Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
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by Lib Dem team on 15 June, 2011
Over the coming months you’ll probably see solar panels spring up on the roofs of properties across Stockport.
We’re using prudential borrowing to install over nine millions pounds worth of solar panels on Stockport Council buildings and on Stockport Homes properties.
The panels are expected to last for 25 years, and they’ll have paid for themselves after ten. That means lower electricity bills for Stockport Homes tenants and the Council – it’s a good deal. We borrow £9.5 million, and estimates are that the solar panels will generate £930,000 a year in revenue. The Council estimates that Stockport Homes tenants will see the electricity bills or services charges drop by 20-30%.
Even better, the installation of all those panels generates new business and employment opportunities – we need to buy all those panels and get people to fit them.
It is of course possible to go even further – schools are an obvious option. It’s up to individual schools to consider whether they’d like to have solar panels installed, and the Council will be approaching schools to discuss the options, and to provide a framework to make it easier for those schools that want to go ahead.
8 Comments
Ian, believe me when I say ‘ don’t do it before we talk’
I fully understand solar panels and before you make this jump into solar panel electricity, please get in touch. We have been testing ‘estimated’ outputs from these panels for over 5 years. If you require the truth please get in touch and visit the ones we have on test. You will not regret it.
You are more than welcome to see our test panels (in Offerton)
Jamie thats a bit cryptic. Are you saying they do or don’t work, or you can offer a better price?? (I’m interested as an individual as well as a council tax payer).
Hi Alan,
I think Jamie’s suggesting that the published electricity generation rate may be higher than the rate his company has found when it’s done testing of these solar panels – what rate the Council has used in its calculations neither he nor I know, but I’ll pass on his details to the relevant people.
Iain
OK thanks Iain
Hi, you state that spending £9.5m will generate £0.93m in annual revenue and that the panels will have paid for themselves in 10 years.
Do you mean net revenue after interest charges?
If not I have grave concerns on the legitimacy of this investment.
So what is theinterest rate on the prudential borrowing ?
If it is base rate linked then that is worrying as interest rates return to normal over the coming years.
As tax payers ultimately responsible for this additional debt I believe we have a right to straight answers on this questions.
I agree that those issues are just the sort we need to be wary of, and as Councils up and down the country are putting together packages of this sort, the finances are gone through in minute detail.
For example, the cost of borrowing is not variable, but fixed at 5.5% over 25 years.
You can read the report that came to the executive, which includes the financial details, at http://democracy.stockport.gov.uk/mgChooseDocPack.aspx?ID=283 (download the “public reports pack” and look from page 33).
I recently received an offer from E.ON to install solar panels. This was in the form of a message on my combined gas and electricity bill. I read further, because I believe that we all have a responsibility to move our energy usage away from fossil fuels as far as is reasonably practicable. I also felt that I could probably expect a quality job from E.ON, as they are a substantial company with a reputation to maintain, and solar energy is an area in which a consumer can spend a lot of time attempting to screen potential suppliers to avoid the cowboy element whose offers are perhaps too good to be true.
Unfortunately, the message from E.ON stated that “homes shouldn’t be listed or in a conservation area”. To me, it seems immoral that persons who live in conservation areas should be spared from pressure to reduce their carbon footprints. If Stockport really is the green Borough that it claims to be, its Councillors should act to remove restrictions on energy generation and insulation of properties within conservation areas. By all means the Council should encourage the use of equipment that is both visually attractive as well as energy efficient, but at the same time should not pander to those conservation area residents who wish to continue with a lifestyle that is wasteful of energy, especially if the rules of the conservation srea restrict the activities of those who wish to adopt lifestyles that are more responsible about energy usage.
To any Councillor who is wary of supporting my views on this matter, I say that I am sure that this positive step could gain more votes than it loses. Have the courage to support my proposal and if you need a guinea pig to try out a well-designed installation in a conservation area, then I am your man.
I run a local Stockport business providing Solar Solutions. I am very interested in tendering for this contract. Please advise the tender process.
In order to explain the benefits of Solar to everyone and the reasons to benefit from the Feed in Tariffs please go to http://www.pvgeneration.com/solar-reasons