Solar power makes island green

Solar power is helping residents on the Isle of Wight to cut their energy bills in half.

Southern Housing group have installed solar power into over 300 of their island homes in a bid to make bills more affordable for tenants.

The energy-saving scheme has been developed in partnership with green service provider Eaga.

Island residents like Mr and Mrs Clews-Cartwright have noticed an immediate impact on their energy consumption.

Brenda Clews-Cartwright said: “The whole install was really quick and clean and we are delighted with the result. We noticed the difference immediately. Our monthly fuel bills used to be around £92, but straight away they went down to £72 and are now as low as £50.”

The scheme has also won the approval of Southampton MP and green energy specialist Dr Alan Whitehead who visited the island recently to lend his support to the initiative.

Dr Whitehead who sits on the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee, said: “As someone with a special interest in clean energy and micro-generation it is encouraging to see first hand how low carbon technology can be used so effectively. I’m grateful to Mr and Mrs Clews-Cartwright for showing me the system in their home and I applaud Southern Housing Group and Eaga for making solar energy so accessible and affordable.”

Southern Housing group is one of the first housing associations to partner with Eaga, and is taking a lead in the drive to make the Isle of Wight a ‘green island.’

Paul Wenham, Property Services Director at Southern Housing Group Ltd, said: “It became apparent to us that in some cases our residents were paying very high energy bills and this, combined with the ongoing search for new cleaner energy, prompted us to begin this project.

“We think the results speak for themselves, and our residents agree that the changes we’ve made have lowered their energy bills. We are currently reviewing extending this and other initiatives across the Group.”

John Swinney, Eaga Director added: “Our programme is all about making renewable technology easy, affordable and accessible for all. It’s a fit and forget exercise for the householder and with forward-thinking partners like Southern Housing Group we are now rolling the programme out at scale and making a real difference.”

·         Eaga have developed a simple and effective way to provide homes with solar panels free of charge. The system works by fitting photovoltaic (PV) panels to the roofs of south-facing houses which are then connected to the mains to provide energy. Eaga makes money from the scheme by using the the feed-in-tariff (FIT), which provides an income from electricity generated domestically and fed into the national grid. This means that the install and maintenance of the system are completely free to residents and housing providers.