under the government’s new feed-in tariff scheme
Where Brent, north west London
Who Brent Housing Partnership, Solarcentury, Lakehouse
How much £3 million
How long 26 weeks
SAP rating 20 per cent improvement in the SAP rating, rising from a low D to a high C
Environmental impact A 23 per cent improvement in environmental impact, rising from E to a high C
A bunch of properties jammed up against London’s busy north circular road might not immediately scream ‘eco-friendly’. Yet for the 80-odd Brent Housing Partnership homes currently undergoing a solar face lift, the label fits - despite the 40,000 cars that travel past daily.
And this is a solar retrofit with a twist. Arm’s-length management organisation BHP hopes to be among the first to benefit from the government’s new feed-in tariff system which incentivises small-scale, low carbon electricity generation.
FIT goes live in April, and Brent’s scheme is among those that prequalify. Also known as clean energy cashback, the micro-generating household exports excess power to the National Grid in return for a tariff. Eligible technologies include solar photovoltaic, as in Brent, wind turbines and hydroelectricity.
Solarcentury, the company behind the solar panels, will advise tenants on how to sell their excess power back to the National Grid. What’s more, says Shaun Gillam, a senior project manager for BHP, Brent expects to receive a fee from the government for hosting the tariff, though the precise details of this are still under discussion.
If it works it will provide welcome income, because the project hasn’t come cheap. Two thirds of the retrofit’s £3 million price tag comes from the Local Government Association, the balance from the ALMO’s housing revenue account.
The project hasn’t been without hitches. Due to finish in December, Mr Gillam says the scheme is running almost three months behind schedule thanks to this winter’s bad weather.
He says the most challenging part was ‘to ensure the electric tiles would fit in with the eco-roofing tiles and link together’. But overall, he says, he wouldn’t change a thing. The ultimate aim now, he adds, is to roll the money-spinning retrofit out to the remainder of BHP’s 13,000 homes.
In figures
Power plant - According to the council, each home in the Brent scheme should produce 1,062 kWh a year - approximately one third of its electricity requirement. Solarcentury reckons this will save each household approximately £120 a year, based on the government’s proposed generation tariff of 36.5p per unit generated.
The figure also assumes that residents will, on average, consume 50 per cent of the solar electricity generated and export the remainder. And it assumes a top up payment of 5p for each unit exported and energy savings of 13p per unit.
Roof - A combination of Marley Eternit’s Ecologic roof tiles (50 per cent recycled content and a titanium oxide coating to remove nitrogen oxide pollutants from the atmosphere) and Solarcentury’s C21e solar electric roof tiles. At £1,000 per square metre, the latter was the priciest component of the project, with 10 square metres needed per property.
Windows - Double glazing.
Walls - PermaRock external wall.
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