Marks & Spencer has become the most recent big-name firm to launch a range of Solar PV and Solar Thermal water heating panels.
The high-street giant has become one of the first retailers to offer solar energy packages as the clothing and food seller looks to take advantage of the Feed-in Tariffs.
Marks & Spencer initially entered the market in 2008 when it linked up with Scottish Southern Energy (SSE) to launch M&S Energy.
Richard Gillies, Director of Plan A & Sustainable Business at M&S, said: “This is the latest example of M&S offering our customers efficient solutions to their home energy needs.
“We’re committed to meeting the challenges of climate change both within our own operations and through encouraging customers to reduce their own carbon footprints.
“Installing a solar solution will help customers save money over the long term by reducing their energy bills and will lead to significant cuts in customers’ carbon emissions.”
Two solar packages are on offer from M&S. Both will include a free assessment to find the best solar solution for the property in question and the installation of roof-mounted solar panels carried out by Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) accredited technicians.
Stephen Langford, Head of M&S Energy, says: “Utilising solar energy at home saves you money on your heating and electricity bills and helps tackle climate change.
“We’ve brought the M&S quality standard to this service to make it easy for customers to get the most out of solar energy.
“We’re committed to selecting the best installers, and delivering the best lead times on the market. Each solar package will be tailored to a customer’s individual needs, ensuring they receive the high level of service they expect from M&S.”
Packages for Solar PV installations will be available from £7,999 and Solar Thermal packages start from £3,999.
Customers can find out more about M&S’ new solar offer by calling 0800-0106106 or clicking here.
Good day,
We want to go totally green and will soon be moving house and would like to have our house totally solar powerd so we wont have any bills. Can you please advise what is the best way to go about this?
Look forward to hearing from you
Richard Cartier
Hi, Once you have acquired the property you will need a survey conducted to asses the suitability of the house for solar panels. Provided the roof structure is strong enough, has a south, south/east or south/west facing aspect and is not shaded then you should be ok to install either electricity generating solar pv panels or solar thermal panels for your heating and hot water. You can find suitable installers operating in your region at http://www.solarguide.co.uk
So you wot be using electricity on cloudy days or at night then?
There are a limited number of solar inverters that allow you to connect to the grid for the FIT’s scheme and to charge a battery storage system. So when the sun shines you use the energy from the roof and charge the batteries, when the clouds break through or at night you switch to the battery power. You need a large battery store and deep pockets to pay for them.