This will help householders take advantage of the Feed-in-Tariff before it ends in March 2019.
The current Feed-in-Tariff pays solar PV generators based on how much electricity they generate. It has become more restrictive in recent years, but new installations can still benefit - for now. The new loan facility is available to all homeowners, private landlords, buildings under community ownership, and other businesses and organisations to accelerate installation of their solar PV ahead of the cut off.
Bristol and the wider city region has a target to run on clean energy, that is to become carbon neutral by 2050. A study undertaken by the Centre for Sustainable Energy in 2009 showed that private housing solar PV had a resource potential of 74 MWe with an estimated investment potential of £60 million, whilst social housing had 22 MWe and £28 million, and commercial solar had PV 46MWe and £39 million respectively. This means that there are plenty of roofs left in the city that could easily become renewable energy generators, reducing carbon emissions and saving on electricity bills.
Commenting on the launch, James Berry, CEO at Bristol Credit Union, said:
“At Bristol Credit Union, we’ve just installed our own solar panels to support our city’s carbon-neutral challenge and to beat the end of Feed-in-Tariffs. To help you do the same, we’re now launching a special deal. If it’s a lack of a cash lump sum that’s been holding you back, we want to support you.
We’re offering a limited tranche of long-term funds at low interest rates to help support our region’s drive to reduce carbon emissions and to play our part in supporting local residents to work with us towards that goal.
The loan facility is available for up to three months until end January 2019 or when the £250,000 pot has been allocated. Solar installers and manufacturers can also use the facility to help their customers in the West of England area install their PV panels ahead of the spring cut off date.
Bristol Credit Union is working in partnership with Bristol Energy Co-operative to get solar PV installations on the increase across the city, to make Bristol one of the world’s leading solar cities. This includes a unique offer for free solar panels on commercial or public buildings with a roof able to accommodate at least 30 kwp (200 m2) of solar panels, and free from obvious local shading.
Chris Speller, Director at Bristol Energy Co-operative, said:
“We are excited about Bristol Credit Union taking this initiative to help people in Bristol to install solar panels on their own roofs. Solar is a leading form of renewable energy that not only saves you money on your bills but is a good way to make your contribution to reducing greenhouse gases. We urge anyone who is thinking about installing solar panels to act now and benefit from the government Feed-in-Tariff subsidy before it disappears.”
Anyone interested in taking up the loan can either apply directly to Bristol Credit Union, through Bristol Energy Co-operative or via their preferred solar installer. All details are available here.
