GreenKit Survey Tips Solar Rooftop PV For Best Growth
Roof top solar PV continues to be the leading solar product according to a new survey by renewable distribution company, GreenKit. Results showed that renewable installers believe solar PV will see the biggest growth in the next three years (31%), closely followed by biomass boilers (23%) and heat pumps (22%).
The survey of 100 GreenKit trade customers revealed that a third of those participating expected solar PV to outstrip all other technologies, demonstrating a new confidence in this easy to fit technology and a good balance between cost and return from the Feed-in Tariff.
Both heat pumps and biomass boilers received just under a quarter of the votes showing a growing level of interest in these heat technologies and the importance of the commercial and domestic Renewable Heat Incentive in encouraging their uptake. However, previously popular technologies such as solar thermal and wind inspired little confidence, both receiving just 5% of the votes.
"This is a good result for solar PV and shows an equally high appetite and confidence for heat technologies," explains GreenKit's Commercial Director, Christos Kottis. "However, we were surprised by the lack of enthusiasm for solar thermal, particularly with the arrival of the domestic RHI later this year. The tariff for this technology is attractive both for commercial and domestic installations and, whilst the government expects to see a sharp increase in uptake, clearly, installers are not sharing this optimism."
A modest 12% of participants believed electric cars will see significant growth in the next three years, despite major manufacturers such as BMW, VW and Renault launching mainstream models like the i3, e-Up and Zoe respectively. GreenKit supply a range of EV chargers for installation at domestic and commercial sites. With the range of the latest models increasing to over 100 miles per charge cycle, and cost and charging infrastructure reaching sensible cost levels, electric cars form a niche market with average growth forecasted in the next 12-18 months.