There are two broad categories of renewable energy for home and small business use – these are renewable electricity and renewable heat. Renewable electricity solutions directly generate electricity which can be used to reduce the amount of electric power needed from the grid. Under certain circumstances, such electricity can also be sold back to the grid. Renewable heat solutions directly generate heat that can be used for heating water and/or for space heating. Typically, renewable electricity solutions will be installed by qualified electricians; renewable heat systems will be installed by qualified plumbers.
Solar Thermal Panels: - panels that are affixed to a roof, preferably as close to south-facing as possible. Sunlight falling on the panels heats a glycol/water mix which is fed through a heat exchanger and the heat produced heats water in a solar storage tank.
Heat Pumps: - ground or air source heat pumps extract energy from the air or from the ground. This energy is converted to heat through a compressor/heat exchanger and the resulting heat can be used to heat a building through conventional means (radiators, under floor heating, warm air, etc). Correctly designed heat pumps can also heat hot water as well as space heating.
Biomass: – a conventional heating system where the heat comes from a boiler which uses either wood chips or pellets.
Photo Voltaic (PV) Panels: – panels that are affixed to a roof, preferably as close to south-facing as possible. Sunlight falling on the panels generates electric power which is fed via a switching unit to the power circuit in the building.
Micro-hydro: – a turbine is inserted into a relatively fast flowing stream and this drives a generator producing electric power.
Domestic Micro Wind (DMW): – a wind turbine is erected on a suitable building or on a dedicated tower. Under suitable wind conditions, the turbine will drive a generator which produces electric power.
As of July 2010, most Scottish and UK government grants and loans for renewable energy have been withdrawn. From April 2010, a new incentive entitled Feed-In Tariffs has been introduced by the UK Government for renewable electricity systems. Electricity generated in this manner will be metered and payments made where this electricity replaces grid supplied power. Payments will be made even if the power is completely used on the building where the power is generated and not exported or sold to the grid.
From April 2011, it is expected a further incentive entitled the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will be introduced for renewable heat solutions. The principal is the same as Feed-In Tariffs in that payments will be made to householders who generate renewable heat, except that this will not be metered for domestic installations, but a fixed sum will be paid. The details of the RHI, including the confirmation of the schedule, are still to be announced.
Feed-in Tariff and RHI payments will only be made to householders who install renewable energy systems that are accredited under the UK Micro Generation Certification Scheme (MCS). A further condition is that the installing company is also MCS certified.
Stewart McNee (Dunoon) Ltd is MCS certified for solar thermal panels and partners with other firms that are MCS certified for the other technologies.
Stewart McNee (Dunoon) Ltd,
Unit 20 Highland Avenue, Sandbank Business Park, Dunoon, PA23 8PB.
Telephone 01369 702578 Fax 01369 706315
E-Mail : enquiries@stewartmcnee.co.uk Web : www.stewartmcnee.com
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