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SOLAR and roofing services specialist Forster Group has announced three promotions to its senior team as the company continues to see an increase in demand for renewable energy solutions.
Craig MacCormick has been promoted to head of technical. He has seven years of experience as a senior engineer at Forster Group and will spearhead the technical evolution of new energy products, services, and markets across the group.
Daryl Cassidy has been appointed head of operations. Daryl brings over 12 years of experience at Forster Group, most recently serving as construction manager for the roofing division. In his new role, Daryl will oversee the delivery of operations across the group, ensuring ‘excellence’ in sectors such as new build homes, commercial and agricultural buildings, and the retrofitting of domestic properties.
The third promotion sees Jamie Robbie appointed head of business. Jamie’s journey with Forster Group began 18 years ago as a trainee surveyor. His recent role as commercial manager has equipped him with knowledge of the sectors, products, and services that Forster Group offers. As head of business, he will focus on driving the group’s business objectives, development, and delivery
John Forster, chair of Forster Group, commented, “We are proud to announce the promotions of Craig, Daryl and Jamie Robbie to our senior leadership team. Each has shown exceptional dedication, expertise, and leadership throughout their career at Forster Group and their promotions come at a crucial time as we navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to net zero in the built environment.
“Craig’s innovative approach to technical development, Daryl’s operational excellence, and Jamie’s comprehensive business acumen will be instrumental in developing and achieving our strategic goals. As we continue to see growing demand for the integration of renewable energy solutions, their leadership will help us further integrate renewables and construction, support local communities and SMEs, and address the critical skills shortage in our industry.
“I’m very confident that Craig, Daryl, and Jamie will excel in their new roles, helping Forster Group to innovate, collaborate, and transform the industry. Their contributions will be vital in ensuring that we meet our ambitious climate targets and achieve a just transition to net zero that is equitable, affordable and achievable for all.”
Scottish Gas is partnering with Forster Group to enable solar power and battery storage installations in Scotland.
· Households can save between 75 per cent and 90 per cent off the cost of their electricity bill by installing solar panels and batteries.
· The partnership is the latest step in Scottish Gas’ commitment to helping customers decarbonise their homes and save money on their energy bills.
Scottish Gas is partnering with Forster Group, one of the largest solar panel installers in Scotland, to enable installation of the technology in Scotland and meet the growing demand for solar panel and battery storage technology from homeowners.
The new partnership with Brechin-based Forster Group will enable Scottish Gas to install solar power and battery technology to any eligible customer in Scotland, England and Wales for the first time, accelerating the nation’s transition towards renewable energy sources. Forster Group already provides solar services to one in five of all new homes in Scotland and has offices in Brechin, Angus, and Livingston.
Customers can currently benefit from a free consultation for solar panel installation tailored to their energy usage and home layout. A survey will give estimated costs, savings and installation options without any commitment.
Households could save between 75 and 90 per cent off the cost of their electricity bill by installing solar panels1, and latest industry figures show more than 183,000ii installations were carried out across the UK last year2.
Research in the British Gas Homes Index revealed that more than two fifths (42%) of people said they were considering installing solar panels in the next two years to tackle climate change and save on bills.
Susan Wells, Low Carbon Homes Director at Scottish Gas, said: “We are committed to delivering the right products and solutions to help people cut carbon in their homes and save money on their bills in a way that works for them.
“We’re seeing our customers get more engaged with the benefits of solar energy, which is why we are extending our capabilities and partnering with Forster Group. Forster’s impressive track record in Scotland will allow us to meet the growing demand for solar and provide customers with expert advice and installations.”
Welcoming the partnership announcement, John Forster, Chair and Founder at Forster Group, said: “This partnership with Scottish Gas is a fantastic milestone on the Forster Group’s journey and will enable us to provide solar and battery storage installations to even more customers across Scotland. We are seeing solar power and battery technology playing an essential role in the country’s transition to Net Zero and with consumer appetite growing, more people now have the ability to take control of their own energy usage and make huge savings generating their own power.
“For over 30 years Forster Group has provided industry-leading solar and roofing solutions with a passion for innovation and the highest quality of customer service. We are excited to join forces with Scottish Gas and share their vision for a more sustainable energy future.”
· Scottish Gas is partnering with Forster Group to enable solar power and battery storage installations in Scotland.
· Households can save between 75 per cent and 90 per cent off the cost of their electricity bill by installing solar panels and batteries.
· The partnership is the latest step in Scottish Gas’ commitment to helping customers decarbonise their homes and save money on their energy bills.
Scottish Gas is partnering with Forster Group, one of the largest solar panel installers in Scotland, to enable installation of the technology in Scotland and meet the growing demand for solar panel and battery storage technology from homeowners.
The new partnership with Brechin-based Forster Group will enable Scottish Gas to install solar power and battery technology to any eligible customer in Scotland, England and Wales for the first time, accelerating the nation’s transition towards renewable energy sources. Forster Group already provides solar services to one in five of all new homes in Scotland and has offices in Brechin, Angus, and Livingston.
Customers can currently benefit from a free consultation for solar panel installation tailored to their energy usage and home layout. A survey will give estimated costs, savings and installation options without any commitment.
Households could save between 75 and 90 per cent off the cost of their electricity bill by installing solar panels1, and latest industry figures show more than 183,000ii installations were carried out across the UK last year2.
Research in the British Gas Homes Index revealed that more than two fifths (42%) of people said they were considering installing solar panels in the next two years to tackle climate change and save on bills.
Susan Wells, Low Carbon Homes Director at Scottish Gas, said: “We are committed to delivering the right products and solutions to help people cut carbon in their homes and save money on their bills in a way that works for them.
“We’re seeing our customers get more engaged with the benefits of solar energy, which is why we are extending our capabilities and partnering with Forster Group. Forster’s impressive track record in Scotland will allow us to meet the growing demand for solar and provide customers with expert advice and installations.”
Welcoming the partnership announcement, John Forster, Chair and Founder at Forster Group, said: "This partnership with Scottish Gas is a fantastic milestone on the Forster Group’s journey and will enable us to provide solar and battery storage installations to even more customers across Scotland. We are seeing solar power and battery technology playing an essential role in the country's transition to Net Zero and with consumer appetite growing, more people now have the ability to take control of their own energy usage and make huge savings generating their own power.
"For over 30 years Forster Group has provided industry-leading solar and roofing solutions with a passion for innovation and the highest quality of customer service. We are excited to join forces with Scottish Gas and share their vision for a more sustainable energy future."
Leading roofing and solar provider, Forster Group, has been appointed by family-owned Priority Care to install 280 state-of-the-art solar panels at two of its Dundee care homes.
The organisation is investing £210,000 to futureproof the buildings and make them more energy efficient, while ensuring they continue to provide the highest quality care for residents.
Work is due to be completed this month at the newly refurbished Harestane Care Home, situated to the north of the city. Forster Group will install 144 solar panels with a total capacity of 58.32 kilowatt peak (kWp) and two inverters to convert the DC power from the PV modules into AC power.
The system will generate approximately 45 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy annually with the investment recouped through energy savings over a period of approximately nine years. Around 75% of energy generated from the panels will help to power the care home’s amenities, including a hydrotherapy swimming pool, commercial kitchen and laundry.
Forster will also be installing 136 panels, with a capacity of 57.12 kWp, and two inverters at Priority Care’s St Columba’s Care Home near the city centre. Similar to Harestane, this installation will deliver around 45 MWh of clean, renewable energy with a payback period of just under seven years.
It’s estimated St Columba’s Care Home will use around 90% of energy generated by the panels which will help to power the home’s fully electric heating system, along with commercial washers and dryers in its inhouse laundry. Work is due to be completed in February.
Andy Prior, Director of Priority Care, said: “Using solar power to futureproof our buildings is something we have been considering for a number of years. The huge increase in energy costs was the real driver and pushed us to move ahead with our plans.
“This is a very significant investment for Priority Care. We are delighted with the results at Harestane and look forward to seeing work start at St Columba’s in the new year.
“We wanted to make sure we were choosing the most experienced and reliable provider. Choosing to work with Forster Group was easy as the team are incredibly experienced and knowledgeable. From the very beginning, the process has been simple and straightforward and the team are always on hand to answer questions. We were also provided with a clear programme of work at Harestane, allowing us to provide the necessary communication for residents and their families.
“At Priority Care we are committed to providing the very best care for our residents. By investing to make our care homes more energy efficient we can make sure they’re fit for the future.”
Bruce Raffell, Commercial Director at Forster Group, said: “We are passionate about working closely with local businesses to help them generate their own energy from solar.
“We are pleased to be supporting Priority Care as it takes steps to future proof its buildings and become more energy efficient. This will ensure they can continue to provide the very best care for residents. Large buildings with un-shaded roofs, like care homes, can present ideal conditions for solar panels.
“We are committed to leading the way in solar best practice and our team provides a comprehensive in-house service focused on delivering the most innovative and cost-effective solutions to our customers. Our highly experienced engineers, designers, roofing and electrical specialists offer expert advice on everything from design, planning, and delivery, to support, maintenance and aftercare.”
Eighty per cent of homes in 2045 will be the homes we live in today and therein lies a dilemma: How do we achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045/50 when most of these homes and some of the of 23,000 new builds typically completed each year still do not feature the essential, integrated, flexible renewable energy technologies which will help us get there affordably?
Our energy future is going to be predominantly electric. Energy generation and storage will be dominated by heat pumps, EV charging, solar PV and batteries. But these must be delivered through their deployment as a smart, flexible, integrated, affordable, renewable resource. Internationally accepted by the IPCC as the cheapest and lowest carbon solution, Solar PV is one of the most flexible and easily integrated sources of power available for homes, with the promise of lower carbon emissions and reduced energy bills. And, although solar installations are increasing, the speed of adoption is just not fast enough.
There are about 130,000 residential solar PV installations in Scotland, around a million in the UK, and although there has been an explosion in the deployment of solar on new builds, trebling year-on-year, it is small beer against the Committee for Climate Change claim that 28 million homes in the UK require retrofitting to meet net zero targets. To put that into a more local context, Scotland has approximately 2.6 million households, and with that level of demand the prospect of comprehensive retrofitting seems light years rather than decades away.
Social housing serves as a good illustration of the enormity of the challenge – in Scotland roughly 24 per cent of housing stock is managed by local authorities and housing associations. These organisations face many of the same issues as owner-occupiers, but the challenges they face in transitioning to net zero are somewhat more complex: they have to balance net zero targets with the delivery of affordable housing, reduce fuel poverty and meet the minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C (band B by 2032), but with homes becoming increasingly electrified, the ever increasing cost of electricity will increasingly headline as the affordability challenge of the future.
And there is the financial cost of building and retrofitting these properties: an Inside Housing survey of housing associations puts the average cost of retrofitting each social home in the UK to zero carbon standards at £20,742 per property, but zero carbon doesn’t mean zero bills.
Pre-pandemic research shows that installation of solar panels typically reduces energy bills by £320 per annum, a saving that continues to grow year-on-year. Over the last ten years, the cost of solar installation has fallen by about 60 per cent, with a typical solar system now costing in the region of £4,000. Furthermore, the period over which the investment is expected to pay for itself – as a result of energy savings and the sale of surplus energy to the national grid through the Export Guarantee scheme, is eght-ten years. But smart, integrated, flexible solutions have the potential to bring even better answers to the affordability challenge of the emerging era of electrification, for owner-occupiers, businesses, landlords and tenants.
Solar and home storage are truly the cornerstone of electrification, delivering benefits now and multiplying those benefits in the future. A true enabler: without it, we can forget about harnessing the financial and environmental benefits of heat pumps and EV charging – other means of generating electricity are just too expensive, in cost and carbon.
Yes, we need investment in net zero retrofits and new builds, but we also need to bring harmony to our carbon reduction and energy efficiency standards so that they help us chart a direct transition to an integrated electric future. One where making energy affordable and flexible is a clear goal.
John Forster is Chair and Founder of Forster Group.
Pulling on an extra sweater, half filling the kettle to make a cup of tea and religiously turning off the lights are just some of the adjustments we find ourselves making in the face of spiralling energy costs and global warming. With the government’s Energy Price Guarantee Scheme becoming less generous, an ending to the energy bills support scheme for households, and the introduction of the new Energy Discount Schemes for Business (EDSB), we may well collectively take a sharp intake of breath at the thought of even higher energy pricing to come.
The potential however, to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, reduce energy bills and guarantee energy independence through solar generated electricity is enormous. Even in our dear old wet and cloudy Scotland, the available radiance can, with the right solar PV, be harnessed to generate a reliable source of electricity all year round — essential for intensive energy users such as manufacturers and farmers.
Amid soaring energy prices and inflation eroding the value of cash, the team at the Forster Group are seeing an unprecedented level of enquiries not just amongst our loyal house builder clients but also from farmers and food producers. They see solar power as the fastest route to reducing and stabilising their energy costs and as a way of reducing the need to purchase power from energy suppliers.
Solar and storage technologies have come a long way since they were first introduced. The panels we use in our integrated solar roofing systems today have far higher efficiency and produce significantly more power. Their superior light trapping and improved current collection means that roof and ground mount sites can be configured much more efficiently to maximise the production of lower cost green energy. Up-front installation costs have also fallen considerably over the last decade, making investment in solar an even more attractive proposition.
Importantly, integrated solar solutions can be tailored with future energy and grid developments in mind so that they can be connected to storage batteries, either immediately or when the grid in a customer’s area permits.
Farmers, processors and manufacturers looking to capitalise on their roof spaces for the production of lower cost green energy, will typically make solar panels their first choice. However, ground mounted panels, which share the same energy generating properties and efficiencies as roof panels are increasingly popular on lower grade land.
By tailoring the most cost-effective solar solution – and where applicable, solar storage – to precisely match current and projected energy requirements, both ground-mounted and roof installation offer excellent energy cost savings and returns on investment.
With the right solar installation, the standard unit cost of electricity can be reduced from the recent highs of 75 or 80 pence per kW to as little as 10 pence. Typically, from the savings made against increases in power costs, the pay-back period for solar installation is around two years.
For those interested in adopting solar, the process is quick and easy. Using the latest design software, a desktop survey and quotation can be provided within a day. Backed up by a site survey and feasibility study, a solar installation can be complete in as short a time as three weeks. With changes expected to Permitted development rules this spring, commercial and industrial businesses will join farmers in no longer needing planning permission for solar installations.
I established the Forster Group, one of Scotland’s largest integrated solar and roofing businesses, 30 years ago. In the early days of solar, we were met with some cynicism, however, as we enter our fourth decade, we increasingly see former customers increasing their solar capacity, and I look forward to helping more businesses in farming, manufacturing and house building secure a more sustainable and affordable energy future.
Tel: 01356628560
Email: enquiries@forstergroup.co.uk
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