DIY star Tommy Walsh installs solar panels

Here’s a company trying to sell cheaper, sorry “affordable” solar kit to UK folk.

The big deal with this, if it works as well as they claim, is that you don’t need planning permission to install it. That saves a lot of time.

The news story here is that a DIY presenter called Tommy Walsh (who he?) has installed one.

Here’s a release from Green Frog:

Nu-lok, the award-winning global roofing company, today announced the launch of its new sustainable energy division, Green Frog Solar, which will deliver affordable, easy to install solar solutions – including PV (photovoltaic) panels and a new hot water system – to homeowners throughout the UK.

Tommy Walsh, the UK’s favourite DIY TV presenter, has already selected Green Frog’s fully integrated solar PV (photovoltaic) roofing system for his brand new TV series Tommy Walsh’s Eco House, which starts tonight on Discovery Real Time at 9pm. This series sees Tommy and his team attempt to build a new home in 60 days for £60,000. Based in March, Cambridgeshire, the house is also being built in the most eco and cost-friendly manner possible, using construction materials which take into account eco benefits, cost, availability and ease of use.

Tommy Walsh commented on today’s Green Frog announcement: “Like many other people, I couldn’t get a government grant for installing solar panels on my Eco House. It is a widespread problem. Fitting Green Frog Solar via a NICEIC approved electrician overcame the dilemma, allowing us to install solar quicker and more cost-effectively than going through the government grant process. Green Frog Solar, when used with Nu-lok’s innovative roofing system, is a wonderful solution, enabling builders to install solar seamlessly – and the end result looks fantastic!”

Top five facts about Green Frog Solar:

Green Frog products make solar solutions affordable to more people. For a solar hot water system, for example, a typical 3-4 bedroom house would require 8m² of Green Frog’s Glass Solar Slates to provide sufficient heating, at a cost of £1,600 for materials.

Green Frog’s solutions provide not only an ongoing ecological benefit to the planet, but also a long-term financial benefit to consumers. For example, installing just 10m² of solar panels combined with a solar store can save up to 80% of the annual water heating costs of an average sized household. Also, any excess power produced can be sold back to the homeowner’s local supplier.

Although Green Frog products use the potential of our cleanest form of energy to operate, i.e. the sun, they continue to work efficiently even on cloudy days – as required when living in the UK!

Green Frog’s solutions are so easy to fit or retrofit that homeowners can literally organise installation themselves, via their preferred roofing contractor.

No planning permission is required when installating Green Frog Solar, as nothing is protruding from the roof once the system has been fitted.

See Green Frog Solar on Nu-lok’s stand at Interbuild (www.interbuild.com) from 28 October – 1 November 2007, NEC Birmingham, Hall 5 stand G50.