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Solar Photovoltaic Panels – Group Discount Scheme

We have received the following information from eCoton Solar Savers Team:

Back in 2011 a group from Coton in South Cambridgeshire got together to form a solar panel bulk purchase scheme. The resulting eCoton scheme allowed 75 residents from the surrounding area to install solar panels at a reduced price. Now, in 2015, a group of volunteers from the Sustainable Parish Energy Partnership1 are organising a second scheme, ‘eCoton Solar Savers’, which is open to all property owners in South Cambridgeshire interested in installing solar PV panels.

Installing solar PV offers great environmental benefits, and by banding together group buying power can translate to a lower installation price, a reduced carbon footprint and a good financial return. Prices of solar panels have come down significantly since the first eCoton scheme. In fact, they are now around half the price that they were in 2011! The largest domestic system is now around £6,000, eCoton Solar Savers (2015) hope to negotiate a lower price. Financial returns are partly through savings on electricity bills and partly through the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT), the government payment scheme to homeowners. This has been reduced since 2011 but the ‘payback period’ for installing panels is still about 7 years, and panels can be expected to last for 20–25 years, so across their life cycle they are considered a solid investment.

If you would like to register interest in this exciting scheme, simply send an email to ecoton.solarsavers@gmail.com before the 20th September . When prices are arranged, you will receive details and then be invited to attend an information meeting on Wednesday 23rd September in Haslingfield, where you can meet the SPEP volunteers running the scheme and the solar panel installation company. Following this, the installers will arrange for an assessor to visit your property to establish its suitability for solar panels. Don’t panic if you don’t have a south-facing roof – it is the overall aspect of the roof and its condition that an assessor will be looking at.

Should your property be shown to be suitable for solar panels, then it is only at this point that you would need to decide if you want to pay for installation. All arrangements and payments will be made between you and the installer – the role of SPEP volunteers is to set a price with the installer and set up the scheme.

eCoton Solar Savers is open to anyone with a property in the South Cambridgeshire area, so if you are interested in reducing your carbon footprint and making a sound investment then register and save with solar!

SPEP: visit https://www.scambs.gov.uk/content/sustainable-parish-energy-partnership for more information.

 

 

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