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Corby is considering fitting its council houses with solar panels in a bid to generate money as well as green electricity now that the government has given the go-ahead. On August 9, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Huhne, ended the quarrel over whether or not councils across Britain will be allowed to sell renewable electricity back to the national grid.

British Gas is to provide solar power for homes across the UK after realising the potential this technology has to earn the customer a wedge of profit alongside green energy generation. The energy provider has conducted research into the amount each customer could earn…

E.ON led the way when they installed one of the largest combined solar thermal and photovoltaic arrays in the UK on the side of their head office in Coventry. Not only does the installation give a live example of what a large commercial array could generate – approximately 25MWh per annum, it also saves around 14.2 tonnes of CO2 per annum.

A Baptist church near Dartford, Kent, felt that they should be taking the environmental challenge seriously and decided to go for solar PV. After contacting three local companies for quotes they placed their business with The Green Home Company.

Adding to the total of solar photovoltaic projects springing up across the UK, the 9.99kWp array constructed at the University of Sheffield by EvoEnergy has now been officially opened by Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

As of today, UK councils will be able to sell renewable energy back to the national grid. Last week (August 9) Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Huhne finally lifted the ban, meaning councils can now generate energy and earn profit from solar energy systems.

UK farmers are set to profit quite significantly since the introduction of the solar photovoltaics feed-in tariff in April. Farmers, who saw a 7% drop in income in 2009 as commodity prices fell, could now install solar power systems on their land for a secure investment.

Solon, one of the largest manufacturers of solar modules in Europe as well as a supplier of solar system technology for large-scale rooftop and greenfield installations, has signed a deal with British project developer 35 Degrees to build a 1.3MWp solar power plant on the grounds of a former tin-ore processing facility near Bissoe in Cornwall.

With the government now providing excellent rates for electricity generated though domestic solar installations, Andy Barbour took a leap and invested a considerable outlay in the purchase and installation of a 4kW photovoltaic system for his home. Andy runs a blog to inform others as to whether this constitutes a good investment for the home owner.

The Planning Resource, which reports on planning, housing and regeneration in the UK, has reported that the South West is set to lead solar power installation in the country. The region currently has 750MW of applications in the project pipeline.