PV

Chesham open air swimming pool has turned to solar photovoltaic technology to help mitigate the rising cost of electricity and dramatically reduce its carbon footprint.

Bradford Royal Infirmary has invested in slashing its operating costs as well as its carbon footprint by investing in a solar array.

The University of West England (UWE) has installed over 80kWp of solar across its Frenchay Campus in its quest to halve the university’s carbon emissions by 2021.

Kidderminster-based solar specialist, Eco2Solar, is hoping to inspire local people to consider their environmental impacts after installing a soar array at Northfield Ecocentre.

Thames Water has completed the installation of 28 solar arrays across its water treatment plants.

Liverpool drinks giant, Halewood International, has installed one of the region’s largest solar arrays – a huge 250kWp array on the roof of its Huyton production plant. The company, which produces well-known brands such as Lambrini, Crabbies and Tsingtao, turned to Manchester-based renewable energy specialists, Reef Solutions, to design and install the solar power plant.

Humans have always made use of solar energy. When man’s earliest ancestor realised that a patch of sunlight was warmer than the shade, or that rocks heated all day by the sun remained warm long into the night, solar energy was being used.

Mitsubishi Motors’ UK head office has now become a solar-fuelled power plant thanks to the successful installation of a 50kWp solar array on its roof in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

So here we go again. Government has announced that feed-in tariff levels for solar PV installations are to be reduced again effective from the August 1. At first sight, this would appear to make installation of a solar roof unviable. But that isn’t the case, for two key reasons.

The first of the tri-monthly degression cuts to the feed-in tariff (FiT) is almost upon us. From Wednesday, all <4kW systems installed will receive 16p/kWh – a 63 percent drop in subsidy level since December 2011. Under the new framework, FiT rates will continue to tumble at regular intervals. To the casual observer, solar is getting less and less attractive.