Nationwide Solar Finished Installing 78kWp in Manchester and Stockport

 Nationwide Solar is a well known installer of Photo Voltaic systems across the United Kingdom, as a group they have installed over 10 000 domestic and commercial solar powered systems and they are one of the most experienced operators on the UK renewable energy market.

 Recently, they just finished installing a 78 kWp solar installation for Hilti,  a global leader of value-added, top-quality products for professional customers in the construction and building maintenance industries.

 Hilti has installed PV arrays at its head office in Manchester and in Stockport, where they have a logistics and training centre.
 The project consisted of over  330 JA PV panels, using Hilti's own Photo Voltaic mounting systems (called MSP for the techies) and the project was supervised by the Hilti's engineering design team, so it was kind of a joint effort.

 Everything was done to optimize the performance of the installation, both by the experts from Natiowide Solar and the structural consultants from Hilti, they were focusing on the number of south facing panels, which provide the most sun energy. 

 Both systems were installed in just three days and they expect to recoup the investment in about 10 years from now.

 The managing director from Nationwide Solar, Mr. Russ Cowan, stated:

 “Despite the Government’s reduction of feed-in tariffs, we are finding that in the vast majority of cases we are able to ensure that PV systems installed now are just as viable as before.

“This is especially true of commercial installations in the 50-250kW range such as Hilti’s and it is a vote of confidence in the revised economics of the technology that the company has undertaken this project.”

 

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

60 MW of Solar Parks announced by Hive Energy

Things are getting shiny in the UK Solar Market, with the new announcement from the Hampshire Based company, Hive Energy, a well known solar developer. The good news is that Hive Energy just completed pre-construction of nine solar parks with a total power output of 60MW, the parks being located across the United Kingdom.

 The solar parks are located in Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Devon, the capital expanditure on the projects will be around  £72m, with 73% of funding generated overseas and each park will have an installed capacity of 3MW -15 MW. The project  will be completed hopefully before April 2013, when the parks will be connected to the national power grid. The dead-line is important, because after that date, the available support for large-scale solar under the Renewable Obligation will be slashed and we don't like missed opportunities, do we?

Hive Energy chief executive Mr. Giles Redpath stated:

 “The Government has set a challenging opportunity for the delivery of 22GW of solar PV generation by 2020 and I am pleased to announce Hive Energy’s contribution to this target.”

He continued:  

“As we are at around only 1.3GW of solar PV now, I urge the Government to be cautious about reducing the Renewable Obligation Certificates incentive too quickly or deeply so that we can continue to drive towards their 22GW target in a sustainable, planned and deliverable way.”

 This project will add about 5% to the current solar power capacity installed across the United Kingdom.And that's not all folks, the green-hearts from Hive Energy have further projects in site, they are planning six more solar parks, with a capacity varying between 10 to 25 MW, located in Suffolk, Essex, Wiltshire and Devon, with a total power output of 108 MW, these new developments are set to take place by February 2013.

Hive Energy’s full list of announced projects:

• Tavells Lane Solar Park, Marchwood, Hampshire, 30 acres, 5MW

• Raglington Solar Park, Shedfield, Hampshire, 30 acres, 5MW

• Shacks Barn Solar Park, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, 37 acres, 5MW

• Higher Hatherleigh Solar Park, Wincanton, Somerset, 40 acres, 3.5MW

• Steventon Solar Park, Steventon, Oxfordshire, 57 acres, 10MW

• Knockworthy Solar Park, Torrington, Devon, 20 acres, 5MW

• Whitchurch Solar Park, Radstock, Somerset, 34 acres, 5MW

• Rodbourne Rail Solar Park, Corston, Wiltshire, 41 acres, 6.5MW

• Pentylands Solar Park, Highworth, Oxfordshire, 91 acres, 15MW

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

 

SMA UK Just Launched Sunny View Domestic Monitoring Device For Solar Power

If you never heared about SMA Solar UK, well, this is a good time to find out about this company which operates from Milton Keynes and specializes in off-grid inverters for solar power/wind power installations, among other things. They are the global leader in the PV market for solar inverters, a very important component of all PV plants, with a sale figure of  €1.7 billion in 2011. The company is based in
Niestetal, near Kassel, Germany and employs more than 5500 people world wide.

Recently, they launched on the United Kingdom domestic market a new gadget, a domestic solar monitoring device, also knowns as the Sunny View, the next generation solar yield monitoring device for domestic plants, as they advertise it.


 The Sunny View gizomo works via Bluetooth technology used to communicate  with up to 12 inverters for displaying accurate and reliable data on their solar yield.


 With this new gizmo, the solar power end-users can now keep track of their installations in real time and they can even receive news updates or weather reports with the help of this high tech real-time monitoring device from SMA Solar UK.


 This Sunny View gizmo is a portable device that features a 5 inches wide touch screen display on which you can see in real time your electricity yield and also a CO2 avoidance graph, allowing you to smartly control your energy consumption at any time.

 The device also has a SD card slot which stores the retrieved data from the invertors via Bluetooth for further, more detailed analysis.



Highlights of the Sunny View include the following:

• Large 5” easy-to-read colour touchscreen.
• Clear display of all key plant data.
• Can communicate with up to 12 inverters via Bluetooth technology.
• Audio and visual alarm in case of plant failure.
• WLAN interface for display of online data.
• Data archiving and back-up via SD card.


Mr. Jan Van Laetham, the Managind Director at SMA UK made the following comment:

“SMA are committed to setting new standards in intelligent monitoring solutions for domestic solar PV systems. We understand the ever-changing needs of end-users and our new products reflect this keeping SMA firmly at the forefront of solar PV innovation”.

SMA Solar UK Ltd
Unit 2B, Gemini Building
Sunrise Parkway
Linford Wood
Milton Keynes  MK14 6NP 
  

 For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

Waxman and Enphase to Become Partners in United Kingdom

Waxman Energy, a well known specialist supplier/distributor for solar panels in the United Kingdom has recently announced that a deal was made with Enphase Energy in order to become partners on the UK renewable market. 

The British company is interested in the Enphase Energy’s range of micro inverters for solar photovoltaic energy system and Enphase is happy to extend its business in the UK, for sure.

 The agreement has been signed and Mr. Sam Waxman, the joint MD at Waxman Energy commented about the deal:

“Enphase’s product portfolio is an impressive one – with the most up to date technology on the market. We feel sure that the products will be a success amongst our distribution network.”

This agreement is just another stepping stone for Enphase to become an important player in the United Kingdom after their debut here in July this year. Waxman too are more than happy to expand their range of products in their portfolio, they will focus on distributing the Enphase Microinverter System which will be delivered from Enphase's recently built distribution centre in Elland, West Yorkshire, which features an impressive 40,000 square feet.

 

 For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

Eco2Solar chooses Acorns for charity of the year 2012

The well known solar panels installer Eco2solar just made a public announcement about this year's nominee for the charity event of 2012, the Acorns Children's Hospital which will benefit from a generous subsidy.

 Eco2Solar will make a donation in sum of £10 for each solar panel that will be installed on the Hospital's premises by the company. The benefit will run until November 2013 and there will be a monthly fund raising event organized by Eco2Solar in the local community which is expected to contribute also for supporting the project.

Mr. Ryan Mee, the Sales and Operations director of Eco2Solar commented on the event:

"We have donated a significant amount of money for a range of charities through regularly fundraising activities since the launch of the business in 2007,”

 He also mentioned:

 “By adopting a chosen charity each year, we will be able to make much more of a difference.

Acorns is a fantastic charity and the funds we raise will directly help life limited children and their families throughout the region by paying for vital care and support services.”

 Eco2Solar has high hopes for this project, they expect to raise £5,000 from donations, the money will be used to subsidy three more hospitals in the area which are also run by Acorns, I am talking here about Birmingham, Black Country and Three Countries. 

The Corporate Fundraising Officer at Acorns Children’s Hospice, Ellie Griffiths, made the following statement regarding the event:

“Acorns relies heavily on fundraising, donations and the support of businesses like Eco2Solar to provide care for life limited children and support for families, including those that are bereaved. Families do not pay to the charity’s services but it costs £750 per day for each child’s care.”

 For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

  

Community Energy Plus Offers Free Solar PV

In case you never heard of them, Community Energy Plus is a social enterprise that provides complete energy answers for the community in Cornwall, helping them to enjoy warmer, energy efficient homes and a better life in general. The good news is that they recently re-launched the very successful Solar Communities project, this social project helps reducing the carbon footprint in homes and businesses by offering them free solar PV.

In 2011, there were 22 buildings that benefited from this initiative, the total amount was 177kW of free solar panels.
The event took place in Camborne, Cornwall and was made possible by local investors and installers in order to fund the solar PV on the roofs of the building which took part in the project.
In the project were involved commercial and domestic buildings as well as public/community premises.

The total installations of PV panels were in amount of 50 KW and Community Energy Plus said that the good people from Camborne will save £2,500 on their electricity bills each and every year, not to mention the carbon foot print reduction and the energy independence solar panels provide as an additional benefit.

 In the near future, Community Energy Plus expects that a larger number of people will come around and take advantage of this free offer, based on the fact that several large organizations were already interested in this green project.

 The Sustainable Energy Projects Manager at Community Energy Plus, MR. Neil Farrington made the following statement:

“Having been overwhelmed with interest last year, it’s fantastic that we are able to now continue with the project, allowing more buildings to take advantage of free solar energy without the barrier of raising capital to fund their own installations. We’re hoping to install a significantly larger amount of solar PV, and that as many buildings as possible come forward.”He added: “Cornwall has the best solar resource in the UK, so we want to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the feed-in-tariff and retain the economic benefits of it locally.”

The Manager at the Lobster Hatchery in Padstow, who already installed 9 KW of free solar panels, through the first phase of the scheme that took place in May of 2012, made the following comment:

“Since installation in the spring the panels have performed well, reducing our energy bills by approximately 10%. This combined with an approximately 10% reduction in energy requirements through raised awareness amongst the staff and volunteers has made a significant difference to our carbon footprint and have reduced our carbon emissions by approximately 6 tons."

The Managing Director at Plug into the Sun, Mr. Andy Tanner whose company was part of the project stated that:

“Given that energy prices are on the rise yet again, we want communities, home owners and businesses to come forward and take advantage of this offer to allow their buildings to receive free electricity. We’ve been installing solar panels for over seven years, and we’re really pleased to again be part of this scheme to continue the spread of renewable technology across Devon and Cornwall”.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/