Renewable Energy Generating Increased Interest from Businesses

An article on edie.net this week showed the increasing interest in onsite generated renewable energy from the business world compared with similar statistics from 2011.

According to a survey by Opus Energy, almost half (48%) of businesses that were asked expected to install a form of renewable energy in their property in the next two years.

This is a huge jump from 2011 when 26% of businesses were looking to install renewables in a five year time-frame.

Why businesses are going renewable?

The top three reasons for companies to switch to renewable generation are revealed to be:

A self-sufficient supply of energy;

Associated profits from schemes such as the Feed-in Tariff or Renewables Obligation;

To be seen to do their bit to fight climate change.

The main barrier to adoption was cited as income. To really adopt this technology quickly, many businesses need help with the set up costs of installation as well as proof that the systems would make money.

How installers are helping

What the article failed to mention was how solutions from installers are helping combat these barriers. Here at Southern Solar we’ve already declared 2013 the year of commercial solar owing to the significant benefits to high energy using businesses and the availability of options to help fund the initial installation of PV panels which will allow more organisations than ever to take advantage of the energy savings on offer, becoming more energy secure and self-reliant in the process.

We also have tools to show you whether your installation will make money and can talk you through how we work this out so that you can do your own calculations.

Take heart

The facts that are most heartening are the ones about businesses already generating. Opus’s survey found that 15% of those asked were already generating their own power (compared to just 6% in 2011). Leading the way are SME owners over the age of 55.

So there you have it: join the business energy revolution – the benefits are clear and the barriers are surmountable.