Landlords can make the most of the Feed-in-Tariff

Whilst Norman Environmental would argue that anyone with a roof is a candidate for Solar PV in the UK (ok, not everyone, but close enough), certain people are especially good candidates for many different reasons, some technical some circumstantial.  

It was our pleasure and honour this week to present to the Cardiff Landlords' Association about the benefits of solar PV and the feed in tariff. Whilst most people who happen across this blog will be aware that a 2kW solar PV system can bring 12% yearly yields increasing over a 25 year period - not all will know that the generation tariff price falls for systems of 4kW and above, and falls again for systems above 10kW.  They fall further still for systems of 50kW and above. All as depicted by the bar chart below.

This was put to the Cardiff Landlords Association so that they may understand the basis of the feed in tariff and how it pertains to solar PV in the UK.  Building on this information however, we had an ace up our sleeve; landlords with multiple properties can take advantage of the sliding scales of payment by maximising their FiT returns at each of their eligible properties.

The above graph shows, in red, how multiple property installations can each take advantage of the 43.3p tariff to maximise their returns, the grey line shows how large scale installations can suffer from diminishing returns.  Over the course of 25 years therefore, 25 landlords installations of 2kW each could expect to receive £250k more in FiT income than a single 50kW installation

This means that multi-property landlords can invest for their own benefit across their portfolio, or even offer their roofs to pension funds and other investors that are looking to make long term gains from a secure, government backed opportunity.


if you are a landlord looking to make the most of the feed-in-tariff then click here to see a PDF of the full presentation or here to submit your details and we'll get in touch to assist you.  Also, you can visit the Cardiff Landlords Association website, sponsored by Lobster Web Design, by clicking here.

Forming our future

As our business and website grows we are making use of more and more web-based programs and services to help our business perform.  Wufoo is the latest of these add-ons and, due to what it does for us, we've decided to tell you all about it.

Wufoo is a form creator that allows us to collect data from potential customers and act on it to (hopefully) turn them into actual customers.  There is a simple drag and drop system for the creation of forms which can be hosted on our website, once the data is posted it is saved in Wufoo's central directory and notifications are posted to our email address.  It is a free and easy way to collect potential client information for Solar PV, Solar Thermal and Energy Efficiency Surveys.


The team at Wufoo couldn't be more helpful and quick to respond when you have a query of any type, even if you only sign up to their free service provision.  Forms can be emailed or web-hosted, are easily editable and can be customised for your needs as well as having integration available for payment schemes such as paypal.


So if you're looking for a way to collect data online, for your business, personal or academic purposes take a look at Wufoo, you won't regret it.

Supply good energy to Good Energy

The Feed in Tariff is a wonderful thing indeed, allowing those of us who produce electricity via our own resources to be financially rewarded will raise awareness of the scarcity of energy and increase our respect for it. 

The FiT scheme is simple too; the government tax energy providers via the carbon levy and put that money into a pot.  The funds are redistributed to the energy providers who can prove that their customers have MCS accredited installations that are producing accurately measured quantities of electricity. The same customers are then reimbursed by the energy providers for each unit they produce on a quarterly basis.

A number of energy providers see this as an administrative chore, and who can blame them?  After all the energy they are 'purchasing' from micro-generators is so small when compared with the levels they produce via the fossil fuel hungry power stations. Good Energy are a company who sell only renewable energy, that is to say that 100% of the energy they sell is provided through, solar, hydro, anaerobic digestion, wind turbines or any other form of non-polluting renewable energy source.  They are the only company in the UK who offer such a supply.

As a result of their dedication to renewable energy Good Energy are excellent administrators of the FiT scheme.  Their application packs are simple, clear and concise whilst being comprehensive and transparent in walking their energy suppliers right through the FiT process.

That is why we at Norman Environmental encourage all our PV customers, or anyone seeking to become a micro-generator, to sign up to selling their energy to Good Energy - a company that encourages micro-generation as the very back-bone to it's business. Just like us really.