Ecolution Develops Collaboration With Purelake Group
The Baring Quarter housing development in Lee, south east London, is the seventh Photovoltaic (PV) collaboration between Ecolution, a UK's independent renewable energy systems provider and The Purelake Group developers. This large project, developed for the Hexagon Housing Association, includes 49 homes for local people to rent and 26 homes providing shared ownership options over four blocks.
Ecolution won the competitive tender from The Purelake Group to design, install and monitor a PV system which would achieve level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and exceed a 20% site carbon dioxide reduction. Ecolution already had a good track record with Purelake and had developed a Power Purchase Agreement for Hexagon Housing Association on a previous project.
Kevin Crew, development surveyor at The Purelake Group comments: "Ecolution has carried out a number of high value installations for us, including the Baring Quarter housing development. They provide high quality workmanship and materials, designs and drawings of excellent quality, service on site, and competitive prices which do not result in claims for extras. We particularly value their post installation service on handover to the client which includes full assistance in registering and claiming for the latest Feed-in Tariff (FiT) payments."
An 89 kWp system was installed over the four blocks onto flat roof structures. In total, 356 250W monocrystalline modules were mounted on the unique Ecowedge self-ballast mounting system. Power-One Aurora inverters were installed and mounted externally on a self-ballast framework. The Ecowedge system is UK-made from recycled vehicle tyres; over 2,000 tyres were recycled to create the mounting system for all four blocks.
The Baring Quarter PV installation is likely to generate 81,000 kWh per year and will offset 46 tonnes of carbon dioxide - the equivalent produced by a family car driving 138,000 miles.
Kerry Heath, Development and Regeneration Director at Hexagon Housing Association says: "It is important that we play our role in ensuring tenants' homes are as energy efficient as possible, to help tackle fuel poverty and keep energy costs as low as possible. Housing Associations are at the forefront of implementing these technologies, and have social, ethical and commercial drivers to want to do so. Provided the government continues to offer financial support to the green industry, there is no reason why solar PV installations should not become more commonplace."
Ecolution has entered into a full Performance Guarantee agreement with Hexagon Housing Association to ensure that it maximises the return on investment from the photovoltaic installation and any shortfall in FiT payment is reimbursed by Ecolution.
Chris Bratherton, group sales manager, Ecolution, adds "The Baring Quarter project was completed on time and at a fixed price. Hexagon Housing Association will be able to claim the FiT payments on this system as any GLA funding received for the photovoltaic systems has been repaid and recycled with their approval."
Housing Associations who give Ecolution the responsibility of managing their PV will be guaranteed that their systems perform to 90% of the output predicted by industry calculations. If the 90% target is not achieved, Ecolution will refund the difference between the projected FiT income and what was actually collected.
The Ecolution team is therefore incentivised to ensure that the PV installation is fully operational and remains so. The Performance Guarantee is designed to replace any existing PV maintenance regimes and is comparable on price.
Ecolution has been working with the building industry for over 25 years, providing renewable energy solutions for over a decade, with an expert team who have long-term experience in the design, installation and maintenance of integrated renewable technologies. Ecolution operates within the commercial and residential sectors, providing solar hot water systems, and solar photovoltaic systems.
