There are a number of businesses who would love to buy a commercial solar p.v. array but are not sure that they can afford the initial outlay of cash to pay for the system. This is a challenge that we have come across with a number of potential clients and we completely understand where they are coming from. Up till now we have been advising people to talk to their bank, who as you know are not as open to lending as they are making out. We started exploring the option of leasing a system but were originally put off by the numbers until we put them into a full cash flow forecast. Once we explored this route the numbers started to make more sense and still showed a fantastic profit at the end of a 20 year forecast.
The key decision that people need to make is ‘Do I want to own the panels on my roof?’.
The beauty of leasing is that this is not ‘Rent a Roof’ scheme where the owner of the panels takes the feed-in tariff and you benefit from reduced electricity bills. In a lease scheme the commercial solar p.v. system is owned by the leasing company, but you get to enjoy the benefits of all the related income. The only difference is that you never own the panels or the system.
We will make sure that we sit down with you and show you the cash situation and not just the projected income situation. Whilst it is impossible to predict the exact income from any commercial solar p.v. system because of the unpredictable nature of the weather, you should always be able to understand the true cash potential of any system not just the highlight figures that are regularly promoted.