Interview
Sustainable solar C
urrently the director of renewables and total waste solutions at CEF, Mike Gadd has been with the business for three years, leading CEF’s expansion in the renewables sector and supporting customers in their transition to greener technologies.
BA: What do you believe are the main sustainability challenges facing the electrical industry at the moment? MG: At the moment, the electrical industry faces two major sustainability challenges: a shortage of trained contractors and ongoing misinformation around renewables. There’s growing demand for the UK to transition to greener energy, but the supporting infrastructure, particularly in skills and training, hasn’t kept pace. Over the past year, we’ve seen increasing interest from contractors in technologies like solar panels and heat pumps. However, the training resources and skilled workforce needed to meet that demand are still lacking, making it difficult to scale at the speed the industry requires. This is why investment in upskilling and awareness is critical. At CEF, it’s been a core focus. In 2024, we launched our renewables training van, which visited trade
24 | electrical wholesalerJuly 2025
shows, colleges, university open days and CEF branches, training over 1,073 people. The initiative supports both contractors and our own teams in staying informed and confident in delivering renewable solutions. We’re already on track to exceed that number in 2025. And now that the van is City & Guilds-accredited to deliver MCS solar and battery training, we feel this offering is set to continue to reduce the skills gap. The second key challenge is misinformation and hesitancy. Many consumers remain unsure about the effectiveness and value of renewable technologies. With the cost-of-living crisis, the upfront investment in systems like solar can be daunting even when long-term savings are clear. As an industry, we need to do more to communicate those benefits not just for the environment, but for household budgets and energy independence. Renewables can reduce bills, improve resilience and in some cases, lift people out of fuel poverty. Encouragingly, we’re seeing strong progress in the social housing sector, where technologies like solar are increasingly being adopted to cut emissions and make energy more affordable. It’s a clear sign of what’s possible when we get it right and a model for wider adoption.
As solar panel adoption grows, so does the challenge of managing panels at the end of their lifecycle. Bryony Andrews, EW editor, spoke to CEF’s Mike Gadd about the wholesaler’s pioneering UK-wide solution for end-of-life solar panel recycling.
What did you set out to achieve with the ROSI/Waste Experts partnership? Our goal was to provide a UK-wide solution for end-of-life solar panel recycling, something that’s currently lacking in the national infrastructure. As solar adoption grows, so does the challenge of managing panels at the end of their lifecycle and we wanted to stay ahead of that curve. Through our partnership with Waste Experts and ROSI, we’ve set out to create a framework for responsible lifecycle management that raises the bar for the renewable energy sector. Together, we offer a nationwide collection service, with panels sent to ROSI’s state-of-the-art facility, where up to 95% of valuable materials like high-
ewnews.co.uk
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