Row of solar panels with the sun and trees reflecting off of them. The sky is blue with some white clouds,

Xchange: putting the power back in your hands

Your business may have the potential to generate more power than you realise. Xchange is an innovative cost-reducing solar solution funded by YLEM Energy, taking onsite energy generation to the next level for large businesses with unused land or roof space.

Elevating solar to new heights through Xchange

As energy prices continue to fluctuate, generating your own power is becoming increasingly important to mitigate the risk of future price hikes. Solar power is already one of the UK’s most established green energy technologies but Xchange is an innovative solar solution that can provide additional onsite benefits across your whole business. All of this is funded by YLEM Energy.

Read Xchange FAQs

How does it work?

  • 1. Locate the Space

    Many large businesses have unused land or roof space, which has the potential to generate cheaper solar power.

  • 2. Fully Funded Installation

    We’ll design, build, install, maintain, own and operate a solar PV solution on your behalf – at absolutely no cost to your business.

  • 3. Generate Power

    YLEM Energy Xchange is a great cost-saving energy solution that produces reliable, resilient, sustainable power long-term.

  • You then have two options to choose from

  • Option 1

    Transfer any excess energy to one or more of your business’s other sites. By oversizing and generating more power than you need, you’ll receive the full carbon benefit and you’ll be providing cheap, renewable energy to one of your locations that may not be able to generate its own power.

  • Option 2

    We will sell the excess energy and further reduce the price you pay for your power. If you’re unable to use the extra power generated elsewhere, we will sell the excess energy. This can further reduce the price you pay for your power, allowing you enjoy even bigger savings on your energy bills.

Further reduce your energy costs by maximising your roof and ground real estate

If you are a single site business, maximising unused space for a solar project and generating more power than you need can provide increased financial benefits as Xchange can export any excess energy your site produces. The more unused space you utilise to generate solar power, the lower the price you will pay for your energy.

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  • Generate cheap solar energy for multiple business locations

    Alternatively, if your business has multiple UK sites or sister companies, Xchange can transfer any excess energy that is not consumed at your site to one or more of your business’s other locations. This then allows those other sites to benefit from reduced energy costs compared to the grid.

  • Bypass excessive grid related charges

    Once your Xchange solar assets are up and running, YLEM Energy utilises the National Grid on your behalf to match the power you generate with the demand from other sites around the UK. This allows you and any off-takers to reduce the high grid charges that would normally be levied by a traditional supplier.

  • Powering towards carbon neutral targets

    The flexibility of Xchange not only allows you to further cut your energy costs at one or multiple locations, it can also help to significantly boost your carbon reduction goals as you provide renewable energy across multiple sites, contributing towards the UK’s net zero target.

Groundmount solar panels with trees in the background and wind turbines in the distance

End-to-end solar solution full managed by YLEM Energy

YLEM Energy will design, build, install, maintain, operate and manage Xchange solutions on your behalf – at zero cost to your business. Providing one, or multiple, energy-intensive businesses with long-term stability, resilience and energy security compared to the volatility of grid-derived energy.

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YLEM Energy Xchange FAQs

We understand that you will naturally have questions regarding our new Xchange platform, that’s why we have listed below the most common FAQs that we have been asked so far. If you have a question that isn’t there just ask one of experts and they will be happy to help.

  • Typically a roof of 3,000m2 and above would be suitable for the Xchange solution. Xchange can work for customers with any level of onsite usage and YLEM will work with you to ensure the optimum solution is deployed.

     

  • In short, yes. We will contact your local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) on your behalf to put in an initial budget application to see if it is possible to export energy at your site. Based on that response we will then also undertake a formal grid offer which will give us a definitive view back from the DNO. This typically takes 3 months for an answer but development work can be done in the background whilst we wait.

  • YLEM Energy manages everything on your behalf. As we fund the project, it means we retain ownership of the solar array for the life of the Power Purchase Agreement. It remains in our best interest as well as yours to maximise the efficiency of the project to ensure you receive heavily discounted renewable energy.

  • It will depend on whether you want to use the energy at another site of yours. If you do not have any other sites or it is not viable to sell the excess power to another site, YLEM Energy will take the risk of the excess energy from the solar project. This allows us to subsidise the energy that you do use further offering you a discount on your PPA price. If it viable to use the energy at another site YLEM Energy will organise the full process ensuring the energy is created at one site and utilised at the other site(s).

  • With all solar projects, we’d need you to have a conversation with your landlord. In our experience, solar adds value to a Landlord’s property rather than detract from it. It also enables your landlord, should you leave the property in the future, to provide cheap renewable energy to the future tenant. We can support you with these conversations.

  • Through our Xchange platform, for every half hour of energy created by the solar array at one site, we match it to the half hourly demand at your other sites where you wish to use it. By doing this it ensures you get the full financial and carbon benefits of the solar energy you produce at the generating site. It will also mean the excess energy at the other sites will be available at a much lower price than taking it from the grid.

  • Potentially. It will depend on where your other site(s) are from the site(s) where you generate the energy. Our initial assessment will allow us to model and present the energy cost at the site of generation and the price at your other sites. The energy cost will be substantially lower than the cost of energy buying it off the grid.

  • If you use the renewable energy at another site then yes. As the half hour generation of energy is matched with the half hour usage of the energy then it is fully auditable and therefore all carbon benefit is retained if you use energy within your own sites.

  • A typical Solar PPA project is between 15-25 years. During this time you secure a low energy price for the duration of the contract ensuring you received heavily discounted renewable energy for the period of the contract which is much lower than the wholesale price of electricity.

  • One of the many benefits of Xchange is the flexibility it offers you. We understand that your demand at your sites go up and down and we are able to flex up and down to match this. As long as we have the ability to export the energy then we can sell any energy not used or if you want to take some more energy and it’s available then we can stop selling the excess and revert it to you at an agreed rate.

  • Firstly, we would need to review your export capability of your current solar asset. If it is possible to export then YLEM Energy would buy the existing solar asset from you releasing cash back into your business. The ownership of the asset would transfer to us and you would pay for energy produced through our Dynamic Power Purchase Agreement at a set amount for a contracted period of time (usually when the asset reaches 20-25 years old). During this process we would build in the Xchange option to offer increased benefit to your business from the solar asset.

  • A PPA is where an energy generation business like YLEM Energy, will fund, own, design, install and maintain/operate the energy generation asset for a certain period of time – typically between 15-25 years. The asset will be physically on your site and connected to your electrical infrastructure. During that time the energy generated by the asset will be bought by you for a set price, index linked. The asset will sit on the balance sheet of the energy generation business. More information is available here https://solarenergyuk.org/resource/power-purchase-agreements/