The UK will comfortably remain the leading European market for new solar PV installations during the calendar year 2016 – and not simply confined to installations completed under the 1.3 ROC fiscal period ending 31 March 2016, Solar Power Portal can reveal.
Almost all leading module suppliers are now sold out to 31 March 2016, with new inverter and mounting suppliers rushing to get new business from a more diverse range of developers and chosen EPCs.
This extends to most UK-established EPCs, many of whom have a finite bandwidth and are forced to find new sub-contractors when taking on extra work at short notice. The vast quantity of sub-5MW sites is also allowing sub-contractors to step up to lead-EPC roles.
The market is not simply vibrant for solar farms deployment, but also across all other segments, in particular residential and the small to mid-size commercial rooftops. The only issue impacting the installers is what to commit to post 31 December 2015.
Not just by a small margin though, the UK will be miles ahead of any other European market in 2015 accounting for about 40-50% of European solar installations this calendar year.
And the UK will again, by some distance, be the largest solar market in Europe for 2016. The UK is likely to install more solar in Q1 2016 than any other European market will install during the whole year.
Research conducted by Solar Intelligence is also showing a range of new options for the period from 1 April 2016 to 31 December 2016. The new business models would appear to represent the first credible attempts to drive a European market forward post-subsidy.
Associated research data will be presented at Solar Intelligence’s forthcoming webinar which is to take place in the next couple of weeks. More details on this, and how to sign-up to the event, will be posted in the next few days.
The webinar will discuss where the winning strategies are for 2016, and how industry stakeholders can act now to ensure the best chances of winning new business deals for the next 12 months.