Grant Solar PV meets Thames Valley Housing challenge
Thames Valley Housing Association (TVHA) homes in Philps Close, High Wycombe set Grant UK and MCS approved installers Central Heating Services with quite a challenge with their requirements for solar PV (photovoltaic) systems.
The five general rented units are ‘all-electric’ properties; the objective of the retrofit programme for TVHA was to try and off-set some of the heating costs and in doing so give the tenants more flexibility on how they heat their homes. Unlike the typical on-roof PV system that is generally installed in retrofit applications, TVHA specifically required an in-roof system. This requirement was partly for aesthetic reasons, but primarily for ease of future roof maintenance avoiding the need to remove the PV modules should repairs be required.
Central Heating Services installed the bespoke Grant Solar PV Systems comprising ten GPV 180 modules to each property to provide approximately 1,525kWh of energy per annum. This will not only reduce electricity bills for the tenants (the electricity produced by the PV system will always meet their requirements before any excess is exported to the national grid); but also generate revenue for TVHA through the Governments’ Feed-in Tariff’ (FIT) scheme.
Through the FIT scheme a payment of 41.3p per kWh for all electricity generated is guaranteed for 25 years as well as a separate payment for the electricity exported to the National Grid.
The Grant Solar PV in-roof system has many unique features which include the flexibility to install the solar modules in a portrait or landscape arrangement to provide an aesthetically pleasing flat integration with the roof surface. The system is also arbitrarily expandable should energy requirements increase. More importantly however, the design of the system ensures that the solar PV modules are continually ventilated – something which is essential to achieve maximum performance.
Commenting on the project Barry Caton, Managing Director of Central Heating Services said: “We worked in partnership with Grant UK to come up with a bespoke in-roof solar PV system to meet the clients’ requirements for these properties. The technical and customer support we received from Grant UK was excellent.”
Tim Browning, Asset Manager for Thames Valley Housing Association, went on to add: “Even though it isn’t a typical retrofit application we specifically wanted an in-roof solar PV system for our properties in Philps Close. Given the complex roof layout Grant UK and Central Heating Services did a wonderful job designing a bespoke system that looks good and met our requirements perfectly.”