Editor’s Blog

Liam Stoker offers his opinion on a Clean Growth Strategy that embraced renewables and changed BEIS’ rhetoric for the better, but cast solar into the long grass once again.

Ahead of next month’s PV ModuleTech conference in Kuala Lumpur, Solar Media’s head of market research Finlay Colville examines the technology trends UK developers will have to get to grips with if they’re to take advantage of the post-subsidy environment in the UK.

Last week’s Solar & Storage Live saw the UK’s entire supply chain descend on Birmingham’s NEC for three days of industry leading and thought provoking discussions, business brokering and a few celebrations here of there. Liam Stoker summarises some of the things we picked up from the show floor this year.

Liam Stoker reports from Clay Hill Solar Farm, the first solar project to be built in the UK without subsidy support, and discovers how the solar-plus-storage facility was energised.

Our own Finlay Colville reveals that a new 300MW site, to be located in the south of the UK, is moving closer to planning, shifting the UK large-scale pipeline towards the 4GW mark.

Last month London’s City Hall launched a consultation on its draft environmental strategy, which included a solar action plan to be driven largely by community energy initiatives. Solar Power Portal spoke to Emma Bridge, CEO of Community Energy England and one of the judges of the upcoming Solar Power Portal Awards, to find out her thoughts on Sadiq Khan’s plans for London.

The UK’s post-subsidy solar project pipeline now stands at more than 3.5GW. Finlay Colville, head of market research at SPP’s publisher Solar Media, provides an overview of these projects, their locations and likely funding models as our most recent pipeline report is released in full.

London’s solar strategy was finally published earlier this month with new measures including a reverse solar tender and support for community energy schemes at its heart. David Pratt sat down with Shirley Rodrigues, deputy mayor of London for energy and the environment, to discuss City Hall’s plans for solar.

As the future of UK storage regulation begins to take shape, the pipeline of utility scale projects has continue to grow and now stands at 3.5GW. Lauren Cook, analyst for Solar Media’s in-house market research team, identifies the key trends that have emerged and what the future of UK grid scale storage looks like.

Solar Media’s head of market research Finlay Colville delves back into the UK’s vast network of planning portals to uncover the incredible scope of subsidy-free solar farms entering the planning phase, and discusses their build potential as UK solar enters its next phase.