Solar Media Staff

The latest Government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) statistics, published on June 28, show an evident rise in the number of engineering and manufacturing apprenticeships in the UK. Provisional data shows that in the first nine months of the 2011/12 academic year 44,130 candidates started an apprenticeship in these areas compared to 48,970 starts in the entire 12 month 2010/11 academic year.

Astronergy has signed a distribution deal with Libra Energy B.V. in a bid to increase its product portfolio in European markets. Under the terms of the agreement, Libra will sell Astronergy’s range of PV modules in the UK, Benelux and Greece.

Renewable energy project developer TGC Renewables has secured planning approval for an 8MW solar park to be built in the southwest.

Canadian Solar has signed an agreement with Edmundson Electrical that will see the latter act as authorised reseller for Canadian Solar’s modules for distribution in the UK. Edmundson Electrical, a distributor of electrical equipment to trade and industry in the UK, will now include Canadian Solar’s solar module range in its product offerings to UK installers.

A Government-commissioned report has found that UK homeowners are wasting more than £1 billion a year powering appliances they are not using.

A series of roundtable discussions, organised by the University of Exeter, SSE, Consumer Focus and WWF has found that Government’s draft Energy Bill and existing energy efficiency policies will fail to deliver a secure, clean and affordable power sector for the UK and would result in the UK missing out on some key economic growth opportunities.

Strategic Energy is set to install 1,000 PV panels on Hafod Housing Association properties under a newly signed agreement. The South Wales-based association has commissioned the work as part of its drive to bring social benefits to its communities.

Twelve months on since operations began at Westmill Solar Farm Cooperative, near Swindon, Government Minister for Culture, Communication and Creative Industries Ed Vaizy officially launched a share offer to invest in the development. Hundreds of people from across the UK attended the launch as part of an energy and sustainability fair held at the site of the solar farm at Watchfield, just outside Swindon. The aim of the farm was always to turn it into a cooperative similar to the Westmill Wind Farm Cooperative which has five wind turbines on the same site.

Every household in the Slough district will get the chance of receiving free cavity wall and loft installation.

The owner of renewable energy company Freewatt is on a mission to transform a 300-year-old Georgian home into an energy efficient blueprint for the future.