London boroughs to use solar-charged batteries
Councils from Camden, Waltham Forest, Haringey and Islington are to pilot the new technology, which stores energy and distributes it when needed, after recent cuts by the government to the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) could make regular solar installations more expensive.
Camden council have enlisted North Star Solar to carry out the installation, after securing a £160,000 grant from the National Energy Action government fund, while the batteries are set to be installed in 40 homes across the four boroughs as part of the trial scheme, with the potential for more development if the project is successful.
North Star Solar began the pilot process alongside Camden council, installing different combinations of batteries and LED lights, with Camden able to attract the other three boroughs to the project.
Peter Sermol, co-founder of North Star Solar, explains how households charge the battery for evening and night time usage through the PV electricity generated during the day.
“During the winter months the household will use morning time electricity from the battery, so they are paying 7p/kWh instead of 15p. We presented this to Camden council and they liked it so that drove the grant application. The NEA agreed to fund the batteries and we’re providing the solar ourselves.
“Fuel security is a big issue but even more of an issue for us is fuel poverty, so we’re looking to help those in fuel poverty, the working poor and pensioners. UK electricity rates have risen by 9.2% year on year for the last six years; what we’re looking to do is remove that element of risk from the consumer.”
The batteries have been designed to work outside of government subsidy, which puts the new technology in stark contrast to many other solar innovations that are expected to suffer in the wake of the almost 65 per cent cuts to FITs imposed by the DECC last week.
