Commercial & Residential Solar

Joining in the race for the first solar farm in the UK, Bristol-based Green Company has revealed plans to lease approximately 400 hectares of land in the Holsworthy area of Devon to cover with solar panels.

Welwyn Hatfield Council, Hertfordshire, has been nominated by heating contractor EAGA to pilot a scheme for the installation of photovoltaic panels on approximately 400 local council homes, depending on their suitability. This project adds to several other carbon reduction council initiatives across the country.

As we enter another month, another planning application is submitted for a utility-scale solar park. This time the location is Somerset; the application for the 10 acre park submitted to Taunton Deane Council this week.

Situated on the Glastonbury festival farmland, Britain’s largest privately owned solar power plant is now fully operational. Conventionally home to residents of the furry variety, the 1,500m2 cowshed roof will now feature a huge array of over 1,000 solar panels. Solarsense UK, specialist in agricultural and industrial photovoltaic installations in the south west, has now competed the 200kW plant…

The Climate Change Fund programme has now installed its 100th solar photovoltaic system in Islington, London. The scheme, aimed at encouraging microgeneration and energy efficiency in homes in the area, is working towards cutting borough-wide CO2 emissions by 15% by the end of 2011.

Adding to numerous other companies in the race for the first large-scale solar power plant in the UK, Dorset developer Eco Sustainable Solutions reveals its plans to power more than 1,000 homes each year. If it is given the go ahead the thirty acre 5MW project, known as Parley Solar Farm, will also save more than 1,100 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

A village near Ely in Cambridgeshire could soon be home to a five megawatt solar power plant, becoming East Anglia’s biggest installation to date. Local firm Abbey Renewables has outlined plans to build the 35-acre solar farm in Wilburton on land on Mingay Farm along Twenty Pence Road in the village.

It is no surprise that since the good news about the future of the UK’s feed-in tariff was revealed there have been several announcements about renewable energy projects across the country. In line with this trend, installer Solarcentury has received financial support from Investment management firm Foresight.

Three solar schemes are to be implemented on the Isle of Wight, at land in Blackwater, Newchurch and Porchfield. Two of the plants will be developed by German company Kronos, while the third is to be constructed by new Island firm, Island Energy. All three projects are expected to be complete by the summer of 2011.

Since the Government’s announcement last week in the Spending Review that the feed-in tariff would not be cut, many companies have been given the green light for their UK solar plans. Free home solar company A Shade Greener is no exception.