Large-Scale Solar

London-based Solarcentury has received the highly prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise. The prize, honored on an annual basis by HM the Queen, has been presented to the company for outstanding business performance, corporate social responsibility and excellence in innovation for its C21e solar electric roof tile and slate.

Wagner Solar UK today opened its doors to UK installers as it officially launched the Wagner Academy training programme. Run by expert instructors, the school will provide product training directly to PV and solar thermal installers in a bid to promote a better understanding of the latest products and installation techniques.

Having received planning permission from Lewes District Council OVESCO will today begin raising money for what could be the very first community-owned power station in the UK. By launching…

Western Isles Council has confirmed that an outline proposal for a large-scale solar park in Lewis has been submitted by Surrey-based NGN Telecoms. The project, which could become one of the largest energy projects of its kind in the UK, would comprise 25,000 solar panels totalling more than 140,000 square feet.

Amid all of the uncertainty surrounding the larger solar power installations at present, it is encouraging to hear that a 99.9kWp system has been completed in Oxfordshire. Spanning two barn roofs, John Woolcock’s farm now features integrated solar technology, which has been developed for agricultural buildings…

Although plans for some of the large-scale solar parks in the UK are going ahead, not all are so optimistic. A solar park intended to be installed on the outskirts of Weymouth is now on hold as the company responsible for developing it waits to hear the results of the fast-track feed-in tariff review.

The Royal Bath & West of England Society has announced that it plans to carry on with work on its 14ha (approximately 5MW) solar photovoltaic park, despite Government’s recently announced feed-in tariff review.

Centrosolar UK has introduced its ‘54-cell Excellent’ module to the UK solar market. From April this year UK customers will be able to take advantage of solar panels containing four more cells than the former 50-cell panels of the ‘S-Class Excellent’ series.

Regen SW’s annual renewable energy report has revealed a rapid growth in the number renewable electricity projects in the south west of the UK over the past year. The majority of these installations were dominated by domestic solar photovoltaic installations. However, the report also highlights that Government’s recent policy reviews have the potential to put a stop to this growth.

Molecular Solar, the spin-out of Warwick University, is working with Imperial College London and several other firms to develop prototype high-efficiency multi-junction organic solar cells. In order to help with the commercialization of this next generation technology the consortium as received a total of £1.4 million in funding from the Technology Strategy Board and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.