Renew On Line (UK) 27

Extracts from the July-Aug 2000 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

2. Solarnet- net metering breakthrough

Eastern Energy, now the retail arm of TXU Europe, has launched a Solarnet scheme, which means that, for the first time in the UK, people with solar PV panels can be paid the same price for surplus electricity they export to the national grid during daylight hours, as they pay for any conventional electricity imported at night.

Developed in conjunction with Greenpeace, this new scheme will break with current corporate practice, and, as Greenpeace put it, ‘ends the electricity "daylight robbery" that left some customers paying three times as much for dirty electricity from fossil fuels as they were paid for the excess clean solar electricity they generated’.

The scheme was launched at the Homerton Adventure Playground in E. London, which had installed London's first major solar electric system in 1996. Since then, the East London playgroup have not been paid a single penny by its previous utility for surplus solar electricity. However, under the new scheme, Eastern Energy will pay the playground 5.51p/kWh for its clean solar excess - the same price as charged for conventional electricity. The playground will also receive £250 to compensate for money lost to the previous supplier.

Homerton Playground Manager, Simon Rix said,"We started generating our own solar electricity at the Playground because we wanted to set a shining example of the energy that the future generations will rely on. Now, thanks to Eastern and Greenpeace, hundreds of children will also benefit from the money our solar panels make us."

TXU Europe’s Chief Executive, Phil Turberville, said that they were "delighted that the children at Homerton will be the first to benefit from our solar fair deal. We hope now that electricity customers across the UK will seize this opportunity to switch to Eastern Energy and install solar panels on their roofs. This latest venture, supported by Greenpeace, underlines our commitment to the environment as a responsible energy company."

Greenpeace Executive Director, Peter Melchett said, "Solar panels give homeowners a chance to produce clean electricity that doesn't damage the climate - for this customers should be rewarded not ripped off."

Greenpeace began negotiations over solar 'net metering' in May 1997 after the organisation mounted 30 solar electric panels on the roofs of three Peabody Trust terraced homes in Silvertown, Docklands. Overnight it doubled the number of solar homes in Britain and became the first application of solar power on social housing in this country. Now the idea can spread - the Solarnet deal will also be on offer to the Silvertown residents and to every one else.

Greenpeace is hopeful that the TXU offer will break one barrier to making solar affordable to all. It notes that the cost of solar panels has dropped fivefold over the last 15 years and should plummet once a mass market for solar is established. Studies by global business analysts, KPMG and the oil company BP Amoco, have shown that if just one large solar factory was built in Europe the price of panels will come crashing down making them cost effective.

Certainly, other countries with similar climates to the UK have ambitious programmes to develop solar electric power. Net metering, or even better net metering with a premium, is already law in many US states and in Germany. However, in the UK, electricity customers small solar electric users were being offered as little as 2p for each unit of power they sold to utilities, while being charging 7 pence a unit for electricity bought in. But now solar homes across the UK can take advantage of Solarnet -by calling 0845 604 8888