Procure Plus supports £10m PV scheme

Procure Plus is helping North West social housing providers improve the energy efficiency of their homes via a series of photovoltaics (PV) projects totalling £10 million.

The Trafford-based regeneration consortium is working with a number of housing providers including South Liverpool Homes, Two Castles Housing Association and Northwards Housing to achieve their fuel poverty and carbon reduction objectives before a possible reduction in Government funding from February 2016.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change recently proposed changes to the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) funding rates for solar PV installations, with them due to decrease by up to 64 per cent from 8th February 2016. The scheme is expected to close to new applicants from January 15.  

With the deadline looming, the organisations approached Procure Plus to help. David Kemp, sustainability manager at Procure Plus, explained: “As social landlords don’t benefit from the electricity bill reductions – this saving goes to their tenants – they relied on a robust level of FIT funding to make installing PV a sound investment. The proposed changes look set to make PV harder to justify for housing providers so fewer will be investing in the technology for their homes, especially following the one per cent rent reduction across the sector.  

“So to get ahead of the changes and ensure the four organisations get the best return possible, it was decided to complete the PV installations prior to the deadline. But with tight timescales and extremely high demand for materials and suppliers, the task needed careful planning and expertise.

“As we have longstanding relationships with contractors and suppliers, a wealth of technical experience in this field, and can guarantee that materials will be secured at a consistent cost, we’ll be able to help landlords deliver the projects quickly and efficiently in very volatile market conditions.

Steve Kirkham, Head of Green Energy at Northwards Housing, commented: “The forthcoming changes to Government funding have put a lot of pressure on the market, so at first it seemed impossible that we could take advantage of the subsidies before they reduce.
“Sourcing materials and contractors was a potential major risk to the project, however working closely with Procure Plus, we were able to carry out almost 1,000 installations that will have enormous benefits for our residents and local economy.”