Household energy consumption falls by 24.7% in six years
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The average household energy consumption in the UK fell by almost a quarter from 2005 to 2011, according to the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In England and Wales the average household energy consumption stood at 19.7MWh in 2011, a 24.7% decrease on the 2005 average of 26.2MWh per year.
UK solar PV grows 520MW in Q1 2013
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Demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in the United Kingdom (UK) grew significantly to reach 520MW in the first quarter of 2013, driven by a strong push from large-scale ground-mount PV projects completed during March 2013. Cumulative PV demand in the UK has now exceeded 2.5GW.
EC levies duty rates on Chinese solar companies
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The European Commission will impose solar duties on Chinese-manufactured solar products. As of 6 June 2013, a tariff rate of 11.8% will be introduced. On 6 August 2013, the rate will return to the levels originally proposed by the EC with an average of 46.7%.
The duties follow analysis which showed that Chinese exporters took advantage of growing consumption in the EU by lowering prices and therefore increasing its market share. For modules, the average import price decreased by 64%, the average import price of cells from China dropped by 42% and the average import price of wafers decreased by 40 %. As a result, the EC said Chinese exporters had caused injury to the European Union and determined the duty rates based on Europressedienst’s findings.
Ofgem confirms FIT rates to Oct’13
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Ofgem has confirmed the feed-in tariff rates (FiT) for solar photovoltaic technology for the period starting 1 July 2013 until 1 October 2013.
The new FiT rates for installations with an eligibility date on or after 1 July 2013 are as follows:
Description
FiT rate p/kWh
0-4kW 14.90
>4-10kW 13.50
>10-50kW 12.57
>50-100kW 11.10
>100-150kW 11.10
>150-250kW 10.62
>250kW-5MW 6.85
Stand-alone 6.85
Export tariff 4.64
Despite installations in the 0-50kW range falling short of the stated capacity triggers, the 0-4kW, >4-10kW, >10-50kW will all degress by 3.5% as a result of the controversial automatic degression model that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) included as part of the revised feed-in tariff.
Industry had been expecting the feed-in tariff rates to be changed from 1 August in line with the regular quarterly reviews, however, DECC moved the reference date forward one month to 1 July. Industry reacted angrily to the changing of reference dates due to the lack of warning or formal announcement.
All tariff bands >50kW will remain the same as last quarter as the rates for all >50kW bands were reduced by 3.5% across the board on 1 May. The 3.5% reduction in <50kW bands, although modest, hits the feed-in tariffs most popular capacities -- for the week ending 21 April, there was 7.9MW of solar capacity installed within the <50kW bands.
Solafields is expanding!
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Our portfolio of projects is rapidly growing and so is our team. Please check our jobs page for more details.
More than 10% of UK power now comes from renewables
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Renewable energy is powering forward in the UK, according to the 2012 update to the Renewable Energy Roadmap published today by Energy Secretary Edward Davey.
Significant progress has been made on the rollout of renewable energy across the United Kingdom from July 2011 to July 2012, including a 40 per cent increase over the same period in renewable electricity capacity. Now over 10 per cent of all electricity generated is coming from renewables and a five-fold increase in solar PV capacity.
The Roadmap shows that the UK is on track to meeting our first interim target on the way to the ambitious European target to source 15% of all energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Edward Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “It’s a fantastic achievement that more than ten percent of our power now comes from renewables, given the point from which we started.”
The Roadmap also shows that in the last year the cost of solar PV has fallen by 50%, with the technology now identified as a key technology in the Roadmap update.
20GW of UK PV for 2020
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DECC has revised its estimate of PV’s large-scale ground-mounted deployment potential to March 2017 from 720MW to 4.6GW, a welcome acknowledgment of the case we put forward. Note however that DECC emphasises this is not a target, but a modelling assumption of the “maximum technical deployment potential of large-scale ground-mounted solar PV in the UK in this period”. From modelling undertaken with National Grid, DECC consider that 20 GW of solar PV (both large- and small-scale) is the theoretical technical maximum that can be accommodated on the grid by 2020.
Government confirm support for large solar in the UK
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Solar photovoltaic (PV) industry developers were today given certainty on projects to be supported under the Government’s Renewables Obligation (RO).
Edward Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “We want to see a healthy solar industry that grows in a sustainable way. That’s why our support levels reflect the fall in the cost of the technology.”
In order to incentivise solar projects on buildings, building-mounted solar PV projects will receive higher rates than ground-mounted projects. This will encourage the installation of solar projects at large factory or warehouse buildings.
From 1st April 2013, ground mounted projects will get 1.6 ROCs per MWh and building-mounted projects will be 1.7 ROCs per MWh. Both levels are higher than in the original consultation document.
DECC also confirmed that developers of solar PV installations will continue to able to choose between the Feed in Tariff scheme and the Renewables Obligation for projects between 50kW and 5MW.
Climate Change Minister quotes 22GW by 2020 but clarify it is a solar ambition
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Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has once again publicly declared his desire to see the UK solar market reach 22GW by 2020.
However, he said the target was only aspirational and would depend on the solar indsutry’s ability to continue driving down costs.
During parliamentary questions, Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint called on Barker to include his 22GW solar ambition in the upcoming renewables energy roadmap, stating: “As installations flatline, Ministers have clung to the line that their plans will allow 4 million homes to be solar powered, with 22GW of solar to be installed by 2020.
“Will the plan for 22GW, which was announced in April, still be the government’s policy when they publish their renewable road map, or does he now accept that, because of his cuts, Britain will not reach that target for at least another 30 years?”
Barker responded: “What we said about deployment rates is that we have the potential to deploy 22GW if we can continue to drive down the cost of solar.”
The Minister continued: “22GW is certainly our ambition, but in order to meet that ambition we need not just deployment, but deployment at a level that the country can afford. That is what we are about on the government benches—delivering renewables at a rate that the country can afford and that delivers good value to consumers, as opposed to the open handed, open cheque book, high-cost model deployed under the Labour Party.”
Following the questions at Parliament, Barker took to social media site Twitter to state:
@GregBarkerMP
Reaffirmed at Questions commitment to massive expansion of solar but success depends on driving to grid parity this decade
1 Nov 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Twitter user Martyn Williams probed the minister further, asking: “Is that reaffirmation the aim is 22GW then?” Barker replied:
@GregBarkerMP
@MartynWilliams2 Absolutely! my ambition remains 22GW but we need further leap in cost reduction in whole supply chain to achieve it #solar
1 Nov 12
The Minister previously caused confusion in the solar market after declaring on Twitter last February: “My new solar ambition a reformed FiT to deliver 22 GW of PV by 2020.” The ambiguous wording of the message led many in the UK solar industry to believe that 22GW by 2020 was an explicit DECC target. However, it was later revealed that the 22GW figure was taken from a central scenario projection from a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Impact Assessment. As such, DECC has been keen to make clear that 22GW by 2020 is an ambition not a target. Barker came under heavy criticism for seemingly “making policy by tweets”, the industry said.
Certain members of the solar industry have become frustrated by the lack of an explicit capacity target for solar. DECC has reiterated that it does not set explicit targets for any technology covered under the Renewable Obligation or feed-in tariff schemes. Solar’s upcoming inclusion in DECC’s renewable energy roadmap should go someway to alleviating fears in the industry that solar is being marginalised by the government. However, the back drop of declining residential installs and a proposed cut to large scale support has left many feeling pessimistic about solar’s future in the UK.
Government confirms solar farms will be able to choose incentive mechanisms
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The Government has today announced that it will be retaining the current arrangements which allow new small-scale electricity generators from 50kW up to 5MW in scale the option of choosing support from the Renewables Obligation or Feed-in Tariff scheme.