Think people in flats can’t have solar? Think again!

By Krisztian Hunter

Shared solar technology makes solar accessible for flats and housing associations. Picture courtesy of Solshare.

It’s a common misconception that solar panels are only for houses with their own roofs, but thanks to innovative new technology, solar is now a practical and beneficial option for flats and housing association properties. With electricity prices on the rise, now is the perfect time to explore how solar can work for your building.

One of the most significant and easiest ways to reduce your property's carbon footprint is by installing solar panels. By installing solar on your HA property, on average, you increase your EPC rating by at least one band. Not only does this benefit you, but it also benefits the residents in your HA property. Benefits such as reduced bills, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions, are a mutual gain for both you and your residents.

Traditionally to install solar on flats, apartment complexes and multi-storey buildings, each solar string would have been individually connected to each property. As you can imagine, this becomes very tedious and is highly labour intensive, incurring extra costs for you. Instead, all you need is a main control unit as well as a single three-pase inverter. The total amount of solar input per flat can be tweaked, depending on property size, as well as SAP score requirements, ensuring the most efficient distribution. Furthermore, as the owner, you can configure the system to receive the income from smart export guarantee, ensuring a payback period on average under 10 years. In this case, the residents still receive bill savings. On the other hand, you can also configure the shared solar so that residents receive payments. Tariffs for residents are much more attractive, with rates up to 15p/kWh. An example where shared solar for flats was used was in the Belmont Retirement Community, where there was a £340-420 per flat reduction in bills, at least 11 tonnes of CO2 saved, as well as an 11 SAP point increase per flat. This is a serious amount of benefit, not only for the residents, but also for the landlord.

There are several funding options available towards solar for your housing association property. One of the sources of funding is the ECO4 grant. ECO4 (Energy Company Obligation 4), is a government grant which is designed to improve home efficiency, as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The measures which are installed under ECO4 include, insulation, upgraded heating systems, solar PV, and smart heating controls. If you install Solshare as part of an ECO4 measure, you also qualify for the 45% innovation measure uplift in funding There is also an important characteristic of ECO4 which as a housing association, you would be keen to know about. There is called the “in-fill rule”, where if one flat qualifies for ECO4 funding, another flat, which is not eligible, will also become eligible for ECO4 measures. This means if there is a property with 100 total flats, of which 50 are eligible for ECO4, all the 100 flats are eligible for ECO4 measures. Solar is a great way to reach SAP point targets.

The opportunity for solar for flats has become greater than ever, with new shared solar technologies such as the Solshare by Allume Energy making it easier for housing associations to install solar for residents. With more and more of the population becoming conscious of their carbon footprint (according to research by the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations). Housing Associations are one way in which you can increase accessibility to sustainable practices. Approximately 17% of the UK population live in social housing, thus, increasing access to solar would have a significant impact on reducing the country’s carbon emissions. It has also become easier to install solar systems on properties that were previously challenging, such as apartment buildings. Solshare is exclusively available at Midsummer.

For more information and to find out how shared solar can benefit your projects, call 01223 851535, email trade@midsummerenergy.co.uk or visit midsummerwholesale.co.uk