Blogs

Trade shows and site visits aside, I don’t often get the opportunity to unshackle myself from my desk and get up-close and personal with the subject of my daily musings, so, when I was offered the chance to learn how to install actual solar panels on a real-life roof, I grabbed it with both hands. Making our way to Trade Skills 4U’s Crawley-based head office, Solar Power Portal’s latest intern, Sam Pilgrim and I donned our hard hats and high visibility jackets…

Everyone engaged in property matters will have come across the installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, in order to reduce electricity consumption from the grid and to take advantage of Government’s feed- in tariff (FiT) scheme. Social landlords and local authorities are making moves to undertake feasibilities and to commission installations, some with a wary eye on Government’s review of the FiT tariffs in April 2012. A key issue for their feasibility thinking is whether to self-fund installations or to do so via a third party, also known as the ‘rent-a-roof’ option.

Ever since the first mention of the Fast Track Feed-in Tariff Review the question of just how many projects will beat the August 1 cut-off has been a burning one. As it turns out, Ofgem’s figures on this won’t be published for a while, so I thought I’d document exactly who has installed what and where in order to showcase…

We don’t drill and bolt within Sundog Energy, however I have been asked about this a number of times recently.

I am getting quite a few folks asking for a copy of the draft … the story is that we are nearly there but a couple of sections remain that haven’t been looked at yet.

The UK solar industry is booming and is set to expand even more in the coming years. With the cost of energy continuing to rise, domestic and commercial users are looking at alternative forms of savings, generating energy themselves, and with Government incentives enabling owners to earn money by feeding their electricity back into the national grid, renewable energy technologies are proving to be a popular choice.

Sunny Britain has a big vision: to bring solar power to the people. By grouping people from the same area together, residents can benefit from cheaper solar panels on their homes with reliable support and minimum hassle. Through empowering communities to team up as a group, Sunny Britain is able to negotiate savings on the equipment, installation and maintenance from local suppliers which means that people can save up to 50% on the cost of installing solar panels.

Just found out that someone has started a new UK solar PV company with the name Suncat. Now it may be a coincidence, but seems like we could be running into territory best described by the saying “Imitation is the best form of flattery”.

I think it is fair to say that the UK solar industry has spent the past 12 months screaming out to a Government which has not been listening. This has been a frustrating experience, made all the…

Life after the feed-in tariff review suddenly became a bit clearer yesterday as politicians, industry players and other supporters met at the House of Commons to discuss the future of solar technology in the UK.