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Solar panels scheme boosts home improvements
11/10/10
Edited by Bob Witham.A housing estate in London is cutting the carbon emissions of its residential property while generating the money to carry out green home improvements through the government's Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme.
Brent Housing Partnership, which manages 13,600 residential property units across the borough, installed solar panels qualifying for the incentive programme at the Brentfield Estate with the help of Solarcentury.
Over 80 homes have been fitted with the photovoltaic roof tiles and occupants have seen their energy bills cut by an average of £120.
Furthermore, because the FIT scheme provides a guaranteed monthly payment for generating green electricity, the housing association expects to generate annual pre-tax income of £64,000 through the panels, which will be channelled towards energy efficiency upgrades.
Brent Housing Partnership chief executive Gerry Doherty said as FITs provide a "solid" level of funding, the organisation wants to "keep reinvesting one project after another".
"We need such a sustainable model to really cut CO2 emissions and help protect our tenants from rising energy prices," he added.
The housing association's £3 million project to create sustainable homes at the Brentfield Estate was recently nominated in the Energy Efficient Project of the Year category for the 2010 Builder & Engineer Awards.
