Solar Markets & Finance

Minister of State for Energy Charles Hendry has revealed plans for a new scheme which will pay guzzlers to use less during peak energy demand periods. In a bid to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions, the scheme will reward big power consumers for each ‘negawatt’ of capacity they switch off.

Laughing in the face of large-scale solar intimidation, new business venture Solar Power Direct has launched its free solar panel installation deal aimed specifically at commercial properties throughout England and Wales.

German solar company SunConcept has set up a UK subsidiary at Kings Hill in West Malling, Kent. The company reports that it has been monitoring the UK market since the previous government published the ‘UK Renewable Energy Strategy’ back in July 2009, and has now made the decision to increase its activity in the UK after the introduction of the FiT.

UK-based solar developer and independent power producer (IPP) mO3 Power is to entice British farmers into installing solar power on their land. The company has revealed plans to provide a gigawatt of electricity across the UK, which is enough to power…

Taking to the stand at the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the UK’s Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker, delivered the speech, ‘Energising the Big Society – The Role of Local Energy’ yesterday to a room full of eagerly listening industry experts.

Following the recent media hype surrounding Greg Barker’s statement in the House of Commons on November 11, which alluded to the possibility that large-scale solar installations in the UK could be under threat, a meeting between representatives of the solar industry, including the Renewable Energy Association (REA), the Micropower council and the Minister has been set up for November 24.

Creating yet more green jobs throughout the UK, South Yorkshire solar power company A Shade Greener and sister company Nationwide Solar are planning to increase their workforce from 120 to 300 throughout 2011.

The Cornish town of Wadebridge is to become home to a new solar scheme, launched to finance and promote enough solar power to generate 30% of the town’s needs by 2015.

Leading German project developer juwi, which announced its entry into the UK solar market in August this year, has named Birmingham as the location for its subsidiary “juwi Renewable Energies Ltd.” Over the next two years, juwi is expected to install over 60MW…

During Parliamentary Questions yesterday (November 11) the Minister of State for Climate Change, Gregg Barker delivered what could be a tremendous blow for the UK solar industry. As with any discussion on climate change at present, it wasn’t long before the topic of feed-in tariffs (FiT) came up…