Jersey Solar Solutions founders Richard Henwood and Rich Preece tell Natasha Baluchi why they are on a mission to make renewable energy as affordable as possible for Islanders
AS your heating bill increases and you feel as though you are spending a fortune on the electricity bill, do you ever think of other cost-efficient ways you can generate electricity?
If so, Richard Henwood and Rich Preece, co-founders of a new solar energy business based in Jersey, might be able to offer a solution, as they are striving to challenge other established providers by offering what they call an “affordable and more tailored approach” to renewable energy.
Jersey Solar Solutions was launched earlier this year by the two men, and combines
their decades of experience in construction, electrical work and solar installations.
They are supported by Lori Ann Foley, Richard’s partner, who manages the administration and paperwork side. Between the three, they bring very different, but complementary, backgrounds to the business.
Rich has 17 years in the electricity industry, having owned a business for ten years in the UK before moving to Jersey with his wife and children.
“[My partner and I] were working around 70 hours a week back in the UK,” he said. “We have two young children, and we wanted a slower pace of life, so Jersey has been great for that.”
After relocating, Rich continued to work in the electrical industry before turning his attention to solar installations.
Richard, meanwhile, brings a long and varied career in building maintenance and construction, undertaking refurbishment projects, before shifting his focus to renewable energy. After completing those projects, he was initially planning to retire. However, that thought did not last long.
After researching solar panels for his own house, Richard was frustrated by what he saw as a lack of flexibility in the options in the Island.
“When I looked into it originally, they weren’t listening to what I wanted. They said, ‘you’ve got a three-bedroom house; therefore, you want six panels’. But I wanted as many panels as I could have.”
With a large roof space, he wanted to generate as much electricity as possible, with no restrictions on what he could do.
“When you research things, the only complaint that anyone who has had solar has, is they didn’t go big enough,” he said.
And this philosophy became the foundation of the duo’s business.
After installing their own solar panels, neighbours and friends started taking an interest and asking the men to install panels for them.
“Various people who came along while we were in the process of putting panels up said they would like some of that,” Richard said. “Once they heard how much it cost, that’s where it really started.”
After installing the solar panels together and understanding there was an opportunity for the business, Jersey Solar Solutions was soon born.
The business has already completed installations on residential properties and agricultural sites, with other projects scheduled across the Island.
Word-of-mouth already plays a huge role in the success of the business, with the men saying that it has helped with early growth and recognition.
“With Jersey, it’s who you know. So much of the Island is networking, friendships and acquaintances, and because I’ve been doing similar work for more than 40 years, I know a lot of people, and I know who to go to if I have a problem,” Richard said.
Client satisfaction, however, is fundamentally at the forefront of their business.
“It’s also a little bit of thinking outside the box. It’s tailoring the installation to suit the client and their property, rather than just a cookie-cutter exercise and this is ‘what you get’.”
One of the key principles that the men follow is giving Islanders a broader choice, and they are keen to stress that solar should not only be available to high-income families.
“It’s the specialism that’s key and giving people a choice,” said Richard. “It’s very easy in a small island for one company to dominate the market, and we’d like to shake that up.”
Rich added: “Jersey is already expensive and I believe [that solar] should be affordable. I think that could really help a lot of households. We don’t want solar to only be for people who have paid off their mortgages and have plenty of spare money.
“We want this to be accessible to everyone, for people who really need that reduction in their energy bill. It can reduce their bills by between 60% and 70%.”
A big misconception the men say they often encounter is the belief that solar panels only work on south-facing roofs.
“It used to be the case that panels were only installed on south-facing roofs because the panels used to be so expensive. But in our house we have east-, west- and north-facing arrays. The north array is even producing enough that it will pay for itself in two years.”
Another inaccurate belief, they say, is that installations are highly disruptive.
In truth, the founders say that, depending on the roof, most installations are finished in a week and involve far less disruption than people expect.
“Nearly everything is done externally, it is not ugly, and it is not as disruptive as someone might think,” Rich said.
Even the economics of solar have changed significantly in recent years, they add. Richard has followed developments of photovoltaic cells for the past quarter of a century, and says that “up until recently, [solar] didn’t make financial sense”.
“It didn’t produce the return on your investment. But, in the last couple of years, the cost of panels has fallen through the floor,” he explained. “They are so cheap now and they are much more productive.”
Ultimately, according to the founders, many installations can now “pay for themselves within six to eight years”, while continuing to pay for themselves decades later and lasting at least 20 to 35 years.
Looking to the future, Jersey Solar Solutions’ focus is not on rapid expansion, but on making sure that the work is carried out to a high standard for their clients.
“One day, I’d like to have myself, one other skilled electrician and then an apprentice and that’s as big as I’d want it to be. You have to control the costs and the standard of the work,” said Rich.
Richard accentuates that “he has no financial interest” in the business and only wants to provide a good service to the Island.
“I’m just here to help Rich to set up a business that will hopefully provide a good service to the Island,” he said.
“Rich is probably one of the most qualified people in the Island. He knows the science of it and understands it rather than just learning it by rote.”
Meanwhile, he added that solar energy appealed to him because of the independence it brought, saying that the panels on his house generate enough electricity to power much of the household’s daily electricity use.
“My last electricity bill was £147 in credit,” he said.
The founders say that “they are encouraged” by the response from Islanders. With energy costs continuing to be a concern for many households, they believe that interest in solar will only continue to increase.
“We intend to be here for the long haul, and hope that people can rely on us for whatever issues pop up,” said Richard.
“If you are doing a job, do it properly. That’s what we’re trying to build.”
