Buckinghamshire-based independent connection provider, g2 Energy claims that it is close to connecting its 100th commercial-scale solar development in the UK to the grid.
The completion of the company’s 100th project will mean that the company has facilitated the connection of almost 1GW of solar capacity since it first connected a project for Lightsource Renewable Energy back in 2011.
g2 Energy claims that it was involved in 36 large-scale solar projects in the first quarter of 2015, building and installing more than 50 containerised glass reinforced plastic substations. The company also excavated and laid more than 300km of 33kV cable in Q1 2015.
Commenting on the company’s performance, Kelvin Ruck managing director of g2 Energy, said: “This is a significant milestone for g2 Energy, achieving such an accomplishment over a relatively short period of time, reflecting the level of growth that we have seen in the UK renewable energy industry since 2011. This has allowed our company to grow where we now employ almost 80 directly employed staff throughout the UK, along with security for a number of small sub-contract and supply chain partners.”
However, Ruck has warned the government over the long-term health of the renewables sector following a number of changes to policy support. He explained: “Investment in renewable energy, especially onshore wind and solar, must continue. Cutting subsidies is not helping to reduce energy bills for families and businesses in this country, nor allowing the UK to achieve the EU CO2 reduction and renewable energy generation targets. The reduction and removal of these subsidies will have a negative impact on small and medium sized business that rely on this industry, potentially resulting in significant job losses throughout the UK.”
Ruck concluded: “Whilst there is a level of uncertainty in the wind and solar sectors due to the reduction in the feed-in tariff and ROC subsidies, g2 Energy continue to have a very ambitious business plan which shows diversification into new areas and continued growth.”