DIY power great news for green specialist

Jul 31 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

AN energy company hopes to double turnover year on year, thanks to Government proposals that would pay homeowners to create their own electricity and put the excess into the national grid.

County Durham company Access Renewables believes it is on track to double its £500,000 turnover this year and each coming year, to £3m by 2011, as it focuses on the green energy installation and new build markets.

The firm, set up at the start of this year, has had funding from North East England Investment Centre which it said was helping it take its staff from three to 13 by the end of the year.

It is confident it can continue to expand the business, despite the impact of the recession on the construction sector, as a result of Government proposals which would urge homeowners to shift to sustainable energy sources.

From April 2010, the Government is seeking to introduce “feed-in” tariffs, which would allow homes that have solar panels or wind turbines to sell back any excess energy at a price three times that of a standard unit of electricity bought from a power supplier. The proposed tariff could pay homeowners an average £1,000 a year, which would include a payment for producing the energy and a separate payment to export it to the grid.