Solar scheme aims to appeal to landlords

A RENEWABLE energy specialist has helped create a system which means social landlords don’t have to pay legal costs for solar photovoltaic panel schemes thanks to its associations with law firms.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Dec 2011, 10:51 BST

Castleford firm Strategic Energy, which is backed by clean technology investor specialist Hazel Capital, has worked with with Ernst & Young, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and leading law firms to make the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) viable at the 16.8p rate, it said. Previously, social landlords and councils could benefit from a 43.3p rate before changes made to the FIT by the Government.

The system is also a pure equity model, which means there is no debt attached to it. None of the returns would need to be used to pay off debt.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The company says it has created “a comprehensive no cost solar photovoltaic (PV) panels package for social landlords while retaining significant rates of return for private equity investors”.

Martin Davidson, strategic energy director, said: “There is no reason for landlords to stop their PV schemes. We have a comprehensive package and a system that works at 21p and 16.8p rates.

“Housing providers have a window from the December 12 until March 31 where they will still receive the 21p/kWh rate but even when it drops to 16.8p from April 1 there is still a very good financial return for investors using our system. Our legal framework, which is approved by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and various banks, removes a huge barrier to the FIT market. It means we can save landlords significant sums of money and get on-site far quicker than anyone else.”

A full suite of legal documents has been drawn up for the FIT programme so landlords can access them quickly. All are Council of Mortgage Lenders compliant and approved by Santander, Barclays, HBOS and Dexia.

Related topics:CastlefordGovernment