Recent Press | MCS Installer Directory

Green Deal Launched - 14 Million Homes Targeted

The Green Deal officially launches today 28th January 2013. This is the government’s long awaited energy efficiency programme which is designed to improve more than 14 million homes by 2020.

The Green Deal is designed to review every home, recommended energy efficient 'Green Deal Measures' which look to reduce energy consumption and then provide funding to help make the improvements.

With the help of public sector funding, the Government has set aside millions of pounds of funding to ensure the Green Deal programme is taken up by as many homes as possible. Of course the benefit to the home owner is substantially reduced energy bills but there is the obviously benefit to the environment which can not be understated.

Every home can claim up to £10,000 in funding to install Green Deal Measures within the property and help reduce energy consumption. Although the funding is provided in the form of a loan, this loan is against the property rather than an individual. The funding is offered on the basis that the energy savings made more than repay the loan.

The Government has made it very easy for everyone to benefit. The first step is to find a local Green Deal Assessor who will survey your property (in detail) and assess what the best energy efficient measures are for you. Based on a detailed review they can then work out exactly how much energy can be saved. In turn they can help you apply for the funding.

The next step is very simple. You find your local Green Deal Installer to install the recommended Green Deal measures as recommended by the Assessor.

The Government has an ambitious target of 14 million homes by 2020. To do this an army of Green Deal Assessors and Green Deal Installers is in the process of being created across the UK. So not only is this good for the environment, it is also good for employment.

It is estimated that in the region of 70,000 Green Deal Assessors and Installers will be required to service this number of properties.

Finding your local Green Deal Assessor or Installer is remarkably easy. As well as the governments own website a number of very useful Green Deal directory websites have been created, specifically aimed at helping people find suppliers in their area.

One such website is The Green Deal Directory www.greendeal-directory.co.uk which also officially launches on the 28th January.

Sarah Collins of the The Green Deal Directory says “through January we have seen a steady increase in interest from consumers. Questions and information requests have been flowing into our offices every day despite minimal consumer awareness. With the official launch and national advertising starting, we are expecting a huge influx of enquiries and we are looking forward to helping people”

The Green Deal is a great opportunity to help every reduce costs at a time when everyone is budget conscious, but also morally the right thing to do.

More information about The Green Deal can be found at www.decc.gov.uk/greendeal/ or www.greendeal-directory.co.uk

New Solar PV Feed in Tariffs come into force

Feed in Tariffs

The new Solar PV Feed in Tariffs come into force today which mean Solar PV installations taking place from today will now receive the new rate of 16p/kwh over a 20 year period. The Solar PV export tariff has also increased to 4.5p/kwh.

DECC Increases Energy Efficiency

Greg Barker

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has been awarded a new, improved Display Energy Certificate (DEC) rating of 'C' for its headquarters building. A DEC is measure of the energy efficiency of a building, which is rated on a scale of A to G, with A being the most efficient and G being the least. On moving into 3 Whitehall Place in Autumn 2008, it had a 'G' rating.

Greg Barker, Minister of State for Climate Change said, "The new higher DEC rating of "C" represents a great achievement for the Department over the last four years. Only 23% of commercial buildings are rated C or above. Since 2008, the Department has cut its HQ building's energy consumption by 60% and slashed carbon emissions by half. This is even more impressive when you consider that staff numbers in the building have risen since DECC took it on.

Solar PV Installations increase ahead of August 1st deadline

Solar PV Installer

New figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that Solar PV installation rates have continued to climb ahead of the next round of feed in tariff cuts, due on August 1st.

The solar pv industry installed 18MW of capacity in the week ending July 22nd, equating to 3,995 installations less than 50kWp. The increase in Solar PV installations is in anticipation of the Feed in Tariff rate being slashed from 21p to 16p under the new degression model.

The department also revised the figures published for the previous week, which initially showed just over 3,000 Solar PV systems were installed. The new figures show that 4,186 installations were completed last week – an increase of 4MW from the initial 13MW published.

Renewable electricity generation up 33%

Greg Barker

Electricity generated from renewables in the UK increased by 33% in 2011 compared to 2010, while energy production fell by a record 13.2%.

A report from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) said renewables accounted for 9.4% of total UK electricity in 2011, up from 6.8% in 2010.

Community low carbon heating scheme announced

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has launched a new low carbon heating scheme designed to allow community based organisations to embrace renewable heat measures by bidding for a share of £8 million under the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP).

The scheme will support all low carbon heating, such as solar thermal, biomass boilers and heat pumps. Interested parties must submit a first stage application to the Energy Savings Trust by September 7th, 2012.

Renewable subsidies to generate £25bn in investment

Wind Turbines

The government has today published its decision on future renewable energy subsidy levels, confirming the Lib Dems have successfully resisted demands from Chancellor George Osborne for further cuts in support for onshore wind farms.

As expected DECC have announced changes to the Renewables Obligation subsidy mechanism for the period between 2013 and 2017 that are largely in line with expectations, meaning onshore wind farms will only face a 10% cut.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey predicted the changes will help to generate between £20bn and £25bn over the next four years.

Further Feed in Tariff cuts due in November

Consumers seeking to install solar pv systems have less than a week left to complete projects if they are to receive the current rate of feed in tariff incentives before the government applies another round of cuts to the popular subsidy scheme on August 1st.

Small scale solar pv systems of less than 4kW in capacity completed after midnight on July 31st will receive 16p/kWh rather than the current 21p/kWh rate, as part of changes to the feed in tariff scheme announced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) earlier this year.

The Solar Trade Association maintains that solar pv systems could still generate good rates of return of just over nine per cent.

The trade body has created a new "calculator", which factors in the change in subsidy, the recent increase to the export tariff available to installations, and the government's projections for electricity prices to show how much money installations can save and generate each year.

Figures released by DECC yesterday show that more than double the capacity of solar power has been installed since April this year, compared to the same period last year, despite a cut to the feed-in tariff on April 1 2012.