A town in Cornwall is hoping to become the first 'solar powered town'.
Wadebridge in North Cornwall has begun installing solar panels on buildings across the town.
The town has set itself a target of generating at least a third of its electricity from solar and wind power by 2015.
The project is being run by the Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN), a not-for-profit co-operative.
WREN aims to have 1MW of solar installed across its buildings by April 2012 and 7MW by 2015.
The Network is also exploring other technologies to help reduce the towns' dependence on fossil fuels, including wind; tidal stream generation; biomass and renewably generated electric transport.
WREN has launched a 'Solar Club' offering building owners competitive rates on solar PV by pooling purchases.
Those who do not want to pay for the up-front cost will have systems owned by the ethical bank Triodos - who will reinvest the Feed-in tariff income in other renewables projects and ethical, sustainable business opportunities.
The current feed-in tariff limitations could prove a handicap for the project, however.
WREN founder, Stephen Frankel, said: "In contrast to recent green announcements, their success could be limited due to Government proposals to restrict the size of solar installations in the UK.
"Proposals to limit the Feed-in tariff, payment for clean electricity, to small 50kWp systems means the town wouldn't go ahead with mid to large scale projects which would bring much needed income into their community fund and help the town meet their renewable energy targets.
WREN is also planning a "solar allotment" scheme in conjunction with local company e-tricity, where members could own shares in larger projects.
The scheme is on hold for now due to the government's proposed changes to the tariff.
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Cornwall aims to have first solar powered town
26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition REVE - Regulación Eólica con Vehículos Eléctricos -
The 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (26th EU PVSEC) will take place in Hamburg, Germany, at the CCH Congress Centre and International Fair Hamburg. The Conference extends over 5 days from 5-9 September 2011, the Exhibition runs over 4 days from 5-8 September 2011.The 26th EU PVSEC offers a unique platform to present innovative results and ideas to PV specialists and decision makers from all continents. For many years now, the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition has combined a renowned international scientific conference with a leading PV industry exhibition. Every year, during 5 days of conference and 4 days of fair, new products and technical innovations from all areas of photovoltaics and from all over the world are on show.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Monday, 23 May 2011
Councils urged to stop fleecing UK homeowners - Solar Power Portal
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.
Planning rules state that Building Regulations applications are not needed if the homeowner uses a contractor approved under the Government’s Competent Person Scheme. However, Hunt claims a number of councils are going against Government’s guidance by wrongly telling people they require planning permission or Building Regulations approval which costs £77. This kind of permission has actually not been required since 2008.
Hunt fears the problem may be widespread as Eco Environments has received a number of reports from customers stating that certain councils were insisting households apply for Building Regulations approval prior to installing solar panels. In fact, some councils have served notice on homeowners who had already fitted them.
“The Governments rules are clear. Even in a conservation area, planning should be permitted and Building Regulations should not be necessary as long as the homeowner notifies the local authority and uses accredited installers. The Government needs to make it absolutely clear to local authorities everywhere that they have a duty to adhere to these rules rather than standing in the way of progress.
“The majority of councils do comply, but a small number seem hell bent on causing as many problems as possible. By doing so, they are discouraging people from pursuing renewable energy solutions for their homes and cocking a snook at the Governments environmental agenda.”
Cathy Debenham, the Founder of renewable energy body You Gen said, "Councils lost an important revenue stream when they were told that they should no longer require planning permission for solar PV schemes.
“By trying to persuade homeowners into believing they do need permission, or at the very least Building Regulations approval, maybe they are attempting to cling on to some kind of ongoing income.
“What is the point of Government making laws if councils are going to ignore them? Any council which is pursuing such an agenda deserves to be held to account as their actions fly completely in the face of the Government's policy of encouraging homeowners and businesses to embrace renewable energy solutions wherever possible,” Debenham concluded.
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Wadebridge moves closer to becoming UK's first solar town - Solar Power Portal
Wadebridge in Cornwall has moved another step towards becoming the first solar powered town in the UK, as PV installations begin to go up across the municipality. The area aims to generate at least a third of its electricity from solar and wind power by 2015, which is the equivalent of 15,000MWh a year. By generating renewable energy at this level, Wadebridge will be able to benefit significantly from the UK’s feed-in tariff, enabling significant cash contributions for local community projects.
Driving the solar revolution, the Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) – a not-for-profit co-operative – is putting thousands of panels on the roofs of local homes, schools and businesses, allowing them to use the clean electricity, and collect the feed-in tariff for their community fund.
Friday, 20 May 2011
Nanotechnology-tuned solar cells
The sun has enough power to supply the whole earth with energy. But as long as renewable energy is more expensive than energy produced by coal or nuclear plants, solar energy won't be first choice. In Europe photovoltaic cells make only a vanishing small share of renewable energy sources. Researchers in UK, Switzerland and Germany aim to lower the costs and increase the efficiency. The N2P project is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology in Dresden, Germany. Here researchers developed a process to enhance the absorption qualities of solar cells for an invisible yet important part of sunlight, infrared light. Conventional solar cells hardly make use of this wavelength. Most of it passes through the cell and is lost. By removing the nano structured surface of the wafer on the rear side of the solar cell, using a chemical etching process, it is turns into a "mirror" that reflects the infrared rays back into the cell. As the light rays are scattered by the glass, they have a longer pathway through the silicon cell and thus generate more electrical current. So far the researchers were able to increase the efficiency by 30 percent if compared to the efficiency of standard thin film solar cells. Researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, are working on thin film solar cells. Thin film solar cells have on the one hand a lot of advantages: Producing them consumes less raw materials and energy than producing common solar cells. Additionally the time they need to pay off is shorter. On the other hand there is a drawback: currently their efficiency is about 40 percent lower than in conventional solar cells. Only seven percent of the sunlight can be exploited. To maximize the light trapping effect they do the opposite: they roughen the glass surface of thin film solar cells. This is done to diffuse the light. When the light beam has a longer way through the cell it generates more electrons.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
BBC News - Importing solar energy to Britain from abroad
In future Britain should consider importing solar energy from as far away as North Africa, according to a new report from the Committee on Climate Change.
The CCC - an independent body which advises the Government on energy policy - is currently resting its voice after singing the praises of another acronym.
CSP - or Concentrated Solar Power - apparently relies on "an array of mirrors to focus the sun's rays onto a small area (e.g. the top of a tower) to produce high temperatures that are then used to drive a steam turbine," according to the CCC's latest Renewable Energy Review.
"If sited in southern Europe or northern Africa, it could potentially make a significant contribution to the supply of renewable electricity for the UK," according to the report.
'Solar gold rush'Meanwhile - and as the review acknowledges - the government looks poised to slash the main subsidy on which Britain's nascent solar industry was pinning its hopes.
This is the Feed in Tariff (or FiT - yet another acronym) on the back of which Cornwall Council had been projecting a £1bn "solar gold rush".
Subject to the outcome of a recent consultation, the government is proposing a massive 70% reduction in the original rates for larger solar projects - that is, those generating more than 50kW.
Bad news for the Cornish gold rush, then.
And many in the renewable sector claim setting the threshold so low would also eliminate some of the relatively small community ventures the Government presumably wants to encourage - as well as the big commercial operators it's clearly got it in for.
Glimmer of hopeConsultation or no consultation, the Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has made it quite clear that there will be much leaner pickings for the industry in future.
He does, though, seem to be leaving the door ajar in terms of conceivably revisiting the 50kW threshold."Why should we even consider buying solar energy from Africa when we can generate it in the UK?”
But many in the industry see this as the only faint, flickering glimmer of hope amid an unremitting welter of bad news.
Set against this backdrop the Renewable Energy Review appears to be adding insult to injury.
"Why should we even consider buying solar energy from Africa when we can generate it in the UK?" asks Ken Moss, CEO of solar generator mO3 Power.
According to Mr Moss: "Buying solar power from the cheapest producer worldwide would be no better than our current reliance on oil."
Missed opportunity?Ray Noble, of the Renewable Energy Association, claims the CCC is "missing a great opportunity to support Britain's solar generation".
"We need to find a new energy strategy that will mix all the renewable energies if we are to meet our EU carbon commitments," he says.
"Germany has the most developed solar industry in the world and Britain's climatic conditions are identical - we cannot leave solar out of the equation.
"The beauty of Photovoltaic (PV) generation is it works on light, and annual light levels vary by less than 5%. Therefore the annual generation is more predictable than wind or hydro.
"Also, light levels are currently increasing year on year and so it would be reasonable that the unit cost of PV generation will decrease in the future," he said.
That may be so, but however conducive the South West might be to photovoltaic generation, we clearly can't compete with the Mediterranean when it comes to making the concentrated stuff.
Intense sunshineSetting forth "an array of mirrors on a tower" sounds like an admirably romantic and poetic enterprise.
But the clear message from the CCC is that it would profit a man nothing to do so in the Cornish countryside.
"Concentrated Solar Power is not suitable for generation within the UK," we are told, "as it requires intense sunshine and little cloud cover to be economic."
"Intense sunshine" is emphatically not a climatic scenario we're accustomed to in Cornwall.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
SolarIndustryMag.com: Content / FYI / PROINSO Launches Solar Training School For Installers
Spain-based PROINSO, a distributor of modules, inverters, trackers and fixed structures for solar photovoltaic installations, has launched the PROINSO Solar Training School initiative. This international training program for photovoltaic solar energy installers is aimed at the 1,406 companies within PROINSO's installer network.The company has signed agreements with PV training centers in several countries, including ICIM in Italy, EcoSkies in England, and centers in Greece, France, Canada and the U.S. PROINSO says it will provide specialized technical training for certain specified PV equipment brands.
PROINSO Solar Training School will also include seminars, training sessions and workshops organized in collaboration with manufacturers in several countries. Additional courses and information will be listed on PROINSO's website.
Monday, 9 May 2011
Coming to America: U.K. Solar Microinverter Startup Enecsys: Cleantech News and Analysis «
The leader of the U.S. solar microinverter market, Enphase Energy, needs to watch its back. On Tuesday U.K. startup Enecsys announced that it’s raised £25 million ($41 million) in equity to essentially try to conquer North America (work on product, boost sales in the U.S. and Canada).
Microinverters are mini, distributed versions of centralized large solar inverters, which convert electricity from solar panels from direct current to alternating current in order to be used on site or feed the grid. Each microinverter is typically paired with one panel. Centralized inverters have been used for decades and each can perform the job for an array of panels at a time, while the market for microinverters is newer and growing rapidly.
Enecsys started its life out of the labs at Cambridge University in 2003 and launched its first product in Europe last year, Peter Mathews, vice president of North America sales, told me recently. While Enecsys says it is the only supplier of microinverters in Europe now, the company is just now crossing the pond with its microinverters for North America.
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Surge in solar panel installations on UK household roofs | Environment | The Guardian
Householders rushing to put solar panels on their roof in order to take advantage of government subsidies have more than tripled the amount of solar power in the UK over the past year, figures published on Thursday show.
The lure of making nearly £1,000 a year has led to a record 11,314 people, largely homeowners, installing solar panels in the first three months of this year. The 'solar gold rush' appears to have been driven by the introduction of feed-in tariffs (Fits) last year, which pay businesses, groups and individuals for generating green energy.
The total amount of installed solar power in the UK has jumped from 26 megawatts (MW) before the scheme started on 1 April 2010, to 77.8MW at the end of March this year, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc). This takes the number of solar photovoltaic systems in the UK taking part in the Fits scheme to 28,505, alongside over a thousand micro wind turbines and just over 200 small hydro sites.
But despite the rise in demand, solar power under the Fits scheme still contributes only a tiny amount of the UK's total electricity generation. At 77.8MW, it accounts for just 0.104% of the 75GW provided by fossil fuel, nuclear and large scale renewable power plants. The UK's largest coal fired power station, Drax in Yorkshire, generates approximately 4,000MW.
The surge of installations in the past three months comes despite the government announcing a review of the feed-in tariffs in January, which is expected to reduce tariffs for large-scale solar farms in a bid to protect the scheme for homeowners.
Ray Noble, a solar PV specialist at Renewable Energy Association, told the Guardian: "The vast majority of these installs are domestic and the surge is a result of rising consumer awareness, with people telling one another about solar. It's not a rush to beat the government's solar review [announced in January] – most people haven't even heard of the review. But I think the figures would have been even higher without the review."
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Europolitics Photovoltaic power generation leaps forward in 2010
Solar photovoltaic (PV) power was the leading renewable energy technology in terms of new capacity installed in Europe in 2010. New figures released by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) detail PV capacity additions, in 2010, of 13.246 gigawatts (GW). This beats new wind capacity, of which 9,925 MW was added in 2010. The more than 13 GW new PV capacity added in 2010 compares to 4 GW for the rest of the world. In the EU, new PV capacity was second only to gas at 18-22 GW, depending on methodology and sources chosen. Thanks to the 13 GW installed in 2010, cumulative installed PV capacity in the EU rose from 16 GW to almost 30 GW.
EPIA links the increase in 2010 to the rapid growth in the German and Italian markets. Germany leads the PV market worldwide with 7.4 GW installed in just one year. Italy installed 2.3 GW of capacity. Other countries also saw significant growth, notes EPIA. The Czech Republic added 1.5 GW in 2010 although EPIA admits that the country is unlikely to sustain growth in 2011. France added over 700 MW and Spain regained some ground by installing 370 MW. This follows two years of adverse conditions given the country's major economic problems. Belgium connected more than 420 MW of PV capacity to its grid in 2010.
The figures are given in EPIA's 'Global market outlook for photovoltaics until 2015'. This indicates steady progress elsewhere in the world with Japan and the US almost reaching the gigawatt mark with, respectively, 990 and 900 megawatts (MW) installed in 2010. EPIA President Ingmar Wilhelm notes that growth in Europe is dependent on state support. "Adequate support policies that have been driving the markets so far, such as feed-in tariffs, must continue," said Wilhelm.
Nonetheless, Wilhelm admits that support should be brought into line with the declining cost curve of PV. "The PV industry also supports well-designed support schemes that simplify the authorisation processes and moreover limit the cost for electricity consumers, while ensuring the development of the market and industry," he says. EPIA claims that grid parity for small-scale residential and commercial PV systems will be reached in the coming years in several countries. Additionally, the industry association expects PV to progressively reach competitiveness all over Europe by 2020.
Photovoltaic market could grow 27 pct in 2011-EPIA | Reuters
The global solar market is set to continue it strong growth in 2011, the world's biggest solar industry body said, but cautioned a decline could not be ruled out should political support for the industry fade.
Under an optimistic scenario, the global photovoltaic (PV) market could reach 21.145 gigawatts (GW) in new capacity this year, up 27 percent from 2010 installations, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) said.
EPIA usually provides an estimate range based on what it calls a "moderate" scenario and a "policy-driven" scenario, depending on the degree of political support.
"The Policy-Driven scenario proved to be the most accurate one over the past years. However, a market stagnation or even a small decrease in 2011 is not impossible," EPIA said in its global market outlook published on Wednesday.
The moderate scenario pencils in new installations of 13.330 GW this year, which would equal a 20 percent decline from the record 16.629 GW added in 2010.
China Sunergy Receives MCS Certificate to Produce Photovoltaic Solar Panels -- NANJING, China, May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --
"China Sunergy" or "The Company"), a specialized solar cell and module manufacturer, today announced that the Company has been awarded a Certificate under the UK Microgeneration Certification Scheme issued by BABT (British Approvals Board for Telecommunications) for its modules. BABT is an accredited MCS certification body and one of the world's leading certification bodies, whose global brand is widely respected. The certificate, which is valid through April 24, 2014, authorizes CSUN photovoltaic solar panels to be sold with the MCS approved product mark.
With this MCS certificate, China Sunergy is in a better position to expand in the U.K. market, further diversify its customer base and build up brand recognition for its solar module products. The concept behind the MCS certificate is to reduce the UK's reliance on fossil fuels and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. MCS underpins government policies on low carbon and renewable onsite energy technologies and supports the UK's overall effort in meeting EU 2020 Renewable Obligations targets.
Mr. Stephen Cai, the Chief Executive Officer of CSUN, commented, "We are very pleased with this news. This is not only a recognition of our product quality, but also a great opportunity for CSUN to step into the UK, an emerging yet strategically important market for our solar products."