SEE develops eco-homes with a renewable heat hub
Thursday 18 February 2010
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| Solar PV tiles are set to be integrated into roofs at SSE’s Greenwatt Way development |
A renewable energy ‘heat hub' is to be at the centre of eco-homes being constructed by Scottish and Southern Energy in Chalvey, Slough.
The company hopes to discover what highly energy-efficient living entails ahead of 2016, after which all new homes built in the UK will have to be zero-carbon. Effectively, this means that a house must generate as much renewable power as it uses over the course of a year, a requirement that may well come into force sooner for publicly funded housing.
The 10 properties that make up Greenwatt Way, formerly a Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) office building, will have solar photovoltaic (PV) tiles integrated into their roofs and are planned to centre around a ‘heat hub'.
Set to house five different types of micro-generation including air and ground source heat pumps, a biomass boiler and solar thermal panels, the hub will provide energy to the development. The installation of renewable energy features will be carried out by SSE's subsidiaries, Southern Electric Contracting and SSE Utility Solutions.
SSE then plans to use smart meters to monitor the energy and water usage of the homes for 24 months, as well as examining the every-day performance of the renewable technology installed in the homes, to understand how householders respond to zero carbon living.
Residents will also be asked to give their views on the homes and technology by filling out monthly questionnaires. The findings will contribute to studies being carried out by Reading University, National House-Building Council (NHBC) and Building Research Establishment (BRE).
Construction work has begun on site and the properties should be ready for occupation later this summer. Upon completion the properties will be rented out to SSE employees and their families, and to local key workers and staff through a partnership with Slough borough council.
Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE, said the project would give the utility a "unique insight" into low carbon living and outline the commercial opportunities it offers.
"Our core purpose is to provide the energy people need in a reliable and sustainable way and the move to zero carbon is completely consistent with that. It could provide a real opportunity for a business such as ours, because we have extensive interests in renewable energy, new energy technologies and energy efficiency.
"The zero carbon agenda therefore represents a commercial and an environmental opportunity and I believe that this project will help to confirm the exciting scale of that opportunity."
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