DECC Building

Renewable Heat Premium Payment Increase

Good news for a Monday afternoon; the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme has just been increased.

Previously the scheme was extended for another year, and today it has been announced that each installation will now receive an increased payment.

The payments now will be:

Solar Thermal: £600 (up from £300)

Air source heat pump: £1,300 (up from £850)

Ground source heat pump £2,300 (up from £1,250)

These represent significant increases on the previous payments.

One caveat has been introduced: each home installing these technologies will now need to undergo a Green Deal assessment. The intention is to ‘help householders think about how renewable heat could fit with energy efficiency improvements for their home and ensure they are advised on choosing the right technology for them’.

It’s not clear how this will affect new builds for whom a Green Deal assessment would be unnecessary. We have tweeted the government minister, when we find out we’ll update this blog.

For the original release follow this link

 

 

Solar Impulse HB-SIA

Solar Impulse Lands in Pheonix

Here’s an interesting story going that’s playing our currently in the US; the Solar Impulse has landed in Pheonix

For those that are new to this story, the Solar Impluse is a solar powered plane that is currently winging it’s way across America with intentions to circle the globe. The current incarnation (the HB-SIA), a prototype, will travel across the US. The follow-on, the HB-SIB, will then take on the world.

The SIA prototype is an impressive plane, its weight is comparable to an average size car. It boasts an huge wingspan, equalling an Airbus A340. Resting atop the plane’s wings are 11,628 solar panels powering 4 brushless electric engines averaging just 8 horsepower each.

And so far things are going according to plan. Last week the plane arrived in Pheonix, US.

To get more info on the project and the plane’s current locate follow this link

Prince Charles Attacks Climate Sceptics

It’s not often that the day to day activities of the get our attention here at Complete Renewables. However today Prince Charles voiced his opinion on climate change, claiming that not reacting to it immediately is akin to not operating on a sick patient, adding “If a doctor sees a child with a fever, he can’t wait for [endless] tests. He has to act on what is there”.

We do think he has a point, there is a worrying trend with the current government away from renewable energy. We’ve seen this with the drastic reduction in the Feed-in Tariff, the reintroduction of fracking and the delayed launch of the Renewable Heat Incentive.

The guardian has reported fully on this, to read the article follow this link

Window Socket Charger

Window Socket Portable Solar Charger

An interesting new invention has been making a lot of noise on Twitter recently. The Window Socket Portable Solar Charger (hopefully someone will invest a little thought into improving that name), is a prototype power source.

The theory goes it can simply be stuck to a window and it’ll provide a powered socket. Obviously it might take a while to charge your Prius, but it could prove useful for mobile phones and the like.

I suspect it may never make it to these shores though. With more overcast days than sunny, it might prove a long wait, even for a low powered device such as a phone. Still it’s a nice idea and it’s always good to see new technology based around green ideas.

BMW Car Port

The Solarge is on it’s way

A while back we at Complete Renewables invented the ‘Solarge’. This was in response to the growing demand for electric vehicles. The idea is simple: install solar panels on your garage’s roof and charge your electric car. In practice though there are complications. Firstly when the sun’s out, it’s likely your car will also be out. Secondly the set-up costs were proving to be expensive.

However we did create a few clever solutions. To combat the badly timed sunshine a Sun Bat was employed. This device connects directly to the solar panels and essentially acts as a large battery. This allows the user to capture the sun’s power during the day, then discharge at night. Furthermore as the system is grid connected it would be eligible for the Feed-In tariff. So whilst you charge you car, you would also receive payment for doing so. Put simply you get paid to fill-up your car. Now compare that to the costs of a petrol or diesel tank of fuel and you’ve got quite a good deal.

Lamentably we’ve not managed to get the idea of the ground, we’ll need to wait for electric cars to gain popularity.

However whilst we’ve been getting on with other forms of renewable energy, it appears BMW have been thinking along the same lines. In preparation for their upcoming range of electric vehicles they’ve been working on electric car ports. Admittedly the name isn’t as catchy as ‘The Solarge’, but it sounds essentially like the same thing.

Well good luck to BMW, if they need a hand with development I’m sure they’ll get in touch. If you’d like to read more about this click here to see the original press release. Or if you are interested in a Solarge yourself, then please email me for more information