Free Solar Panel FAQs

What is the SunRoof scheme and How does it work?

SunRoof is scheme designed from Engensa designed for homeowners who want a source of free, green electricity but don’t have the money to invest in their own solar panels.

Step 1: You rent us your lovely south facing roof. We install our solar panels and connect to the grid via your fuse box.
Step 2: You and your family get to use the electricity generated for free and sleep at night knowing you are doing your bit to fight climate change.
Step 3: We put a meter in your home to tell us how much electricity the panels have generated. We tell the utility and they pay us the Feed-in Tariff.
Step 4: We then pay back our investors the money used to install the solar panels.

What size of system can I have?

To be eligible for a free solar system, your roof has to be large enough to have a 14 or 18 panelled system on it. To give you an idea that is just over the size of four ping pong tables.

Does my house have to be south facing?

Yes. However there is an option available where you can ‘top up’ your installation if your roof is not directly due South. This is where you pay something towards the installation cost (we mean hundreds not thousands) and then you get almost-free electricity going forward.

What are the Top Up prices?

If your roof faces SE or SSE or SW to SWW, we aren’t able to fund the whole of the installation and so ask you to put in a small part of the upfront cost, which we call a Top Up. This Top Up is a small part of the total cost – for example, you would be asked to pay £805 for a 14 panelled system and £965 for an 18 panelled system.

Do I need planning permission?

You may need permission if you live in a listed building or a conservation area. You’ll need to ask your local council for permission before we come and survey your house.

Why would I commit to free solar panels?

It’s a no-brainer. In return for renting us your roof, you’ll get enough free, green electricity to cut your current electricity bills by ~50%. In return, all you need to do is ‘rent’ us your roof for 25 years. What happens is we sign a roof rental agreement with you in which we are the tenant and you are the landlord and we pay you rent in the form of free electricity.

After the 25 years is up, we will give transfer ownership of the solar system to you for no extra charge. Once the roof rental agreement is signed, we register it with the Land Registry (which records all leases on all buildings) and this means that if you sell the property, the lease transfers seamlessly onto the next owners.

Engensa takes all the financial commitment to monitor, service & maintain and all the homeowner needs to do is to rent us the roof. They have no financial commitment and will not be charged unless they damage, obstruct or remove the system.

Most families are really keen to move into green homes and so we predict an Engensa SunRoof (free solar) system may add value to your home when you come to sell it. And if you should decide, for whatever reason, that you’d like to own the whole system and also get the benefit of the Feed-in Tariffs yourself, you have the option to buy the system off us at a fair market price.

What happens if the solar panels need repairing?

The solar installation company (Engensa) carries out all repairs and maintenance to its panels at no cost to the consumer throughout the 25 year period. Even if the solar panels were to be damaged, Engensa would replace them for free. Engensa will monitor its panels to ensure that they are kept in good condition. (In any case, it is in Engensa’s own interests to maintain the panels as it receives the government’s Feed-In-Tariffs from the energy they generate.) All the homeowner needs to do is to allow a ladder to be put up once in a while and perhaps make Engensa’s engineer a cup of tea!

What happens if I move house?

If you move house, the new homeowner will benefit in exactly the same way and will continue to benefit from the reduced electricity bills, which is an attractive proposition if you are selling your home. The Roof Rental Agreement remains with the Land Registry so transfers seamlessly to the new owner.

If the new homeowner objects to having solar panels on their roof for any reason, they are welcome to purchase the system outright and then contract Engensa or another solar firm to come and remove them.

Why is it best to sign up to free solar this year?

If you want to benefit from a free solar system we suggest you get a move on. With the government looking to reduce the rate of the Feed-in Tariff in the years to come as renewable energy becomes more popular, the costs of providing free solar may increase making it harder for Engensa to offer the benefits to such a wide range of families.

To explain how it works, Engensa pays for its Sunroof (free solar) scheme by borrowing money to finance the installation of the solar system. As with all loans, this money needs to be paid back and so Engensa uses the Feed-in Tariff to pay back the cost of the installation over 25 years.

What happens if the government withdraws its Feed-In-Tariff scheme altogether?

The government has made a firm long-term commitment to keep Feed-In Tariffs, so it is very unlikely that they will be withdrawn completely. However Feed-In Tariff rates may go down as solar energy increases in popularity in the UK. Either way, Engensa takes all the financial risk with its free solar offer and the consumer will never be liable or have to pay a penny.

So all that the consumer needs to do to benefit from the Feed-In Tariff scheme and its current high rates is to install free solar as soon as possible! The good news is that while Engensa’s free solar scheme is available, consumers will not incur any financial risks or costs from the day they sign up for the next 25 years.

How much money do you save from solar power in the winter months?

Even in the winter months solar panels generate power. In the middle of winter they generate about 20% of the amount of energy they generate in the middle of summer. So for our smallest Sunroof (free solar) installation, in the middle of winter you would still save about £10 per month on electricity, with the greater savings being enjoyed from spring through to autumn.

The performance and energy bill savings are distributed over the whole year in a bell curve distribution so the annual figures are the most relevant when considering this savings opportunity.

However, we recommend that you plan ahead by installing your solar panels in winter so that they’re ready to make the most of more sunny days by spring. This is because it takes a few weeks to arrange installing your panels. Before Engensa does an installation we need to get mortgage provider consent, which can take up to 6 weeks. If you add in another month or so for the sales process and a few weeks for the install set up and completion, then we are already at spring, which is when the sun picks up and enters the most productive 6 months of the year (which you don’t want to miss)…

How did we work this out?

Here is an excerpt from the DTI Guide to the installation of PV systems 2nd Edition which shows the seasonal output of solar panels in the UK. The whole guide can be downloaded via this link and the key information is on page 36: http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/pdf/rpts/Guide_to_the_installation_of_PV_systems_2nd_Edition.pdf

To calculate the winter output and savings, we have taken the figure for January from this graph and translated it to the equivalent number of kWhs for our size of installation which is 2.59 times the size of the graphs figures.

Can I switch to owning the system myself so I get the Feed-in Tariffs?

There is an option to buy back the system at a market rate, by giving us six months notice, and once you own the system you will begin to receive all of the Feed-in Tariff payments yourself. Costs start at around £11,500 for a 14 panelled system or £13,750 for an 18 panelled system, reducing towards the end of term.

How much paperwork is involved?

Before we can install your panels we will need you to sign a lease (which is effectively a 25 year roof rental agreement allowing us to put our panels on your roof in return for paying you rent in the form of free electricity), and a letter authorising us to seek approval from your mortgage provider on your behalf. We will also need copies of a recent electricity bill and proof of identity. All the rest we will take care of.

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