News

In a bid to stop the confusion surrounding some of the UK’s energy initiatives, E.ON has reinforced its commitment to help UK customers understand and take advantage of programmes such as the Green Deal and smart metering. The move comes after reports from the Committee on Climate Change and the National Audit Office which echoed E.ON’s concern that customers remain bewildered by measures designed to help them reduce energy consumption.

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) has this week published a revised estimate for how much money a typical household can save by installing solar panels. By assuming that most UK homeowners are out of the house during the day the EST claims that solar systems will now save just £70 a year.

UK-based solar developer Lightsource Renewable Energy has today connected the UK’s largest solar installation to the national grid. At 1.4MW the project is also the first to be completed in the South West of the country, where the majority of large-scale plants are set to go ahead.

Ecotricity has today completed its ground-breaking 1MW solar parkin Lincolnshire, which is expected to be among only a handful of large-scale projects completed in the UK. The huge installation of solar panels has been constructed on Fen Farm on land next to the Conisholme 20-turbine wind farm and is expected to generate enough electricity for nearly 300 average homes each year for the next 25 years.

Solar South West has completed a 1.2MW solar PV project for warehouse and transport company J B Wheaton & Sons in South Chard, Somerset. Their management, already enthusiastic about sustainable business practices, was committed to optimising the company’s warehouse for solar energy.

Government HQ has today revealed that it has cut carbon emissions by almost 14% in just one year, trumping the 10% target set when the Coalition first entered office. The Prime Minister has now set an increased objective to further cut emissions by 25% by 2015.

A major refurbishment of the headquarters of the Ocean Housing Group in St Austell means that the building now showcases a state-of-the-art photovoltaic installation featuring an integrated Kingspan Roof PowerPanel system. The initial phase of the project, which was completed in October 2010, involved replacing the old asbestos roof with over 1200m2 of Kingspan KS1000 RW insulated panels.

Landmark buildings in Cambridge are soon to be recognized for their solar generating power as the council looks to cash in on the Government’s feed-in tariff scheme. By installing solar panels on buildings such as the Corn Exchange and on the roofs of Parkside pools the £430,000 project will also reduce the area’s carbon footprint.

Yorkshire-based Solar Europa has begun work on what is thought to be one of the largest free solar schemes in the UK. Under a £1.2 billion contract signed with project finance specialist AD-ECO, the scheme will see approximately 200,000 council and housing association tenants across the country benefitting from solar panel installations.

Waverley council has signed a deal with Savills Solar for the roll out of solar power across the borough’s social housing sector. A total of 3,000 homes will be checked by Savills for suitability for the scheme, which will see residents benefit from free renewable electricity.