Editor’s Blog

Solar Intelligence’s Finlay Colville analyses the rush to fit-out ground-mount solar farms out to 31 March 2016, and what’s really going on at EPCs and component suppliers.

This Friday (October 23) the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s small-scale feed-in tariff consultation will close and the department will use all submitted evidence to decide whether or not its proposals – labelled draconian by most of those who’ve read them through – are fit for their purpose. It’s absolutely imperative that you, the industry, respond.

This week’s Solar Energy UK exhibition brought the UK’s solar sector together at Birmingham’s NEC at a crucial time. Here are five things we learned from the three-day exhibition.

We are approaching the sixth annual Solar Energy UK conference and exhibition, hosted by our publisher Solar Media. Taking place next week amid challenging times for the UK PV industry, recognition of the potential of storage at the top level at last, and actions already underway by the industry, will be among the central topics of discussion, with more exhibitors and conference strands than ever before.

Neil Buck, managing director at Foresight’s O&M subsidiary Brighter Green Engineering, discusses the increased importance of operations and maintenance in a post-subsidy environment.

With a target to provide 24/7 electricity across India by 2019, prime minister Narendra Modi and his energy minister Piyush Goyal have put energy on top of the agenda for the subcontinent. While this requires a vast increase in coal-fired power production, it comes with the enormous ambition of installing 100GW of solar by 2022, up from just 4GW today. Commentators recently praised India for its INDC, submitted ahead of the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris, aiming to hit 40% of its energy from alternative sources by 2030, but this is by no means an outright domestic task. Government movements make it clear that foreign investment and expertise is a critical part of the strategy.

October’s trade show provides a chance to start fine-tuning your core solar business and discover the new avenues to revenue in the year ahead.

As the UK industry prepares to descend upon the NEC in Birmingham next week for the industry’s flagship event – Solar Energy UK – recent data has just come out that hints towards the GW level of ground-mount opportunities we have been flagging up that could be available before 1 April 2016.

Just 19 MPs have signed a motion calling on the government to rethink feed-in tariff cut proposals, a paltry 6% of the opposition. Here’s how to convince your MP to throw his support behind the movement.

Liam Stoker discusses how party conference season has seen the green economy gain prime time billing, and how this needs to translate into more within the House of Commons.