Rushcliffe Solar

Rushcliffe Solar started as a Transition West Bridgford campaign to encourage greater use of Photovoltaic home power generation systems in Rushcliffe borough, but we are always willing to answer an enquiry from other towns in the region. There are many buildings and entire streets with roofs which have a good view of the Sun and could produce power for the Grid and Income for the occupants. Hit the You Enquire tab to get a free appraisal of the photovoltaic potential for your building. Email: RushcliffeSolar@gmail.com
If you are thinking about it, do not be put off by recent changes in the tariff!: Since April 2012, the tariff was reduced to 21 pence/unit and ones on poorly insulated buildings get only 9 pence/unit. There have been further reductions since. Use the Expertsure calculator to check out your house and see if it is still worth doing.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Solar House in West Bridgford

26 July: Some people have asked about the house we use as the example in the poster for Rushcliffe Solar. There is a whole other website devoted to it, Charging the Earth, because of the research work on Heat Pump Augmentation.
   This is the house of David Nicholson-Cole (the author of this piece, and founder of Rushcliffe Solar) and is a 'maximum' PV system - i.e. it's a 3.96 kW PV panel array (in 22 Sharp NU180 panels). This is east facing, but is still on course to generate more than 3,000 kWh in its first year.
  Although the house is electrically heated (using a Ground source heat pump), the Feed in Tariff from the power generated by the roof is enough to pay the entire annual energy bill - heat, hot water, cooking, lighting and power - and provide some income beyond that. The annual power consumption of the house is likely to be about 6,500 kWh by the end of this year, which may divide approx 2,000 power and light, and 4,500 for the heatpump. Bear in mind that the average British small house burns about 25,000 kWh per annum in combined electricity and gas. This is a pretty economical house!
•  So, although DN-C is getting free energy for the next 25 years, why bother with Rushcliffe Solar? The answer to this is that he is keen to energise others to do likewise, because it's good for the planet, the energy future of our society, and it's also a good deal for the householder.
•  The other question is, What are the strange panels on the South wall?..... not your average solar thermal panel, you think? These are custom designed Sunboxes - thermal panels designed to feed heat directly to the Heat pump, and in so doing contribute about a 25%-30% of the annual house heating and hot water requirements. They are designed and built by Mr N-C as a research project, and are unique in the world, as far as we have heard.... although more will be following, that's certain!

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