News

This morning the pupils of Hinchley Wood School had more than SATs to get out of bed for. Congratulating the ‘Green Flag’ school on its environmental initiative; impressionist, environmentalist and solar power advocate Alistair McGowan travelled to Surrey to open the brand new solar installation, which is one of the largest in the UK.

As we move steadily through the month of May, it is exciting to see that the solar photovoltaics industry is till ploughing forward, despite the various setbacks thrown in its path since conception back in 2010. In fact, regulator Ofgem recorded over 10MW of new installations in the month of April 2011 alone, up from just 0.982MW for the same…

Providing a much-needed boost to the UK solar industry, SKYShades, the lightweight, thin-film flexible solar power roofing company, is sponsoring The SKYShades Garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. As part of its official launch at the world-renowned exhibition, the company will be showcasing the world’s first retractable photovoltaic awning.

Spirit Solar designed and installed this 9.945kWp solar PV roof mounted system on the Bourne End Community Centre. Completed on the March 25 this year, the installation has already generated 2,100 kilowatt hours.

Lancashire-based Solar Power PV Ltd., has completed another 4kWp residential solar installation in Barrowford. The system, consisting of 16 x 250w CNPV black framed monocrystalline panels and a SolarMax 4200S inverter is situated on the clients roof.

Solar Power Portal reader Neil Dixon got in touch last week as he noticed that there seemed to be a lot of content regarding PV installations in the South of England, and whilst he accepts that the North East is not generally regarded as tropical, it does have great solar potential. In fact, Mr. Dixon’s own property features a 3.29kWp system, installed by the Mark Group.

Solar Power PV Ltd., the Lancashire based installer of commercial and residential PV systems, has just completed the first installation phase for The Sidings (Whalley) Ltd. Comprising of 86 x 200w CNPV Monocrystalline panels and a combination of SolarMax 13 MT & 3000S inverters to produce a 17.2kWp system.  This is the first of seven phases which, when completed in June of this year, will total 110kWp comprising of around 550 panels.

A selection ‘green’ UK companies have been shortlisted for this year’s Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) Environmental Leadership Awards. Having been through the rigorous judging process and visited by an expert assessor, the 13 finalists demonstrate that UK companies can demonstrate environmental initiative, according to BCE Awards president Sir Anthony Cleaver.

In the space of just six weeks Southern Solar has completed the largest privately-owned solar photovoltaics installation in the UK. Situated on the roof of a poultry farm in Herefordshire, the 300kWp system features 1,600 solar PV panels covering 2,000m2 of south-facing roof.

Mage Solar has launched a Europe-wide installer road show, which kicked off with two intensive workshops held in the UK. A total of 18 installers from 10 trade businesses from Southern England were invited to expand their expertise in the photovoltaic field and get to know the integral coordinated Mage Solar system components hands on.