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Why not install the latest Solar Central Heating technology from Europe to slash your energy costs. READ MORE

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Solar Dairy Farms
Our state of the art Dairy solutions can save you water & Energy and even use the SUN to cool your milk for free. READ HERE

Solar Grant Rules relaxed to allow more home owners qualify…..

DUE TO THE RECENT RESTRUCTURING OF THE IRISH SOLAR HOT WATER GRANT SCHEME: DETAILS BELOW.

@@@@@@@ Surface Power – GRANT PRODUCT CODE – SEI-ST-399-T  @@@@@@@@

If you want to consider getting the €850 Irish Government Solar CASH Grant, then here are the details. (inc €50 BER)

First; you need to work out what size your house is: (note: 100 sqm = 1079 sqft)

Floor Area of house                                                                  Solar Contribution required for grant

0-171 sqm            —–>                                                                          10 kWhr/m2

171-200 sqm       —–>                                                                           At least 1,700 kWhrs/year

201-250 sqm       —–>                                                                           At least 1,850 kWhrs/year

250 +                    —–>                                                                           At least 2,000 kWhrs/year

NEXT: determine the allowable output….

This is the “allowable contribution” of the solar hot water system in DEAP, (the Governments Building Energy Rating Program), NOTE: This is not a performance output calculation…simply click on the system below and if the red box has a higher allowance than you need for the grant, then you will get the grant. It’s that simple.

Most popular systems first………(click below to get the allowable contribution towards the grant)

ALL SOLAR Central Heating/Hot Water combination systems get the grant payment. (not listed below)

SP501 PRO – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle - South facing – (all year round performance)

SP501 PRO – Hot Water System - 45 deg roof angle – South facing – (all year round performance)

SP501 PRO – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – East/West – (all year round performance)

SP501 PRO – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – East/West – (all year round performance)

SP501 MIDI – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – South facing – (all year round performance)

SP501 MIDI – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – South facing – (all year round performance)

SP501 MIDI – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle - East/West – (all year round performance)

SP501 MIDI – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – East/West – (all year round performance)

SP501 COMPACT – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle - South – (all year round performance)

All remaining system designs……(in no particular order)

 SP501 COMPACT – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – South

SP501 COMPACT – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – East/West

SP501 COMPACT – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – East/West

SP501 MINI – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – South

SP501 MINI – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – South

SP501 MINI – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – East/West

SP501 MINI – Hot Water System –  45 deg roof angle – East/West

SP501 PREMIUM – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – South – (all year performance)

SP501 PREMIUM – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – South – (all year performance)

SP501 PREMIUM – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – East/West – (all year performance)

SP501 PREMIUM – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – East/West – (all year performance)

SP501 LUXURY – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – South – (all year performance)

SP501 LUXURY – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – South – (all year performance)

SP501 LUXURY – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – East/West – (all year performance)

SP501 LUXURY – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – East/West – (all year performance)

SP501 COMPACT – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 COMPACT – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 MIDI – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 MIDI – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 PRO – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 PRO – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 PREMIUM – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 PREMIUM – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 LUXURY – Hot Water System – 30 deg roof angle – NE/NW

SP501 LUXURY – Hot Water System – 45 deg roof angle – NE/NW

Make your application online at www.seai.ie

Grant payments and approvals are subject to ongoing adjustment and clarification from SEAI. The scheme is not guaranteed as clearly stated by SEAI, is on a first come first served basis, is subject to change and available funds; and everybody should only assume they will get a grant by going through a formal application process. This is the only way someone is guaranteed a grant payment verified by a confirmation of same from SEAI directly that you have been approved. This information is designed to help you determine if you are likely to be approved but is only a guide without guarantee.

In news that will make life easier for many UK solar installers, from April 6 this year planning permission will no-longer be required to install solar PV or solar thermal on non-domestic buildings. The new rules will also mean that ground-mounted systems up to 9m2 will be able to go ahead without a planning application.

The new regulations, which are coming into affect by an amendment to Permitted Development Rights (PDRs), will have a great impact on the requirements for planning for retrofits on commercial and agricultural buildings. Those who were held back, or forced to cancel projects due to the delays planning caused when the feed-in tariff changes were going through, will no longer face such restrictions.

However, as with most things in life, there are certain conditions that must be met.

Roof mounted solar

A roof-mounted solar system must not protrude more than 200mm from the roof/wall surface it is mounted on. There is an exception to this is if the system is on a flat roof, where the solar PV must be less than 1m in height above the highest part of the flat roof excluding any chimneys.

The roof-mounted solar installation must also be more than 1m away from the external edge of the roof or the joint of the wall that it is on and if the system is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty, or land with similar restrictions (article 1(5) then the solar cannot be on a roof slope or wall fronting the highway.

Furthermore, planning permission is required if the solar is on a listed building, on a building within the curtilage of a listed building or upon a site designated as a scheduled ancient monument.

Further conditions

• The solar equipment must, so far as practicable, be sited so as to minimise its effect on the external appearance of the building;
• The solar equipment must, so far as practicable, be sited so as to minimise its effect on the amenity of the area; and
• Solar equipment no longer needed for micro generation must be removed as soon as reasonably practicable

Ground Mounted

In terms of ground-mounted solar, the new planning conditions also mean that installations of up to 9m2 will not require permissions. However, the solar must not be taller than 4m, only one to ground mounted system can be present of any one building, solar must not exceed 4m in height and the solar must not be installed so that it is nearer to any highway than any part of the building which is nearest to the same highway.

Further, the solar must not be installed within 5m of the boundary of the curtilage and planning permission will still be required if the solar is within the curtilage of a listed building or on a site designated as a scheduled ancient monument.

Further conditions

• The ground mounted solar must, so far as practicable, be sited so as to minimise its effect on the amenity of the area; and
• Ground mounted solar which is no longer needed for micro generation must be removed as soon as reasonably practicable.

Commenting on this news, Alexander Creed, Partner, Resources and Energy at Strutt & Parker, said: “We welcome these changes; they will make the installation of solar on commercial and agricultural much more straightforward and we always considered it perverse that you could install on domestic properties without planning but not commercial or agricultural ones.

“We think that this change opens a window of opportunity for those that have been considering installing solar but haven’t progressed a project – possibly put off by the rollercoaster of feed-in tariffs. We think it opens a window as you will be able to install on a roof after the April 6 and this gives a good window until the June 30 before the next FiT reduction.

“As systems connected before the July 1 will benefit from a 25 year solar PV FiT and a linkage to the RPI rather than the CPI, this will give better returns to the project. With the current pricing for a 50kW system any project completed before July 1 should achieve an internal rate of return of over 10 percent.”

You can read the full legislation here.

Flat Plate solar hot water collector use is collapsing globally in favour of Vacuum type collectors. 

All you have to do is look at the latest statistics produced by the IEA and ESTIF in Brussels.

The stats from 2009 (stats are always approx 2 years behind) show a collapse in the use of Flat Plate collectors in NEW Solar Hot Water installations. In 2009, newly installed solar hot water systems were 78.3% using evacuated tube type technologies and only 17.3% were flat plate technologies.

Customers, Installers, Distributors and Projects are all moving away from Flat Plate collectors in their droves.

Source:ESTIF and IEA

CARLTON HOTEL GALWAY CITY, CARLTON SHEARWATER HOTEL & C SPA BALLINASLOE, CARLTON ATLANTIC COAST HOTEL & C SPA WESTPORT, CARLTON CASTLETROY PARK HOTEL LIMERICK

 Galway – Ballinasloe – Westport – Limerick. Carlton Hotels and Carlton C Spa Hotels.

*Limited Availability*

Reward Yourself Special Offer

How does two nights for two in any one of the ten Carlton Hotels or Spa Hotels sound? Can you feel invigorated and refreshed just thinking about it? Can you taste the fine dining experience?

Offer includes

Two nights B&B for two, evening meal for two on one night, €50 hotel voucher valid in all of the Carlton Hotels for you to do what you please. Redeem it against spa treatments, food, or give it to some-one for Christmas, it’s up to you.

A bundle of 2 night breaks for two has been purchased to reward shoppers for their intelligent & energy savvy decision to purchase a Surface Power SP501 system.*

The deal is available on a first come first served basis. Not available with any other offer or promotion. Not redeemable for cash. Subject to one offer per system installed and is available on Sp501 Solar Compact system and larger configurations. Bookings are subject to hotel accommodation availability.

 To avail of this offer please e-mail surface power with your name, phone # & location.

Hurry, limited offer. For a FREE SURVEY, just fill your details below. 

http://www.surfacepower.com/contact.html

terms and conditions apply.

Summary of the new study on Solar thermal performance for UK RHI (Renewable Heat Incentive, like a Solar Feed In Tarrif BUT for solar hot water)

Licence: This report is copyright and licensed by ACME Energy. This summary is taken from the main report and is licensed and approved for free distribution. The full report is available. 

The study set out to compare 3 types of solar hot water system technology on the UK market in advance of the RHI(Renewable Heat Incentive) 

1/ Solar Vacuum TDLF & MPPTt (Thermo Dynamic Laminar Flow with Maximum Power Point Tracking- thermal). This is called next generation solar hot water technology and is System 1 in the report.

2/ Standard Solar Vacuum (This is the standard solar vacuum systems we see in the market) and is System 2 in the report.

3/ Standard Solar Flat plate (This is the standard solar flat plate systems we see in the market) and is System 3 in the report. 

THE RESULTS: ( only the highest 2 result outcomes have been included )

 SAMPLE OF THE FINDINGS (quotes from the report)

• System 1 outperformed System 2 by a significant amount. This cannot be explained away by tolerances or variations. There is a clear performance advantage of multiple increments in delivered performance output from System 1
• In the study, this energy advantage amounted to an additional generation capacity of 3.12 times the kWhrs from System 1 versus System 2.
• Also worth noting; if you add up the 6 winter months of System 1 ONLY, then System 1’s TOTAL winter energy yield of 998 kWhrs/m2/yr was greater than the TOTAL annual energy yield of System 2 at 938 kWhrs/m2/yr.

 Data from the report published under licence and with permission.

FULL REPORT IS AVAILABLE FROM http://www.surfacepower.com/blog/?p=3132

 We are delighted to confirm that System 1 is a Surface Power solar system customer.

The single largest solar hot water distribution supply system has been launched this week to service the European Union.

Ireland is the first country to go live and several other EU members will go live over the next number of weeks.

Winter is always the busiest time for Surface Power who hostorically sell more systems in Winter than in Summer. This is primarally due to the fact that the systems perform all year round.

Product packages, Pricing and full details now all online. CLICK HERE

Link to report at bottom of page. 

A new 15 month study of the performance output of Solar Hot Water commissioned by ACME Energy Investments in London has just been completed to help create finance and banking investment models for the UK’s RHI (renewable heat incentive).

“There can be no second guessing performance outputs on Solar Thermal RHI, how can we invest in an industry that has never shown “real-time” performance data, what is our ROI, the system which spins the heat meter the fastest and longest gets the highest tariff, what equipment manufacturer do I invest in to make the highest return, does anyone know ?”. ASSET MANAGER.

 (System 1 in the report) produced 3.12 times more “delivered” energy in the year than another top European solar  vacuum system. It’s clear there will be big winners and losers in the manufacturing of solar thermal as investors race after the real “performance proven manufacturers”

This report has compared two different top of the range solar hot water systems of which System 1 in the report is a Surface Power SP501 PRO in a real customer. The results in the report are groundbreaking. The detailed study was done on 2 installed systems to determine how much “real energy” (kWhrs) they would produce, (to test manufacturers claims).

If you are a householder, installer, developer, engineer, architect or anyone involved in solar thermal heating & cooling, then you need to get this report by going to the webpage listed below. This report will be of value to anyone with an interest in the solar hot water, solar central heating and solar cooling arena including householders.

Some of the findings in the report are as follows:

1. System 1 clearly outperformed System 2 by an amazing 3.12 times more output per year.
2. If you add up the energy produced ONLY during the 6 months of the winter on System1, it is more than the whole years energy produced on System 2.
3. The profile of the Delta T on system 1 clearly produces more power hence the logical reason for more energy.
4. This changes all the legacy understandings of solar hot water from here forward. The rules have changed.

What people are saying about the report.

“Excellent work, I can now create an investment model for RHI solar with at least 1 manufacturer”, Asset Manager.

“fantastic, I learnt so much about solar hot water, well written in simple easy to understand language, everyone should read this who is thinking of buying solar hot water”, HOUSEOWNER.

“very interesting document, confirms a lot of what I had suspected about performance claims but never really knew enough to challenge it myself , ” INSTALLER/CONTRACTOR.

“Thats the first time I have seen such detail explained in such simple language, now I feel I know what I am talking about when it comes to solar hot water” ARCHITECT.

“Loads of information on immersion usage, monthly statistics, graphs, explanations, a complete encylopedia on solar hot water even I can understand” HOMEOWNER

“Payback, Payback, Payback, brilliant, just what I needed to buy solar hot water, best £95 I ever spent” HOMEOWNER 

GET THE REPORT HERE.

First Published 1st September, 2011.

A top secret solar project in Ireland breaks cover

The famous Jacksons Hotel in Donegal is known far and wide for its conferences, weddings and fantastic leisure centre on the banks of the River Finn in historic ballybofey. The famous Donegal International rally even HQ’s here when it’s in town.

What is little known until now is that it’s fantastic full size leisure centre swimming pool is the largest solar thermal heating project in the country at over 380,000 Litres of pool water heated daily by a state of the art solar system, with all the energy being provided by daylight only.

The project incorporates one of Surface Powers (www.surfacepower.com) high tech solar thermal systems with its patented MPPTt performance management systems which yield much more energy than legacy old style solar hot water. The main contractor on the job was Heatcraft Renewables (www.heatcraft.ie) from Co. Offaly.

Commenting on the project for Heatcraft, Managing Director Michael Keane said “this commercial project is one of the most high tech solar thermal installations in the world with Surface Power’s remote MPPTt (editors note: MPPTt is a complex performance technology developed, patented and owned by Surface Power) servers in the USA managing the systems efficiency 400 times a second. The system was installed in Nov 2010 and we were not allowed discuss the project publically until today. The performance has been staggering so far with the solar system completely removing the requirement for any other heat source even on cloudy days for weeks at a time”

“Even now, the first day of September, with heavy cloudy weather, it is pulling a Delta T of +10C and this is even perplexing the most seasoned solar thermal experts”, he added.

Niall Maher, Senior Account Manager with Heatcraft: “Even though this project is state of the art, the use of the newest solar thermal technology from Surface Power meant that the total cost of the project was only half the price of our competitors quotations using old style solar flat plates and vacuum heat pipes, and we can even produce lots more power. The online system has only been made public from the 1st of September so anyone can now look at the system and its performance LIVE online 24/7. Our association with the best technology is having a great impact on our business as everybody wants the best and it even costs significantly less than the major solar brands when compared, that’s probably why we are working 7 days a week at the moment: he added.”

It is clear to all that oil, electricity and gas bills are only going in one direction, with significant increases about to kick in of up to 25%. With some manufacturers like Surface Power having made major technology advances in recent years, including shortening the payback to less than 5 or 6 years on commercial projects, it is only natural we are going to see an explosion of hotels, factory’s, nursing home’s, hospitals and swimming pools installing these types of systems as more professional experienced contractors become available. After all, the energy (daylight) costs nothing !

The UK shortly launches the RHI, a payment tariff for the production of solar hot water, (yes, you will get a FREE cheque in the post for 20 years), the first type of this scheme in europe and other countries expected to follow suit shortly to meet their EU 2020 targets.

So, if you need a weekend of TLC knowing that you could have a swim in a nice warm pool heated with natural daylight, you could do worse that make your way to Jacksons Hotel in Ballybofey. They can be contacted on 074-9131021 or www.booking.com

The online system can be viewed LIVE at www.surfacepower.com/jacksonshotel_data.html (if your interent explorer is old, you could download safari to view)

Renewable Energy World.com

New reports are showing that the old style solar flat plate collector is on the decline since 2009 AND that solar central heating installations are becoming more important than just solar hot water.

The flat plate collector can trace its origins to 1891 (No, not 1981 but 1891) when it was originally developed and today’s current flat plate collectors are attributed to the 1950′s developed by Hottel and Whillier. Very little innovation has occurred with flat plate collectors since. They are simply a box with a glass lid and some pipes inside. There are still many flat plate collectors made from wood for sale today, (believe it or not)

1891 — Baltimore inventor Clarence Kemp (“the father of solar energy in the U.S.”) patents first commercial Climax Solar Water Heater. By 1910, the Climax had competition, especially from the Night and Day solar hot water company, which used a secondary loop from the collector to a water tank. By 1920, over 5,000 Night and Day heaters had been sold in California At the same time, a boom in solar hot water heaters started in Florida, where electricity was a very expensive competitor. About 15,000 units were sold by 1937. (Butt & Perlin)

The latest report from the IEA (International Energy Agency), highlight that 2009 figures show another ground breaking increase in solar thermal by 36.5 GWth, an increase of approx 25% in global solar hot water collectors, BUT the good news is for innovative newer solar thermal vacuum panels from company’s who have been investing heavily in R&D. These technologies are all using vacuum based designs and these technologies accounted for most of the world growth at a staggering 35%.

Flat Plate collector growth was stagnant at a little over 2% in 2009 and although the IEA figures do not include 2010, all the evidence suggests that this pattern continued in 2010 as well.   

 This means that many of the flat plate manufacturers in Europe faced a challenging economic year in 2009, and again in 2010, while innovative vacuum based collector manufacturers growth is booming.

Another clear sign in the market is coming from Austria and Germany with Solar Central Heating becoming the norm. These specialised applications need the highest performance and newest innovative solar panel technologies. This may well be an indication of why there is a dramatic shift. It is well known that flat plates work fine if you live in a  climate with good blue sky sunshine. The shift to all year solar thermal systems could lead to the complete demis of the outdated flat plate collector. (although a 120 year history for the solar flat plate has been a significant lifespan)

According to the Solar Heat Worldwide report; Austria who has always led the original solar thermal market had 45% of its solar installations in 2009 installed as solar central heating & hot water versus 45% hot water only. Germany had 35% of its new installations in 2009 installed as solar central heating & hot water systems. This represents HUGE growth in these more complex and challenging systems and may account for the dominance of more powerful solar vacuum panel technologies.

Top 10 world markets for solar hot water panels – 2009.

One major installer group which specialises in Solar central heating & hot water systems commented:

“we saw the writing on the wall in 2009 when we stopped installing flat plates. They simply were no competition for solar vacuum collectors. Since then, we will now only work with a hand full of vacuum manufacturers as even some vacuum collectors, mainly heat pipe ones are completely unpredictable for performance and the construction materials are questionable. There are some newer solar vacuum panels from company’s who have invested heavily in R&D programs and they are leading the way in performance. 50% of our work is now combination solar central heating & hot water systems so we can no longer guess about performance, we need proof because our customers are much better informed and they demand it”.

ESTIF President, Robin Welling said: The solar industry has experienced the full impact of the financial crisis. we expected to get some benefit of the combined implementation of the binding renewable targets and higher energy performance standards – but this process is only beginning.

In Summary, There is a clear message coming from the data just released, with a history of over 100 years, the solar flat plate collector is in decline and has struggled to successfully move into markets where weather is poorer versus the initial sunny summer markets like Austria and Germany.  These all year round solar central heating applications “even in Germany” need real performance, not smoke and mirrors, and ironically, as these sunny markets move to solar central heating and hot water systems, they are now turning their back on the old type solar flat plate collector in favour of newer R&D backed solar vacuum collectors to deliver this “all year requirement” expected from future installations. 

If you still drove a car designed in the 1950′s, this is what you would be driving.

If you still drove a car designed in 1891, this is what you would be driving a Peugeot Type 3 Quadricycle.