Founder Stewart Davies Headquarters Tankersley Type of business Private limited company | Founded 2009 Number of employees 600 | |
Industry Energy-saving, Solar Energy, Microgeneration, Renewables Key people Stewart Davies (MD)
Simon Duncan (CFO) Website www.ashadegreener.co.uk | ||
A Shade Greener Ltd. (ASG) is a private limited company in the United Kingdom which installs and operates solar panel systems. Its head office is located in Tankersley, and it has another office in Bristol. It was the first company to be involved in the UK's free solar industry, also known as the 'Rent a Roof' industry.
Contents
We ll let our customers do the talking a shade greener
History
A Shade Greener was formed in 2009 in Tankersley, Barnsley and began to install solar panel installations on the roofs of residential homes. A Shade Greener secured financing from Lombard Plc to fund the venture.
By 2010 the company was employing about 120 people. and by 2011 had installed about 11,000 systems, including a few on leased homes, which caused legal difficulties between the tenants and their landlords.
In 2013 the company began offering corporate bonds totaling £10 million to raise funds for additional installations. At that time it had installed about 25,000 single dwelling installations.
In 2014, additional financing was arranged with GE Capital. At that time the company's staff had grown to about 600 people.
In 2015 A Shade Greener made an arrangement for GBP 155 million in additional loans to continue expanding its solar panel installation business.
The Business Model
A Shade Greener installs and maintains solar photovoltaic systems (solar PV) onto the roofs of domestic properties. The company keeps the Feed-in-Tariff and owns the panels, whilst the homeowner is allowed to use the free electricity that the solar PV produces. ASG installs systems that have 16 or 18 panels, which on suitable south-facing roofs generate at least 3000 kilowatt hours of energy per annum. The scheme benefits homeowners who would otherwise be unable to afford the cost of buying and installing the panels; however, investigations by journalists and consumer groups, including Which?, concluded that the financial benefit to homeowners is considerably less than if they were to borrow money to buy and install panels themselves.