Heating your hot water from solar panels

How it works
Probably the most cost-effective of all the different types of renewable energy systems that you can currently have installed, the technology used to heat the hot water in your home from solar panels is called solar thermal.

Solar panels are fitted to your property, usually onto the roof so that they are up high and not over-shadowed by neighbouring buildings or trees, and a fluid inside these panels gradually absorbs radiated heat energy directly from the sun – with our modern solar panels even working on overcast days too!

The solar heated fluid within the panels is then circulated through a transfer pipe into a heating element inside your hot water cylinder, and the heat energy now transfers to your water store, resulting in a cylinder full of water that has been heated for you by solar power.

Obviously, in winter there is less solar energy than in the summer, and for this reason our solar hot water cylinders always have a secondary heating element that is connected as normal to your boiler or electrical supplies for back-up purposes.

We find however, that in a typical system, 60-70% of your annual domestic hot water heating requirements can be supplied purely from the solar installation – saving you money as well as drastically reducing your carbon emissions when compared with more conventional water heating systems!

The benefits of a solar thermal system

• Saves you money, by providing up to 70% of your annual hot water needs purely from solar radiation.
  
  
• Reduces CO² emissions on an average domestic system by an equivalent amount to taking a small car off the road for an entire year.
  
  
• Easy to install & maintain, using tried & tested technology.
  
  
• Can be easily integrated with other heating systems to meet your additional hot water requirements during winter.
  
  
• Enjoy more independence from utility companies and the fluctuating (generally increasing!) costs of fossil fuels.
  
  
• Lengthy projected system working lifetimes – typically 20-plus year expectancies with minimal maintenance.
  
  
• Systems installed now are also likely to qualify for further subsidies under the Government’s proposed Renewable Heat Incentive, effective from April 2011.

Typical costs
A two panel on-roof solar thermal system, complete with an upgraded hot water tank containing a secondary element to provide heating directly from the solar panels could be fitted to your home from around £3,500 - 4,000. Such an installation should be able to provide you with 60-70% of your household’s annual hot water needs.

Renewable Heat Incentive
The Renewable Heat Incentive is the new Government funding mechanism designed to incentivise people to generate their own heat-energy at home (or work) via renewable sources.

This new legislation will come into effect from April 2011, but all systems we install in the meantime will automatically pre-qualify under the scheme – please don’t hold back!

A major improvement over the previous one-off grant system that has now been discontinued, the RHI will repay you a set amount per kilowatt of heat energy generated by your solar thermal heating system, every year, for up to 20 years!

What’s more, these annual payments will be inflation-linked and tax-free!

Unlike traditional heating sources therefore, you are very likely indeed to achieve full payback versus investment on any solar heating installation within the fixed RHI tariff period.

Please do contact us for more details – there’s simply never been a better time to invest in renewables!