Solar developer Conergy has recruited a team of senior solar people to drive the company’s newly-formed commercial rooftop division.

Conergy has landed Paul Weaver, Balfour Beatty's previous head of energy to lead the new division. Alongside Weaver, the company says that its new rooftop division has sought out and secured senior executives from the real estate and energy management sectors to give it a head start, in what is becoming an increasingly crowded market.

Joining Weaver’s new team is Christelle Lawson, formerly of Kingspan Energy, who looked after commercial roof-mounted PV systems in the South East. The final member of the new team is Nena Kogiou who will work as the senior engineer for the rooftop team. Kogiou joined Conergy in February 2014 from Renewable Resources.  

Commenting on the launch of the new division, Robert Goss, MD Conergy UK & Ireland, said: “Today we’re announcing Conergy's commitment to invest in the scale up of solar rooftops across the UK. First we have brought together the best team in the country. Paul Weaver and Christelle Lawson together add hundreds of megawatts’ experience over many years in multi-residential and larger public and private sector installations. They will work with our partners in the sector to source and develop the kind of high quality projects that others simply would not be able to do.”

Goss believes that Conergy can bring new capital to the rooftop sector, stating that the company is looking at investing it strategically in “new and scalable business models”.

Conergy will now operate two divisions, one focused on solar farms and one on rooftop.  Commenting on his new position as director of rooftops, Weaver said: “There’s a rooftop solar solution for everyone in Britain whether you’re a tenant or a property owner, you’re in the north or the south, or in the public or private sector. At Conergy we now offer the full range of professional and technical services, including finance, roof leasing, PPA, hire purchase, commissioned EPC, and industry-leading O&M.”

Weaver added: “Make no mistake, rooftop solar is going to happen in a big way in Britain.”

However, the latest figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that the commercial rooftop space in the UK is struggling to gain serious traction — especially in the >250kW band. The government put commercial rooftop at the centre of its National Solar Strategy and promised to put “rocket-boosters” underneath the market. As a result, the government has promised to look at extending the permitted development for solar up to 1MW and to look at introducing proposals that would allow PV owners to move the array and still receive the feed-in tariff income.    

Conergy is the latest UK solar farm developer to set up a commercial rooftop division as the market is positioning itself away from utility-scale, ground-mount projects in anticipation of the removal of renewable obligation support for projects over 5MW in April.