Renewable Energy News

All electricity companies in the UK have an obligation to generate a proportion of their supplied electricity from renewable sources. They achieve there targets partly by buying Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) from the private microgenerators. A member of the public can become a muicrogenerator by having a wind turbine or PV system installed.

Recent changes have seem the amount of ROC's awarded to microgenerators double so now a householder will be awarded 2 ROC's rather than 1 for every 1000kWh they produce.

Labels: News, Solar-PhotoVoltaic-Electricity-Panels, Wind-Turbines

Intelligent Energy Solutions has joined the 'We support Solar' campaign. This campaign is designed to unite support for an attractive feed in tariff for solar PV installations. As things currently stand feed in tariffs are improving and energy companies such as Good Energy offer 16p for every kWh generated by the PV system. However, some energy companies still offer extremely low feed in tariffs. There is lots of room for improvement!

The government has put the feed in tariff on the agenda in 2010. The campaign wants to ensure that this opportunity is not missed and that the government responds to public demand. This will involve setting the feed in tariff at a level which will encourage large numbers of the general public to invest in this Co2 busting technology.

For more information visit www.wesupportsolar.net.

Labels: News, Solar-PhotoVoltaic-Electricity-Panels

Leicester City Council in conjunction with Groundwork has launched a new grant scheme targeted at solar installations.

The grant allows a household to claim £2250 against a solar thermal (water heating) or a solar PV isntallation. The householder would also be eligable for an additional grant from the Low Carbon Buildings Program. This means that a house holder could claim £4750 against a solar PV installation or £2650 against a solar thermal installation. Depending on the size of the system would be more than half the installation cost.

Intelligent Energy Solutions is an approved installer on the scheme, please contact us for further details.
Click here for the Leicester Solar Grant Scheme details.

Labels: News, Solar-PhotoVoltaic-Electricity-Panels, Solar-Water-Heating-Panels

Intelligent Energy Solutions have received MCS accreditation for the installation of Solar PhotoVoltaic Panels, Ground and Air Source Heat Pumps and Solar Thermal Water Heating systems.
The approval means that customers now have access to a whole range of government and local council grants. It also gives customers piece of mind that installations will be to the highest quality using approved methods and materials.

The approval process was long and involved with the Buildings Research Establishment inspecting previous installations and making sure that the whole process from customer enquiry to commissioning of the system meets the required standards.

Labels: News

For anyone who is keen on renewable energy, but at a loss where to start, Intelligent Energy Solutions has the answer. It has launched a series of easy to complete self survey forms for all of the technologies they offer.

The purpose of the self survey forms is to enable the customer to understand the important factors when asking for a quotation for a renewable energy installation. The information provided can be used to generate a detailed quotation from IES without the need for a site visit. This means that IES can keep the installation costs down, and the customer has a better understanding of what's involved. If a price is quoted that later (due to a site visit) cannot be honoured, the customer will have the option of having their deposit refunded.

The forms are in PDF format with interactive form features. As such, the form can be filled out and returned on line or the customer can print and complete the form manually.

The forms are accessed by the Intelligent Energy Solutions VIP area. Fill out the enquiry form or pick up the phone to obtain login details. This area of the site also contains pricing and lots of other useful information.

Labels: Renewable-Energy

Many of our customers tell us that they are interested in renewable energy, but unsure which technology is right for them. As a result of this, are team at Intelligent Energy Solutions has launched a brand new web based renewable energy decision tool. This will allow all of our potential customers to quickly and easily determine which technology is right for them.

The tool can be found at the following link.
Solar, Wind, Heat Pump, Rainwater Harvesting - Which is right for me?

This intelligent, but user friendly tool, consists of 14 simple questions that most homeowners will be able to answer easily. The software engine behind that tool will then produce a tailored report that tells you which techology/s are most appropriate for your property. The generated reports can be applied to both commerical and domestic properties. The report, if appropriate, also makes comments about your existing fuel and insulation levels.

We think we have made the task of navigating through the complex world of renenewable energy simple and straightforward. We hope you agree.

The tool is currently undergoing testing. If you find any problems or have any suggestions please feed your comments back so we can make the tool even better.

Labels: Renewable-Energy

To be able to install a solar thermal water heating panel system you need a store of water in your property. I am often asked...

Can I keep my existing Hot Water Storage Cylinder/Tank?

Many companies offer customers the option of keeping their existing hot water storage tank. This reduces the cost of installation significantly. However, is this the right thing to do?

To determine whether this is a good idea we should look at why the cylinder is normally replaced. For this article I will use the word tank and cylinder interchangeably.

Normal hot water tanks only have a single heating coil that comes from a boiler. This heating coil enables the boiler to heat up the tank. A new tank is normally required so that the tank has a second heating coil. This coil can be connected to the solar panels.

Hot water rises so in a normal tank the hot water is at the top and the cold (inlet) is at the bottom. This means that it is best to position the second heating coil at the bottom of the cylinder. This enable the solar panels to heat up the coolest part of the tank. It is not uncommon for the top of the tank to be very hot but the bottom to be at the mains water inlet temperature of about 10 degrees. If configured in this way, on a cloudy day, when the panels are only at about 25 degrees they can still make a significant impact on your heating bills. This is because the 25 degree water can be used to heat the 10 degree bottom of the tank to 25 degrees. The final heating can then be done by your boiler.

Systems that utilise the existing tank normally operate in one of two ways. Take a look at the diagrams below.

Immersion Heater Solar Coil

This device screws into the hole in your cylinder usually dedicated to an immersion heater. This consists of a small pipe that is coiled. Apart from being a poor design for a heating coil (due to the restriction of the immersion hole), Sadly most immersion fittings are at the top of a water tank (usually designed to boost the top of the cylinder). So if the top of the tank is at 50 degrees the solar panels will need to be significantly higher than this before the system will operate.

This heavily compromised configuration mean that the output from the panels is enormously reduced. This reduction in performance would certainly outweigh the cost of replacing the water cylinder for the twin coil variety.

Direct Solar Water Heating

The other method of retaining the original cylinder is to pump the actual water you use through the solar panel. This type of system pumps water from the bottom of the cylinder through the solar panel and then back into the top of the cylinder. This method completely upsets the natural way in which the hot water rises to the top of the cylinder. This type of system would not operate if the top of the tank is hotter than the panel. Unless the tank is cold or the the sun is shining brightly the system will remain switched off.

These types of system give the user the sense of having a solar heating system without many of the benefits. This is no good for either the environment or your bank balance.

As a result Intelligent Energy Solutions only fit twin coil systems for this type of application. We always make sure that what we are fitting will give you highest performance and the best return.

Labels: Solar-Water-Heating-Panels

At Intelligent Energy Solutions we aim to help our customers save money. Our new offer will help them do just that.

With every new solar panel order in the Leicestershire area, customers will recieve a free energy monitor. The energy monitor has the capability of reducing household electricity costs by about 25%.

Solar Water Heating Panels typically reduce gas or oil bills. But we want all of our energy bills to be as low as they can be. This device gives our customers the opportunity to reduce their electricity bills as well.

If the promotion is successful Intelligent Energy Solutions intend on rolling out the offer nation wide.

For more information call 01509 891256 or fill out the enquiry form.

Labels: Solar-Water-Heating-Panels

Intelligent Energy Solutions have launched their brand new 'Intelligent Control Package'.

The control is designed specifically for the Mitsubishi Ecodan Heat Pump and separates Intelligent Energy Solutions from their competitors who may simply install an Ecodan system with a conventional boiler control system.

The new control system introduces cost saving and comfort improving features such as:-
- Heating Optimisation - the control system decides when the system should switch on so that the property is to temperature for the target time.
- Three home temperature settings, On target temperature, Off minimum temperature and frost protection (holiday mode).

The heating optimisation feature enables money to be saved in the milder months because the system will automatically switch on later at times when the property will heat up faster.
The Off minimum temperature setting enables the heat pump to control the temperature at night as well as during the day. This means that the system will not allow the home to drop below a certain temperature, perhaps 15 degrees. This means that the system will be able to heat up the home rapidly when morning comes.

This control system integrates seamlessly with the Ecodan flow temperature controller which has cost saving features such as Ecoheating mode. This mode uses weather compensation programs to determine the radiator/underfloor heating flow temperatures. This means that in milder weather the system will run the heating system at a lower temperature. Lower temperatures will dramatically improve the system efficiency and will help the 'Intelligent Control Package' to control the room temperatures more accurately.

The control system is simple to operate and requires minimal (if any) intervention from the owner.

The Intelligent Controls for the Ecodan are packaged with a high performance unvented copper water cylinder that will out perform stainless steel cylinders. Copper conducts heat better than stainless steel. This means that water can be heated more quickly and efficiently with the copper cylinder used by Intelligent Energy Solutions.

For more information or a discussion about how our systems can benefit you please call 01509 891256 or email sales@iesolutions.co.uk.

Labels: Heat-Pumps

Lake Loop!

Ground source heat pumps operate by upgrading low grade heat to higher temperatures suitable for heating homes and hot water.

This normally means installing a number of pipework loops in the ground next to a property. This was not the case for the latest project for Intelligent Energy Solutions in Leicestershire.
This customer has a large man made lake at the back of their house.

"This is ideal to use as a heat source as water conducts heat so well." said Intelligent Energy Solutions Managing Director, Peter Searancke. "The lake will be relitively warm all year round".

This means that large amounts of heat can be extracted from the lake to heat an over 700m2 property and in door swimming pool. With expected efficiencies in excess of 450% the running costs will be extremely low for such a large property.



The photo shows the finished result. As you can see there is no sign of the 3000m of pipe that will provide over 50kW of heat for the property.

Intelligent Energy Solutions install ground source and air source heat pumps for domestic and commerical properties.
Please contact them for further details.

Labels: Heat-Pumps