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PV homes savings of £12,000 in the first year!

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Posted on April 19, 2011 by ecoadmin 

Solar Tech

Mendip Place a £1.6 million development in Chelmsford, which comprises six houses and four flats, has received its certification to Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

The project is not only one of the first new build multi-occupancy affordable housing schemes nationally to achieve this accolade, but the largest Code 6 development to be completed to date – six years ahead of the government’s target that all new housing will be built to zero carbon standards by 2016.

Born out of a collaboration between Essex based housing association Chelmer Housing Partnership (CHP), affordable housing provider Flagship, architects Ingleton Wood, contractors McCann Homes, project managers Oxbury & Company, Kingspan Potton and renewable energy provider SolarTech, this unique project showcases some of the latest energy saving design features and technologies available.

CHP commissioned the Green Space project in Mendip Place as part of its land bank programme. As the development was hidden from the road, there were no planning constraints, allowing architects and environmental designers Ingleton Wood to use contemporary designs, new methods of construction and innovative technology, making it an ideal site for a Code Level 6 scheme.

The bespoke system was designed so that each property had its own dedicated photovoltaic system, (generating 4kWp/house and 2.5kWp/flat), using a number of leading PV brands in order to make maximum use of almost all of the available south facing roof areas.

This leading edge solution has ensured that the energy output and consumption from each PV array can be measured, via a site-wide monitoring system, so that the data can potentially be used to obtain payments under the government’s ‘Feed-in-Tarrif’.

Under this scheme, it is estimated that Mendip Place could make savings of approximately £12,000 in the first year, with a 25 year ‘whole life’ benefit of £390,000, making it potentially one of the most cost efficient systems of its kind.

Two communal biomass boilers, located in a central plant room, are able to meet the development’s entire heating and hot water requirements via an underground pre-insulated pipework distribution system, which leads to each of the homes, with heat exchange boxes fitted with smart meters, so that tenants are only billed for the energy they actually use.

More information: www.solartech.org.uk

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One Response to “PV homes savings of £12,000 in the first year!”

  1. ecoadmin says:

    April 19th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
     

    This is yet another example of the solar savings proof being in the efficiency pudding!

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