Blogs

Today saw a record-breaking 1,700 people flood through the gates of Hall Five of the NEC for yet another jam-packed day of UK solar action.

The first day of Solar Power UK has seen over 1,400 visitors, 179 exhibitors, 32 seminars and a whole host of solar announcements take place. Today’s turnout and general levels of optimism amongst attendees proves once more what a resilient industry solar in the UK is becoming.

In a nutshell, microinverters convert direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC) for the grid directly from each individual solar panel, rather than through a central string inverter system, increasing the productivity, reliability and ease of installation of solar systems. The idea is not a new one, but for decades microinverter technology struggled to get off the ground.

So “what actually happens during G59 commissioning” is a question I was asked earlier this week. It came up, as we had been doing exactly that, deep in the bowels of Kings Cross Station.

The newly-introduced feed-in tariff (FiT) degression model means that, yet again, the amount of money a household gets for each kWh of solar energy they put back in the utility grid has declined. From November 2012, systems smaller than 4kWp will only receive 15.44p/kWh.

I was horrified by the results of a recent survey which suggests many MCS Solar PV installers may be omitting some key PV array tests.

The National Solar Centre hopes to provide an excellent opportunity for the solar PV industry to grow, mature and thrive to become up to a 22GW market by 2020. Here’s how:

The Solar PV Guide was originally written for those working in the UK solar industry in 2002, with the second Edition released in 2006. Over the last 18 months, since the UK solar market has progressed to more than 1GW of installed capacity, the MCS PV working group has been working on a new version which will be released over the next few weeks. The following article summarises the main changes occurring.

Industry is seeing the first of the capacity triggered reductions in tariffs – the longer term, more regular, smaller cuts that are designed by Government to provide ‘stability and long-term security’ to the PV market. So now looks like a good time to assess the scheme and see whether it really can deliver.

When Greg Barker introduced the new tri-monthly degression model for the solar industry he promised us that it would prevent industry from “falling victim to boom and bust”. However, the latest installation figures show yet another boom and bust cycle in the aftermath of the August 1 cuts to the feed-in tariff.