New research from business-to-business energy supplier Opus Energy shows a growing level of interest among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in getting in on the generation game, in spite of the cut in feed-in tariff for electricity from solar cells.
Opus Energy supplies electricity to more than 110,000 UK businesses, large as well as small. Almost a third (32%) of the SMEs in the company’s survey said they expect to introduce solar panels, wind turbines or anaerobic digestion at some time, and 38% of those expected to do so within five years. The younger the business owners, the more likely they were to be planning the investment soon.
Surprisingly, only 42% of respondents highlighted the revenue opportunity behind any decision, so presumably environmental concerns play a part in the decisions.
However, most SMEs (59%) said they would definitely be interested in generating their own power if the Government provided subsidies and the research found that 42% of them would switch to generating some or all of their own power from renewables if it could be proved to them that they would make money out of it.
Opus is trying to make it easier for businesses to find that information – see the company’s Renewables webpages (www.opusrenewables.com).