Case Study: Pioneering property developer in Manchester reaps rewards of Solar PV

Pioneering property developer Stephen Beech, founder of Manchester-based company Beech Properties, proves that harnessing locally available energy resources reaps fantastic financial rewards.

There are some ideas that beguile with the pure simplicity of their ingenuity. And endure in the mind accompanied by that nagging feeling that you might just have been able to have it yourself if you had only had the time. Like Velcro. Or Post-Its. Good Energy customer Stephen Beech’s Manchester-based property lettings company Beech Properties is another.

Stephen began by retro-fitting his drafty, poorly insulated, central Manchester terraces, making them highly energy efficient in order to encourage eco-aware, money-conscious students and young professionals into his properties. But it was the introduction of solar PV arrays – between 1kWp and 4kWp depending on roof size – at the end of 2009 that sent Beech Properties into orbit. Stephen currently has a waiting list of 2000 people to fill his 400 bedrooms – all of which are booked up for the next two years – and tenants willing to pay their full year’s rent at once in order to secure a spot. Stephen aims to have solar PV arrays on all 80 of his properties by the end of 2011; each one generating clean, homegrown energy to be used by his tenants, with Good Energy buying any surplus electricity to feed into the National Grid.

 But solar panels? In Manchester? What about the weeping grey skies? “It’s a question I often get asked,” says Stephen. “But,” he says, “solar panels don’t need direct sunlight to generate energy. The panels would only be 10-20% more productive in Italy. The fact is,” he continues, “it’s actually more viable to have solar panels here in central Manchester than it is in the Sahara. And that’s because of the Feed-in Tariffs.” The introduction of the Feed-in Tariff in April 2010 was fundamental to Stephen’s business model, he says. “I looked into solar panels several years ago but the payback was 50 years. Now it’s more like eight.”

Beech Properties has certainly been a financial success for Stephen. But his tenants are also benefitting, renting properties that are entirely bills free. Everything in Stephen’s properties runs on electricity, and with the superior insulation – Stephen has even relinquished a letterbox in his latest retro-fitted property – particularly energy frugal tenants are often able to earn money from their panels. One of Stephen’s tenants recently received £70 for the surplus electricity their solar PV array generated. “I have produced a guide advising my tenants in all the efficiency measures they can take advantage of: using appliances in the day, for example, when the solar panels are working,” says Stephen.

Of course, this tale is not solely one of sharp business nous and confident commercial innovation. Stephen’s success sends a message out to the thousands of individuals desperate to rent his properties that investing in and harnessing locally available energy resources is good for the pocket as well as the planet. This is great news for Good Energy and its vision of a homegrown, 100% renewable energy future. While Stephen’s current tenants are not guaranteed to be energy entrepreneurs themselves, or even Good Energy customers in the future, when they eventually move out into their own properties a seed will likely have been planted. A seed of energy understanding that will hopefully blossom into habits that ensure energy is valued more and used less.  It’s thanks to individuals like Stephen, ambassadors for the Good Energy vision, that the UK is able to move ever closer to a 100% renewable, homegrown energy future.