Commercial Blog

Erica Charles

Managing Director of Spirit Energy.

Recent Posts

Spirit Energy Now Accepts SolarCoins: Air Miles for Solar Electricity

Erica Charles · 28 Sep 2018

We hear more and more about Blockchain technology.  The technology creates a transparent public ledger that records series of transactions, facilitating a fast, low-cost, trusted transfer of value without the involvement of traditional intermediaries.  

Already used in the financial sector, it’s only a matter of time before Blockchain hits the energy sector in a major way, particularly with the explosion of micro-generation of electricity, the ending of solar subsidies, and the advent of smart meters.

With Octopus Energy claiming to have paid customers to use excess electricity at night on four occasions in the last 12 months, real time peer-to-peer trading of electricity is surely just around the corner. Other potential applications include authentication of renewable generation and trading of emissions permits.

Read more...

Topics: Spirit Energy news, Financing, Solar PV

Road to Zero: Workplace Charging Grant Increases to £500 per Chargepoint

Erica Charles · 20 Jul 2018

On 9th July, the government launched its “Road to Zero Strategy” to lead the world in zero emission vehicle technology.

Not to be confused with any other ‘Road to Zero’ or ‘Round in Circle’ government strategies, this one is all about ensuring at least 50% of cars are ultra-low emission by 2030, and ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to support this.

If you’re in charge of a ‘workplace’, the good news is that on the back of Road to Zero, the Workplace Charging Scheme will now contribute 75% of purchase and installation costs (up to a maximum of £500) towards the cost of each charging socket installed. 

The grant is available for to 20 chargepoints per applicant, across all sites.

In other words, up to £10,000 per business.

Read more...

Topics: Financing, EV charging

Free CPD Training for Commercial End Users: Solar PV & Battery Storage

Erica Charles · 15 Jun 2018

Are you responsible for a commercial property or a commercial / residential property portfolio? Or are you an architect, specifier, commercial end user, engineer, contractor or consultant seeking to learn more about solar PV or battery storage?

If so you many be interested in our FREE CPD accredited training courses.

Read more...

Topics: Battery storage, CPD training, Solar PV

LED Lighting Calculator: How Much Money Could Your Business Save?

Erica Charles · 18 May 2018

Upgrading to LED lighting typically halves your lighting bill.

If you install lighting controls at the same time (occupancy sensors etc), you can reduce running costs by around 70%, particularly if half your office is empty, but all your lights are on.

Spirit Energy has this week launched an online LED Lighting Calculator to enable you to see very quickly how much energy, and money, you could save, and how long it would take a lighting upgrade to pay for itself.

Read more...

Topics: LED lighting, Calculator

Electric Car Charging Points for Business: EVBox and EO

Erica Charles · 07 Mar 2018

By 2020, a business with 100 employees can expect to have 10 employees with an electric car

Time flies, and guess what, 2020 is only 22 months away... No surprise then that many businesses are making their first foray into the world of electric car chargers to give their customers, staff and fleet the necessary EV charging infrastructure. 

As they do so, they are realising that EV charging not only represents an opportunity to make their business a better place to work for employees and boost their CSR credentials, it also provides a potential new revenue stream, albeit a modest one unless installed at scale (see a brief summary of the business case).

The question is, if you want to install EV chargers at work, what functionality should you look for, and which brand should you choose?

Read more...

Topics: EV charging

Angling for a Flat Roof Solar System?

Erica Charles · 02 Jan 2018

Driving around business parks and industrial estates (as I do...), I am frequently struck by how many flat roofed industrial buildings there are, and how few of them have solar panels on them.

Flat roof solar tends to cost slightly more than sloping roof solar, but it's still worth doing - payback times of 7-9 years are typical, versus an expected life of 20-30 years.

In simple terms the lifetime cost per kWh generated is around 4.5p. With the Feed-in Tariff subsidy that falls to around 3p per kWh! 

You really should want one...

3p per kWh is pretty amazing, particularly when compared to a grid cost of 10-15p per kWh and rising. So if your premises has a flat roof, don't dismiss it. Call us and we'll assess the viability of the installation for you. 

In the mean time, here are a few key things to be aware of, including the optimal panel slope, the optimal orientationfixing type, ballast, and roof warranties.

Read more...

Topics: Solar PV

Emergency Lighting Compliance: Automatic Test Systems

Erica Charles · 14 Dec 2017

Emergency lighting needs to be checked every month. Any repairs or remedial work must be carried out within a reasonable time and all changes must be recorded.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that a significant proportion of organisations do not regularly test and maintain their emergency lighting.

This is partly because standards have changed (BS 5266 was updated in 2016) and the relevant people may be behind the times. But it’s also because testing emergency lighting every month (and annually for a three hour test) is rather laborious and labour intensive, and therefore expensive.

The fines for non-compliance are even more expensive.

Installing the right test mechanism to make compliance easy is fundamental.

Read more...

Topics: LED lighting, Emergency lighting

Attention High Electricity Users: Cut Your Bill with Funded Batteries

Erica Charles · 05 Dec 2017

Is your business is a high electricity user? If so you could benefit from funded battery storage, enabling you to reduce your electricity bill by avoiding peak time electricity surcharges (TRIAD charges and Red Band DUOS charges).

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Topics: Battery storage, Financing

Emergency Lighting - Are You Compliant?

Erica Charles · 23 Nov 2017

If your mains lighting failed what would you do? Evacuate? Stay put? Use the daylight coming through the skylights or the windows to keep working?

Many organisations have emergency lighting, but it's amazing how few employees/occupants know what the drill is if the lights fail.  A fire alarm going off sends a recognisable message to get out. In contrast, without a clearly communicated policy, normal lighting failing and emergency lighting coming on is more likely to spread confusion, particularly in an environment where carrying on 'normally' is possible without the mains electricity working.

Furthermore, we see quite a few buildings in which the emergency lighting and / or signage hasn't been brought up to regulations - primarily the 2016 updated standard BS 5266

Does your business comply with the following? If not you’re at risk of prosecution:

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Topics: LED lighting, Emergency lighting

High Performance Solar Panels: SunPower Generates 30-50% More Power

Erica Charles · 03 Nov 2017

As a rule of thumb, with the decline in Feed-in Tariffs and the advent of battery storage, a grid-connected commercial solar system is best sized with an annual output (kWh) approximately equal to the annual load of the business / property.  

So if your load is 36,000kWh a year, and a kWp outputs 900kWh a year, size the system at 40 kWp.

What if your roof is too small to achieve this with standard panels? Which panel do you turn to?

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Topics: Solar PV