PV

Given the growth in solar PV installations in the last couple of years, news of what is believed to be the UK’s first PV system fire should not, perhaps, have been unexpected.

When C Changes Ltd was contracted to install a solar PV system on Derbyshire-based church it was faced with a challenge. Unlike the more familiar domestic installations, this project required in-depth discussions with both English Heritage and the Lead Sheet Association (LSA).

A Kilmacolm farmer has converted from horse power to solar power by installing a 40-panel solar installation at West Glen Farm.

Caplor Energy has recently completed a 48kWp solar installation for a Brecon-based Garden Centre. The system, which forms part of the Old Railway Line Garden Centre’s redevelopment programme, will help reduce carbon emissions while increasing annual income.

A rural garage in Teesdale is set to install an electric car recharging point which will offer free charging to local residents. David Hutchinson, owner of Mickleton Service Station has applied for permission to install 16 solar panels and a charging point.

Severnside Housing, one of Shropshire’s largest social landlords, has installed solar panels at its offices and sheltered housing schemes across the midlands area, which will reduce the housing provider’s annual carbon emissions by more than 27 tonnes.

Bourne Park Industrial Estate in West Dorset has had more than 1,000 solar panels installed on farmland adjacent to the estate. The solar panels are expected to produce enough energy to power the equivalent of 100 households every year, significantly reducing the industrial estate’s carbon footprint.

Driffield Rugby Club has enlisted the services of local solar installer, Dodds Solar, to install a £35,000 array on the roof of its Kelleythorpe clubhouse.

British Airways has used its One Destination Carbon Fund to fund the installation of solar panel on the Osprey Leisure Centre near Weymouth. Triple Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie officially unveiled the solar array, set to help the centre slash its utility bills and carbon footprint.

The embryonic electric vehicle (EV) market is often derided as an impractical solution to a complex problem or whose importance is recognised but current cost and technological short-comings prohibit its wide-scale adoption. Sound familiar?