Finding a model that maximises UK jobs


The PV market has seen explosive growth over the last year, but this has been tempered by the uncertainty of a hasty government review. No market can adjust overnight to the reduction of its largest system to just 1% of the previous value so it will take some time for investors to regain some of their previous enthusiasm.


The government has moved from a Tariff (where the industry knows with certainty what will be the likely type and unit size of market) more towards a grant system (where the pot of money for incentives may run out at an uncertain time and may, or may not, be replenished).


This change immediately restricts prospects for pure UK companies as they are starting from a low level and have to invest in building capacity and hence raise capital to commit to large overhead expansion. The overseas companies come from large (The German market is already over a hundred times larger than the UK) markets where their economies of scale allow them to come and operate in the UK knowing they can pull back to their home markets very quickly when the funding cap is reached. The consequence of this policy change could well be that the UK feed-in-tariff will create many more jobs abroad than in the UK.


It is unlikely that voters will approve of a technology that they perceive (rightly or wrongly) as being expensive to subsidise (the popular press have already started raising such questions) when it does not create local jobs. The industry has to be able to proffer a solution which both public and politicians can support, and a high level of UK content is important to the long term prospects for PV as a significant industry. The REA and other trade organisations are pressing for the government to broaden their commitment to PV, but have yet to see any signs of improvement.


Finding economic business models


for multiple small installations The future for PV will focus on many small installations, and as such may benefit the small installers, and those running multiple schemes. There will be opportunities for novel business models that can bring larger groups of individual installs into a single entity, but without exceeding the new 50kW ‘economic payback limit’. Marketing finance and delivery will be challenging, but the implementation should still be able to utilise the present regulatory infrastructure provided by MCS and REAL.


For public sector and commercial systems the 50kW limit has yet to be tested in the context of several buildings on one site. How will the systems be rated if they all have a separate electrical connection but are located on separate buildings on the same site? Will we have a


|80| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE


Tackling the next Barriers to the Implementation of Photovoltaics (PV)


By Bruce Cross, Founder and Managing Director, GB-Sol Ltd.


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