Blogs

BayWa r.e. is a leading global renewable energy developer, wholesaler, asset manager and operator, with a worldwide team of over 1,000 renewable energy professionals and offices in more than 12 countries.

In a set of two blogs to be featured this week on Solar Power Portal, Finlay Colville provides the first ever full breakdown of who owns the UK’s entire cumulative solar PV capacity, deployed as of the end of 2016, adding up to about 12GW of capacity.

Liam Stoker recaps five of the key themes that were discussed during this week’s Solar Finance & Investment Europe conference, including how much UK solar capacity is up for grabs, Brexit, storage and where the smart money is going next.

Corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) are not a new feature of the UK solar market, but since the cuts enacted to the feed-in tariff last year they have risen to new prominence. David Pratt examines how these deals are made, and what benefits they offer to both sides.

While Brexit looms, bringing uncertainty into the country’s economy and international relationships, the role energy storage will play in a decentralised, low(er) carbon and more flexible energy system at least seems a little more assured than it did before.

Gaynor Hartnell, Head of Biogas at the Renewable Energy Association, discusses the recent reforms of the RHI, and how they might affect the renewable heat sector

A new domestic storage trial was recently announced to test the impact of domestic storage in limiting the effect of solar on the local grid. Jim Cardwell, head of trading and innovation at Northern Powergrid, the network operator behind the scheme, explained to Solar Power Portal what the operator hopes to get out of it, and what the direction of travel is for grid operators around Great Britain.

Finlay Colville, head of market research at Solar Media, discusses today’s TerraForm Power deal and takes a look at what it means in broader terms for both the UK market and SunEdison.

As UK Solar’s build-phase approaches a hibernation, services such as optimisation and O&M are all the rage. This is seemingly not lost on some energy giants who are beginning to position themselves to cater for such demand. Are they set to take more than their fair share of the pie? Liam Stoker discusses.

Following a year in which much progress has been made, Lauren Cook recaps a productive 2016 for the Irish solar market and casts her eyes forward at 2017.