The community-based social enterprise Alliance Homes has embarked on a project to install solar panels across 1,200 of its properties in North Somerset.
The company, formerly known as NS Housing, has signed a deal with the energy technology specialist Low Carbon Exchange to provide and install the solar systems.
More than 600 homes have already been fitted with solar PV panels, amounting to 1.5MW of renewable energy. This capacity makes Alliance Homes’ project one of the largest social housing contracts in the UK.
It is estimated to cost Alliance Homes £6,995 for a typical 2.4kWp system for supplying and installing while it will give tenants up to £200 of free electricity per year.
Steve Drew, Alliance Homes Director of Assets said the income they get from the feed- in tariff scheme will help them invest in energy efficiency measures, helping the company reduce carbon footprint while benefiting tenants.
Andrew Milne from Low Carbon Exchange said the framework agreement the company has with Alliance Homes allows other Housing Associations to source the same system directly from them, in a bid to avoid high tendering cost.
Meanwhile an Alliance Homes tenant Everard Plowman who had a sixteen panel system installed said the planning process was excellent and he was ‘impressed’ with the speed with which it was installed.