Portsmouth City Council has launched Switched On Solar, an innovative service that allows you to see your own home’s ‘solar panel potential’.
The new service provides Portsmouth residents with a bespoke ‘solar panel potential’ report for their home. As well as this, a dedicated team will provide ongoing support along with a list of approved installers who can install solar panel systems on Portsmouth homes.
The service can be used by all Portsmouth residents at no cost to them.
One of the key elements of Switched On Solar is an innovative online tool. Using their home’s postcode, residents can see detailed analysis of their home’s potential to accommodate solar panels. An automatically generated report will provide key information including:
- estimated energy, money and carbon savings associated with a solar panel system
- a diagram of the optimal positioning of solar panels on your home’s roof
- a rating out of five for a home’s solar potential based on a number of things; roof orientation, over-shading, area and monthly electricity consumption
- an estimated cost of panel installation and pay-back period
After using the tool, residents can arrange a call with a member of the Switched On Solar team. A staff member will be able to go through a home’s solar panel analysis in greater detail and provide a copy of the report. The team can also provide residents with a list of local Approved Installers who can quote to install solar panels on their home.
Solar photovoltaics (PV) has been identified as a key technology for hitting the council’s ambitious net zero carbon target by 2030. Switched On Solar will encourage uptake of this method of clean electricity generation in the city. It has been estimated that only around 2% of Portsmouth’s domestic roofs currently host solar panels, so the opportunity to rollout PV further is huge.
Councillor Dave Ashmore, Cabinet Member of Environment and Climate Change commented on the service: “We are very excited about the new Switched On Solar service and believe that it is unique in the UK. Solar will be an important technology as we strive towards net zero carbon, and we want to do everything in our power to allow Portsmouth residents to be able to install it on their own buildings. We have a wealth of knowledge of installing solar across the Council’s own non-domestic building and council housing portfolio; and we think it’s right that we now help private homeowners in the city see the success in bill and carbon savings that we have.”
Companies who install solar panels in the local area have been approved by the Council to sit on the ‘Approved Installer’ list, on the basis of their accreditations. A number of the companies have already indicated that they will seek to employ local people, and give them the skills to work in this vital low-carbon industry.
Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Leader of Portsmouth City Council, said: “We spoke to residents during the consultation of the Energy and Water at Home Strategy last year who told us that they wanted to know more, through an unbiased source, about the energy saving options for their home. They were also keen for the Council to approve local installers, because they had heard horror stories of these industries in the past. Encouraging local highly-skilled jobs in low-carbon industries is essential for the green skills recovery we hope to see following the COVID pandemic.”
Solar is just one of a number of energy and carbon saving technologies promoted by the Switched On Portsmouth service. They have recently announced funding for free solid wall insulation and offer a number of other services that Portsmouth residents can access for free to make energy savings in their homes.
To assess the potential of your roof to accommodate solar, or speak to one of the Switched On team, please visit: Switched On Solar
Switched On Portsmouth is a service run by Portsmouth City Council.
