By harnessing the power of the sun, businesses can achieve significant financial savings, increased energy security and reduce their environmental impact. In this article we’ll cover some of the key opportunities that lie within investing in solar PV for your business.
Energy Security
One of the key benefits of solar PV systems for businesses is the enhanced energy security the system provides. Grid purchased electricity is subject to price volatility, something that has impacted many businesses and homeowners alike in recent years and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future.
By generating electricity on-site with a solar PV system, businesses reduce their dependence on grid purchased electricity and mitigate the risk associated with such energy price volatility. Though solar PV is in intermittent source of energy and will never meet 100% of your energy demands,, a suitably sized solar PV system could reduce your reliance on grid purchased electricity by around 30%. That’s around a third of your electricity that you are no longer at external risk in terms of supply or price.
The Levelised Cost of Electricity
Improved energy security with regards to price, is because of solar PV having the lowest levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) generation of any other source of energy. The LCOE is a measure of the price per kWh over the lifetime of the system. Solar PV systems have a design life in excess of 25-years, to put that into context over the systems lifetime a commercial solar PV system can have a LCOE of as little as 5p/kWh. Compare this to grid purchased electricity prices which is likely around 25p/kWh, and subject to change, that 5p/kWh figure is fixed (once you have the system installed the generation is free). It is this difference and stability, that not only provides increased energy security, but significant financial savings as well.
Financial Savings
By generating their own electricity at a significantly lower cost per unit, businesses can drastically lower their utility bills. As mentioned, above solar PV systems have a design life in excess of 25-years, with such a lower cost per unit of electricity, a well-designed solar PV system will have a rapid return on investment (ROI). This ROI period can be as little as 3 or 4 years, meaning the initial investment is often covered several times over. As well as the long-term financial benefits, once installed a solar PV system will deliver immediate monthly savings. With numerous ways of financing a system it is often possible to have an immediate positive impact on a businesses cash-flow.
Funding Options
A whole sperate article could be dedicated to the various funding options for solar PV systems. Below is a very short introduction to some of the main options:
- Self-funding: This does carry the highest capital cost to a business, but the business then also enjoys all of the benefits themselves and can deliver the most savings in the long run.
- Asset Finance: This option allows a business to spread the cost of the system over time, while often the electricity cost savings can be greater than the repayments, resulting in a positive cash flow after installation.
- Power Purchase Agreement (PPA): A PPA is where a developer owns and manages the system and sells a business electricity at a significantly reduced rate Vs grid electricity. The energy will likely be much cheaper than grid electricity, but higher than if you funded the system yourself.
- Public funding: Due to UK and Scotland’s net zero commitments, there are various streams of funding to support businesses investing in low carbon technology. Some of this can be industry specific, and some funding opportunities only last for short periods of time. If you are interested in what funding is available to your business then it is worth contacting Gensource to find out more Environmental Impact and Sustainability.
Environmental Benefits
This article is primarily focussed on the financial and energy savings, but one of the overwhelmingly positive benefits of solar PV, not just for the business that installs it, the business’s customers, and stakeholders, but for society as a whole is the environmental benefit.
Switching to solar energy helps businesses significantly reduce their carbon footprint, by reducing their dependence on carbon intensive energy sources. Solar PV systems harness the power of the sun to generate electricity while producing no emissions during operation.
Alongside solar PV system installation, we at Gensource install robust energy monitoring where possible as standard. This ability for a business to accurately monitor, not just the generation of the solar PV system, but their whole sites electricity usage promotes business to use less electricity overall, further reducing their overall environmental impact.
Having strong visibility over a business’s electricity production and consumption allows them to demonstrate their improved corporate social responsibility. This makes it simpler to measure their performance against specific sustainability goals as well as evidence this to customers, and regulatory bodies.
Conclusion
Incorporating solar PV into a business’s operations has a number of benefits from, improved energy security, to reduced energy costs as well as improved environmental sustainability. The variety of benefits of solar PV for businesses from, economic, environmental, and social, really does make it a sustainable choice. As we covered in another recent article, with less red tape now involved in developing commercial solar in Scotland, now is an excellent time for businesses to consider solar PV.
Gensource’s Data Driven Approach to Solar PV Systems
At Gensource we take a data driven approach to designing solar PV systems by working with you to obtain as much information as we can about your existing energy usage, as well as your future anticipated energy usage. Through this approach we can ensure that your solar PV system is tailored to suit your specific needs and motivations, be that maximum savings, maximum energy security, or even specific carbon reduction targets.
If you would like to consider solar PV for your business, we would be happy to provide a site-specific analysis of the potential and present the findings, simply contact us to learn more.
