Commercial & Residential Solar

Kettering-based Street Energy is launching a new scheme offering free PV systems for over 500 Midlands homes. The arrangement will see Street Energy utilise the ‘roof-lease’ model, whereby it will receive the benefits of the Government’s feed-in tariff (FiT) in exchange for installing the 2.8kW systems at no cost to the homeowner.

Reading Borough Council is considering installing solar panels on the town’s schools and council buildings in an attempt to tackle escalating energy costs. On Wednesday the council’s cabinet met to discuss the feasibility of the £5 million solar scheme.

Sputnik’s SolarMax inverters will convert the electricity from Solarcentury's recently-completed 5MW plant to the UK power grid. The system, located on Mingay Farm in Cambridgeshire, is the joint largest development in the country and was installed before the FiT-reduction deadline.

HomeSun is launching a new campaign to help raise awareness about the UK’s solar subsidy scheme. The campaign is being run with the help of public relations agency Hanover and aims to boost solar installations among residential users nationwide.

Four of the UK’s most respected solar brands have launched a new campaign to educate homeowners to about solar technology. The Our Solar Britain initiative will offer a range of resources and social media profiles on its website to provide advice and respond to questions on everything from feed-in tariffs to environmental benefits.

While Whitehall has done its best to undermine the UK solar industry over the past six months, many figures in local government continue to pledge their support for the sector. Jeremy Birch, the leader of Hastings Borough Council, is latest municipal politician to do just this after urging residents to make Hastings into a “solar-powered town”.

Ingliston Country Club on the outskirts of Glasgow has finished work on one of Scotland’s largest solar projects to date. The 120kW system cost £380,000 and spans 820m2 of roof space on the country club’s 200-stable horse riding centre.

Solar module producer and distributor aleo solar has joined together with Low Carbon Exchange (LCE) and Tigo Energy under the consortium name LCX Solar for the supply of premium modules and inverters to UK housing association Alliance Homes. The signed framework agreement allows for the delivery of a comprehensive service portfolio from a single source.

The University of Nottingham’s Creative Energy Homes ‘Green Close’ is now home to Mark Group’s C60 research house, which is designed to demonstrate how a range of different renewable and energy saving technologies, including solar power, can work together.

Clwyd Alyn Housing Association, part of the Pennaf Housing Group, is to invest £2 million in solar panels for 300 of its tenants. Building contractors Lovell Partnerships and their sub-contractors SolarTech have been appointed to carry out the work.