星空传媒

Sandwiched in a file of press cuttings in the reception of Solar Century鈥檚 Waterloo offices is a letter from prime minister Tony Blair. It thanks the company鈥檚 founder and CEO, Jeremy Leggett, for a recent tour of the building, during which the prime minister witnessed solar power at work first hand. But despite the PM鈥檚 recent visit, it quickly becomes clear that Leggett is disappointed with the government鈥檚 approach to energy issues.

鈥淭he government is not joined up in its policy making and seems pretty unembarrassable about the gulf between its rhetoric about global warming and what it is actually doing about it,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you accept, as so many of us now do, that global warming is the number one threat to a survivable future, then energy should be treated accordingly. Energy should be the first thing anybody thinks about in policy and the government should deliver on the things it said in the energy white paper.鈥�

Leggett鈥檚 had a frustrating morning, having just returned from what he describes as a 鈥渇ull and frank鈥� discussion with the energy minister. 鈥淭he energy minister is sold on renewable micropower but we think that the government doesn鈥檛 have a strategy and they need to get one pretty quick. You can鈥檛 plan business sensibly when you don鈥檛 have sustained market enablement and support from the government of the kind the Germans, Japanese, Spanish and Californians at state level have.鈥�

It鈥檚 a failure of collective will, says Leggett: 鈥淲e're living in an age where it is not beyond our wit and wisdom to erect zero emissions buildings that provide all their own energy and export electricity too. All this can be done with existing technology 鈥� it鈥檚 very frustrating.鈥�

There are promising signs, however. The London mayor鈥檚 energy strategy requiring 10% of every new development鈥檚 energy to come from renewables is a healthy start. 鈥淎s I understand it there are 40 plus local authorities who are saying to developers you must have 10% renewables generation on site,鈥� says Leggett. 鈥淎nd you don鈥檛 need much more of that type of thing before you鈥檝e got a tipping point in terms of market dynamics.鈥�

Investment in renewables is also on the rise. Leggett, who serves on the board of the world鈥檚 first 鈥� and profitable 鈥� renewable energy private equity fund, says investment is flowing into the sector. 鈥淢any of us now think there is going to be an explosion of investor interest in the sector this year.鈥�

Solar Century, now in its sixth year of trading, proves the point. Scottish and Southern Energy, one of the UK鈥檚 big six power generators, has just purchased 7.5% of the firm鈥檚 share capital, worth 拢1m, as part of its investment in small renewable microgeneration companies. 鈥淭hey see it as their future long term,鈥� says Leggett. For Solar Century the benefit will be SSE鈥檚 6 million-strong customer base. The two firms have entered into a collaboration agreement by which Solar Century鈥檚 expertise in solar energy will combine with SSE鈥檚 electrical contracting business to market the provision and installation of photovoltaic panels. Leggett explains: 鈥淵ou need catapult partners; you can鈥檛 do this sort of thing on your own and it opens up a much bigger market to us.鈥�

Ask Leggett if money wouldn鈥檛 be better spent on improving energy efficiency rather than investing in renewables and he is honest. 鈥淵es it would, if all you鈥檙e looking at is carbon bangs per buck.鈥� However, consumers don鈥檛 always behave logically. 鈥淲e get lots of clients who say they are not that interested in energy efficiency but they want a solar system. Once they can see what electricity they are generating and using they become energy efficiency fanatics; it captures their imagination and they don't want to see it wasted.鈥�

The one nut Leggett has yet to crack is getting a volume housebuilder on board as a client. 鈥淚'm told it is a very conservative industry that is very resistant to change.鈥� Should this change, things could get interesting; bulk procurement could mean drastically lowered capital costs. 鈥淭he price comes down as the manufacturing scales up quite remarkably: doubling manufacturing could see the price go down 20% all other things being equal.鈥�

On the subject of the payback period of photovoltaics, Leggett says he urges people not to compare it with the retail price of polluting power. He argues the case for off-setting the cost of the PV installation against the rainscreen cladding, combining the aesthetic benefits of PVs with 30 years of free electricity. 鈥淏ut even if people do want to compare us to the retail price of polluting power today, what about in five, 10, or 20 years time when the capital cost of the PV installation has been paid for? What is the price of polluting power going to be then?鈥� You can pay your money and take your choice; Leggett knows what his will be.