SOLARPLAZA
expecting greater growth than currently forecasted with a few notable individuals suggesting it could be as much as 100 MW in 2011 alone. This is a dramatic increase from the expected 30MW that many official forecasts suggest.
Solarplaza’s Koot predicted a strong year for the UK, “The solar industry and market in the UK is about to explode and increase over 100 percent for a number of years following the introduction of government incentive on solar energy in April.”
“We’ve seen market boost and successful kick- starting in other countries like Italy, Belgium and Germany. Within three years the UK could be one of the major solar energy markets in Europe,’’ Continued Koot.
Picking up on success
The announced cuts in the solar energy feed-in tariffs (FITs) in Germany could have a positive impact on the development of the UK PV market. Experts are now predicting that the international solar industry will have to follow with further price drops for solar modules. This will lead to even higher financial benefits for households and businesses that install a solar PV system. With a solid foundation of fixed solar energy FITs, the UK market looks set for substantial growth.
The key note speakers Hermann Scheer and Jeremy Leggett focused on possibilities and developments in this field in their keynote speeches. Scheer is considered to be the brains behind the first and most successful feed-in tariff support scheme in Germany. He is a prominent figure in the world of renewable energy and received the Alternative Nobel Prize in Stockholm for his worldwide commitment to renewable energy in 1999. He has been a member of the German parliament for nearly three decades and is also president of Eurosolar and general chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE).
Scheer gave a rousing discussion outlining his successes in Germany and consequent solar growth in the area. He enjoyed telling his story with the best bit an anecdote about returning from JApan to be greeted by journalists. He told his audience how he had invented something to convince the Germans to take on the 100 000 solar rooftop programme proposed. I imagined some product invention but Scheer’s invention was to tell
the media the Japanese were planning a 70 000 programme, ensuring pride and competition drove the German solar market. The invention was no such programme existed in Japan.
Jeremy Leggett is a former director of Greenpeace and adviser to the UK government on renewable energies. Leggett, who started his career as a researcher in the oil industry, has set up the London-based solar energy company Solarcentury. Since 1999, Leggett and Solarcentury have initiated numerous solar energy projects around the country and have helped to change public opinion on solar energy in the UK and beyond. Leggett, like Scheer, has authored numerous books on the subject of solar energy.
“The UK solar revolution is underway. With the right supply chain in place, I believe that we can achieve grid parity, where solar power in homes will cost no more than conventional electricity, as soon as 2013,” predicted Leggett.
Local opportunity
Ray Noble, PV specialist at the Renewable Energy Association, was a well received speaker with strong opinions. He was fairly scathing of companies who are complaining about the MCS scheme, pointing out it was only a piece of paper that ensured a high level of equipment and would not impact large industrial projects.
He spoke very positively about the business opportunities available to the UK solar industry within the new framework and cautioned the only obstacle he could see was a potential lack of equipment and materials as he felt the global industry is underestimating the potential size and growth of the UK industry. He also stated that companies should expect to see a more positive response from the banking industry soon as behind the scenes plans began to have impact.
The rest of the conference was a positive cross section of companies and interested parties providing key information about their experiences and the FiT opportunities beginning to evolve in the UK. Some sectors of the industry probably find it hard to believe that the UK market will grow to 100MW in twelve months but this group of conference participants felt the opportunities are strong enough to shout out to the world whilst ensuring opportunities are not missed.
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www.solar-pv-management.com Issue IV 2010
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