Weekly solar installations break 10MW barrier

The weekly number of sub 50kW solar photovoltaic installations has broken through the 10MW barrier for the first time this year.

The week ending 16 June 2013 saw 2,399 installations completed across the UK, representing 10.02MW of installed capacity.

The last time that the solar industry installed more than 10MW-a-week of sub 50kW was in November 2012 when the FiT rate degressed by 3.5% from 16p/kWh.  

The growth in installations marks a 30.23% increase from the installation rate at the beginning of the month. Of the 2,399 installs completed at the end of 16 June, 2,245 were in the 0-4kW tariff band.   

The surge in installs has been driven by an increase in demand for domestic scale systems (0-4kW) as customers look to install systems before the FiT rate is reduced on 1 July. The solar industry had reacted angrily to the new reference date of 1 July, after DECC shortened the expected reference period by one month.

Commenting on the shortening of the available period, Andy O’Leary business development manager at Sibert Solar told Solar Power Portal: “This decision has obviously caused a little consternation in the industry, for a variety of reasons including lack of prior notification of intent, less time to install at the respective rate for that period, staffing holiday adjustments etc.”

The weekly installation rates can be viewed in the table below: