October solar figures curbed by Spending Review

Since the introduction of the feed-in tariff in April this year there has been a strong upward trend in photovoltaic installation figures. As each month passed the figures increased, spiking in August with 3,642 (8.739MW) projects recorded. However, since last month was shrouded in so much uncertainty, due to the possibility of a feed-in tariff cut, the figures have dropped quite significantly.

According to the latest figures from Ofgem, during the month of October there were 508 domestic installations (1.413MW), 10 commercial installations (0.071MW), four (0.050MW) industrial installations and 30 (0.209MW) community installations making a total of just 548 (1.693MW) for the month. These figures are down quite considerably from2,339 (6.087MW) recorded in the previous month.

Despite the drop in projects, the regional trend remains constant. The south of the country is still dominating the amount of megawatts installed, with the South West and South East taking the top two positions with 1.097MW and 1.093MW respectively. As was seen in previous months, Yorkshire and the Humber is also up there, hitting third place with a total of 1.048MW.

Since the feed-in tariff survived last month’s Spending Review, we can expect figures to increase by quite noteworthy proportions next month as developers rush to get projects approved before any changes are made (expected decision in 2012). A large portion of the plants thought to be announced as we move into next year are anticipated to be utility scale, an expectation which has been reflected in recent news on the Solar Power Portal, such as the announcements of several 5MW plants.

Solar photovoltaic technology is however still the top renewable energy source installed in the country, with its 1.693 installed in October coming up against hydro at 0.079MW and wind at 0.234MW. These figures are also not biased for October as this trend is apparent since the introduction of the FiT with PV at 9.458MW, wind 1.035MW and hydro 0.409MW for the period April 1 – October 31.