Tuesday 5 April saw 25 social housing providers and local authorities attend Sustain's "Get FiT for PV" seminar in Cavendish Conference Centre, London, with expert speakers Osborne Clarke and Grant Thornton. The event was designed to provide the latest knowledge, experience and thinking on structuring your PV programme.
Take away points:
- FiT is the first of several mechanisms, including RHI, ECO and Green Deal, that will help you improve the value and performance of your housing stock;
- Creating a 'road map' can help you structure your programme around PV and other opportunities to minimise the cost and maximise the returns;
- Initial investment in upfront planning can increase the likelihood of developing a successful programme over the 25-year FiT period which will generate optimal returns while reducing your risks;
- Current dynamics around interest rates, inflation, cost of equipment reductions are providing favourable conditions for developing PV projects in-house;
- Digressions and government reviews do not necessarily jeopardise project viability within the social housing sector, because of these dynamics;
- 'PV for free' options are still likely to require OJEU tendering, and therefore do not avoid this time and monetary cost;
- Managing the different needs of your financiers, insurers, tenants, suppliers, energy suppliers and distributed network operators is complex, but armed with the right questions and answers, this can be overcome;
With different organisations at different stages, there is no "one size fits all" model; rather any programme starts with the needs and capabilities of the organisation and works outwards from there. Many are learning by doing and there was good knowledge sharing between delegates.
Sustain is ideally placed to offer independent professional advice on programme appraisal, planning and management. Click here to see our service offering.
Please follow the link below to access the presentations
