Solar Markets & Finance

The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has confirmed that both the Carbon Trust and the Energy Saving Trust will no longer receive core Government funding. This news comes after the coalition revealed its deficit reduction program, but again works against the promise to become the ‘greenest Government ever’.

UK-based timber and builders merchant Covers has signed an agreement with Azur Solar Systems, which will install solar photovoltaics on as many of its 12 sites as are suitable. With branches located in Chichester, Bognor, Portsmouth and Brighton the company hopes to meet a significant portion of its own energy needs.

Leading international solar power engineering, contracting and distribution company Colexon Energy is opening a UK-based solar warehouse and showroom in Rye, East Sussex. Introducing its Colexon Flex kit series, featuring premium components including First Solar panels, SMA inverters and Würth mounting systems, the company firmly enters the UK solar market.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has confirmed that the DECC will go ahead with its fourth carbon budget, increasing the emissions target to 80% by 2050. The decision has been made in the wake of the Committee on Climate Change report revealed last week.

After months of unnecessary planning applications submitted for solar installations, Shadow Energy and Climate Change Minister Huw Irranca-Davies has stepped up to ensure UK councils are not giving misleading advice to homeowners. After receiving advice from David Hunt, Director of Darlington-based Eco Environments, Irranca-Davies has pledged to write to his Government counterparts, urging them to take action.

British Gas Community Energy has acquired PH Jones Group, the provider of central heating services to the social housing market, for £30 million in cash. This deal marks a major step in the company’s strategy to build its social housing energy services business and help social housing providers across the UK to cut their residents’ energy use, carbon emissions and fuel bills.

Prime Minister David Cameron has made an agreement on emissions that extends past the 2020 boundary, it has been reported. Expected to be announced in full tomorrow, the decision will extend the UK’s carbon budget beyond the existing 2020 deadline up to 2027, and call for a shake-up in the way the country’s energy…

Commercial and public organisations who want to generate their own electricity from solar power can now benefit from a new partnership formed between ethical banking specialist Triodos Bank and Solarcentury, the UK-based solar energy company. Through the affiliation, Triodos Bank will own solar installations, making it easier for more people to take advantage of the sun’s power.

A selection ‘green’ UK companies have been shortlisted for this year’s Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) Environmental Leadership Awards. Having been through the rigorous judging process and visited by an expert assessor, the 13 finalists demonstrate that UK companies can demonstrate environmental initiative, according to BCE Awards president Sir Anthony Cleaver.

This morning the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published its much-anticipated report on renewables. Outlining the potential green energy has in the UK, the research identifies several possibilities, including solar photovoltaics and solar thermal, and discusses what role each one can play in increasing the energy mix on the…