SPP Investigates: ISIS Solar offers FREE solar power

Amplify’d from www.solarpowerportal.co.uk

SPP Investigates: ISIS Solar offers FREE solar power (but only if you can get hold of them) Posted in Blogs by Emma Hughes Published on 05 August 2010 Updated on 05 August 2010 Hitting a brick wall: ISIS Solar is so inundated with calls and emails it has been unable to respond to SPP enquiries As expected, another company has jumped on board the free solar bandwagon. Southern-based ISIS Solar has announced its plans for the installation of an initial 18,000 solar systems, beginning in the south of the UK, and working upwards as the year progresses. In the same way that Yorkshire-based, ‘A Shade Greener’ (ASG) is able to offer free solar installations by taking advantage of the UK’s generous 41.3p per kilowatt hour feed-in tariff, ISIS Solar is able to offer the 18,000 installations at no cost to the customer, since the payback is certain. On hearing about this company through the grapevine, Solar Power Portal (SPP) decided to do some investigation, since the mainstream rags were reporting the basic details and not a lot else. We wanted to find out which area of the country this company was focusing on, what technology they were using, who their installers were and whether they were offering the same basic deal as ASG. The first port of call was of course the company website; however this was as good as reaching a dead end. ISIS were clearly quick to jump at the genius idea of offering free solar with the promise of guaranteed profit, yet their website was a little neglected in the name of getting up-and-running as soon as possible. There is next to no information readily available here: no details of products, no address, no company background, no solar information. All we did find was a lonely phone number and a one-page site with no links. On phoning the company the SPP got a little further. We found that ISIS would be working initially in the south of the UK, and would be moving into the rest of the UK as it neared its 18,000 target. Each system would be 3.3kW, covering an area of 24m2, on a roof which must be roughly south facing and relatively unshaded. (A system of this size would usually cost the customer around £16,000. By installing the panels for free, ISIS saves the homeowner this upfront cost, as well as cutting approximately £300 a year off their energy bill.) The ISIS spokesperson helpfully named Leicestershire-based Mark Group as its installer, and promised to send through some product specifications. SPP is still waiting for these. Since SPP got no further in finding out exactly which products ISIS would be using for its installations, the next and most obvious move was to call the Mark Group directly and ask them which products they would be using for the 18,000 ISIS installations. This is where the story gets peculiar. On making the enquiry with the Mark Group, we found that they were unaware of ISIS Solar, and did not know which products they would be using. SPP found this very odd, since a massive contract for 18,000 installations is hard to forget. Still, perhaps the Mark Group’s spokesperson didn’t get that memo? On reaching this rather frustrating standstill, SPP decided to go back to ISIS Solar, and see if we could get the originally promised specs to be sent through. This time (after ringing six times and being told that the lines were very busy) we were told that something should be sent through soon (yes, we’re still waiting). We can assume, from the information provided on Mark Group’s website, that the panels being used will be the Sharp ND series modules, at 158W, 162W or 170W (since these are the only photovoltaic modules apparent on their website.) These modules are certified under MCS and include a warranty for 25 years. Unfortunately, no inverter details were anywhere to be found. These free solar panel offers are extraordinarily popular, with ISIS telling us that they received 13,000 email enquiries in one day and ASG saying that it was getting five calls per second (they have now taken their phone number off the website, but you can still find it on ours). When contacting ASG a few weeks back, they refused to give us any information since they simply didn’t need the press coverage, and now ISIS are so inundated they just haven’t managed to get back to us. While these setbacks are wearisome when trying to report a news story, it is satisfying to know just how popular solar power is in the UK. By offering the upfront cost these companies are giving those who would not ordinarily be able to afford renewable energy, to produce it and make use of it, free of charge. Even if we are still waiting for your response, ISIS Solar, we salute you. Read more at www.solarpowerportal.co.uk

 

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