scotland

Solar thermal manufacturer AES Solar has opened a new office in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh as it looks to expand its presence.

Changes at the top of the Solar Trade Association have continued with the appointment of two new chairs at its Scotland office.

An ambitious project to convert the “grey fleet” of a care home for old folk in Scotland to a sustainable “green fleet”, using solar PV and battery energy storage, was winner of the Residential, Commercial and Industrial-scale Storage Project category at last week’s Solar Power Portal Awards. Andy Colthorpe spoke with the project’s senior design engineer, Jonothan Oxford of Wattstor.

Glasgow City Council has installed 350kW of solar PV across seven schools as part of its Carbon Management Plan.

Plans for the largest solar farm in Scotland have been approved, allowing Elgin Energy to construct what is expected to be a subsidy-free 20MW development on the north coast.

Rooftop solar panels in towns and cities across Scotland were able to generate more than the average home’s demand for electricity throughout May in an “extraordinary month for renewables”, according to WWF Scotland.

The Scottish government has set a target to deliver half the country’s heat, transport and electricity needs from renewable sources by 2030, despite ongoing support for the recovery of oil and gas production.

The Scottish government has been urged to throw its weight behind the country’s solar industry after what WWF Scotland labelled a “landmark year” for renewables.

The first and largest solar farm in Scotland, built by family ice cream company Mackie’s, has hit one year of electricity generation.

The solar industry was singled out for cuts in subsidy support by the UK government, new Scottish energy minister Paul Wheelhouse MSP told a conference in Edinburgh on Tuesday.