News

Government’s Renewable Energy Roadmap, which was published on Tuesday alongside the Electricity Market Reform paper, has left the UK solar sector feeling a little dejected after the technology was excluded from a list of eight renewable energy sources expected to play a key role in the country’s energy mix through 2020.

Fronius, the Austrian inverter manufacturer, has increased customer confidence by extending its product warranty to 20 years. From July 1 until the end of October 2011 Fronius customers will receive a 20 year warranty on their inverters for the same price as a ten year one.

Members of the Micropower Council, the Building Council for Sustainable Energy UK, the British Photovoltaic Association, the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association and the Combined Heat & Power Association will today appeal to the House of Lords to seriously consider the fast-track feed-in tariff adjustments.

Just seven weeks after being granted planning permission, Conergy Group has finished installing the UK’s largest solar plant. The 5MW free-field system is located in the parish of Hawton near Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire and will feed back 4,860 MWh of electricity into the national grid.

The Government is set to invest £110 billion in revamping the UK’s electricity generation infrastructure, according to a new White Paper from the Department of Energy and Climate Change. It aims to raise the percentage of renewable energy sources in the country's electricity generation portfolio from 7% to 30% by 2030.

Shropshire-based salad grower PDM Produce now benefits from solar energy thanks to its recently-installed 140kWp roof-mounted system. The company decided to install a solar energy system as it was keen to do something to reduce its carbon footprint but was also concerned with the impact that rising electricity costs will have on business.

A project to install a 40kW solar photovoltaic installation on the rooftops of Norwich City Hall looks set to be given the go-ahead, when the City Council’s cabinet meets next week.

Consumer watchdog Which? is this week calling on energy companies not to push for the hard sale when installing smart meters in the UK. This news comes after Government pledged to ensure every home in Great Britain has a smart meter by 2020, at a cost of £11.3 billion.

HomeSun has hit back at big energy firms which have increased their prices yet again, claiming that green energy solutions could insulate customers from the ‘whim of these power companies’.

Marks & Spencer has become the latest victim of Government’s feed-in tariff cuts as the retail chain is forced to abandon plans for a large-scale solar system at its Bradford distribution centre.