This week it emerged that no UK homes have yet completed a Green Deal plan since the government’s flagship policy was launched at the start of the year. Charlotte Webster argues that the money spent on publicising the scheme should instead have been spent on communicating the merits of solar power, a positive proposition that suffers from an image problem.
The government’s forthcoming community energy strategy will put solar at the community-scale in the feed-in tariff scheme under a much needed spotlight. The impetus for ‘community energy’ could help address serious failings in the solar feed-in tariff scheme for the benefit of much broader investment in local solar power, says Leonie Greene.
The rush to build large-scale ground-mount projects to qualify for 2-ROCs incentive rate has pushed cumulative UK demand to 2.5GW. NPD Solarbuzz’s Finlay Colville looks at a record quarter for the UK.
Following on from last week’s blog which looked at how to implement the new MCS shade assessment guide, Martin explains why MCS chose the new shade procedure.
Since the launch of the new Solar PV Guide, questions about the shade assessment procedure are easily the most common. The good news is that MCS will shortly be publishing some guidance on their website to help installers better understand what is required and how to perform the evaluation.
The most common question I am asked by people in the solar heating industry is “when do you think the domestic RHI will launch?” or perhaps more often “do you think a domestic RHI will ever launch?”
You may have heard recently that complaints are rising in the solar industry, and that solar is no longer a financially attractive proposition. This was the subject of a recent article in The Sunday Times.
Competing with Cornwall on large-scale solar might be a challenge. Competing with Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond on wind energy may also be difficult. But finally, Scotland has entered the large-scale solar PV age.
When Exeter resident Mr Spencer had his solar PV system fitted nine months ago, he was looking forward to free renewable electricity, lowering his bills, and years of hassle-free feed-in tariff payments from the government.
