81% of British public Never Heard about the Green Deal

The Green Deal project was launched yesterday, yet, according to a survey commissioned by USwitch.com,  only 19 percent of the United Kingdom population have even heard about this cool scheme.

Announced emphatically as the "“biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War”, the Green Deals is the most important green policy project of the UK's government in order to address the country's energy inefficient housing stock.

YouGov conducted a poll, commissioned by USwitch.com, which revealed that less than two consumers in ten are aware of the existence of such a programme, i.e. the Green Deal scheme.

Even if the public is not aware about the existence of the Green Deal, they are pretty concerned when it comes about energy efficiency, 67% being very interested in making their residences more energy efficient and 86 percent of the general public see lower heat/energy bills as the main benefit of such an improvement.

The Director of Consumer Policy at USwitch.com, Ann Robinson, made the following comment:


“The high cost of energy today means that Green Deal has to deliver - there is a lot at stake here for consumers. Household energy is rapidly becoming unaffordable and reducing the amount we use will protect us from higher bills. This is why consumers need to have a simple, well-designed and well-communicated scheme they can trust, if they are to feel the benefits in their pockets and on their bills.
“In the face of higher prices there are two simple steps to lowering bills: use less energy and pay the lowest possible price for what you do use. The Green Deal should hopefully help many more with the former, and I would urge consumers to help themselves now with the latter.”

This poll underlines the importance of the almost  £2.9 million spent by the Government in a marketing campaign, promoting the Green Deal scheme. Over sixty percent of the survey respondents showed interest in the advice, reassurance and support that the Green Deals scheme will offer after its launch. 54 percent of them also showed interest in receiving a report that will help them understand better what are the main benefits of the Green Deal scheme and what improvements are to be made in order to make their residences more energy efficient.

Almost half of them liked the "Golden Rule" concept, which states that you may repay the cost of these improvements through energy bill savings.

As the Department for Energy and Climate Change is working closely with the Public Relations Agency Freud, in order to help make these issues of public interest more popular, the Minister Greg Barker stated that:

"We now have funds for a communications campaign that will build further understanding of the Green Deal, helping to create a real buzz. When you add our fantastic cash back into the mix, it's clear that the Green Deal is building momentum and will be a brilliant offer for people."

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

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

UK Solar Capacity is Increasing by Increment

The latest statistics released by the United Kingdom's government reveal that the solar photo voltaic capacity continued to grow in 2012, by increment, slowly but surely, in the first three quarters of the year, the main reason being the high uptake of the feed in tariff, at least that's what the official figures told us.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC for friends) released the statistics at the end of 2012, they reveal that the total photo voltaic capacity installed in the United Kingdom in the Q3 of 2012 reached 1.6 GW, a pretty impressive figure.

This means that 11 percent of all renewable electricity generated in the UK comes from solar power alone, and this is an increase of 169 MW over the previous quarter's total.

 If we compare the figures to the same quarter last year, the solar power capacity in the United Kingdom more than tripled, in 2011 the capacity installed was a mere 489 MW.

The documents claim that the increase was facilitated by the uptake of the United Kingdom's feed-in tariff.

Anyway, the growth was pretty slow between Q2 and Q3 in 2012, if we compare with the same period of 2011, the increase was only 170 MW compared to 277 MW in 2011.

Bottom line, according to DECC's figures, from the total capacity of the UK, renewables were 11.7 percent, an increase of 2.4 percent on the same figure at the end of Q3 of 2011, when the renewables represented just 9.1 percent of UK's capacity.

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

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

The Green Deal launched in UK, despite some criticism

Today was a big day for the solar/renewable industry, after a soft-launch which took more than it should, at last, the Green Deal scheme was officially launched to the general public.

There will be many beneficiaries of the coalition's most important energy scheme, almost all the residences in England and Wales will be allowed to install energy efficiency measures without paying anything in advance.

The costs are to be paid for by the savings resulted on utility bills, and also the cost of repayments will be no bigger than the savings created by the installed measures, a consequence of higher efficiency etc.

Mr. Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, spoke today about the scheme's potential, which is able to help “thousands of homes stay warm for less”. He also stated that:

"The UK green sector is a success story – it is the sixth largest in the world and has a crucial part to play in building a strong economy. The Green Deal will support thousands of jobs – not just over the next few years, but in the long term.”

Not everybody was happy with the Green Deal scheme, actually it came under heavy criticism, there were allegations about the  "rip off interest rates", as they were revealed Friday to the general public.Indeed, the Gren Deal Finance Company (TGDFC) announced that the initial interest rate will start at 6.96 percent and it will be up to 7.96 percent for a ten year loan.

As Luciana Berger, the Labour’s Shadow Climate Change Minister explained:

"The whole point of the Green Deal is that households are meant to save money on their energy bills - but with rip off interest rates, hidden charges and penalty payments the Green Deal could end up costing people more than they save. With sky-high interest rates it’s hard to see how the Green Deal will be anything other than a bad deal for the public." 

The Green Deal launch suffered from a lack of attention from the general public, as a research showed that over 80 percent of the British public has no idea and never heard about the Green Deal scheme.

The United Kingdom Government invested heavily in a communications campaign, in order to combat the issue, over  £2.9 million were spent in this regard, and it is live as I write this article. The whole purpose of the campaign is to convince the population that the Green Deal is there to help them lower  their bills  and also keep their residences warmer.

The Department for Energy And Climate Change (DECC) Minister, Mr. Greg Barker commented about the Green Deal launch:

The Green Deal will transform the energy efficiency market and puts consumers in charge. It’s a fantastic new scheme that will allow people to make their homes warmer and save energy at the same time. And it’s not just consumers who will benefit. The Green Deal is also great for business, creating a new market and new jobs. I’m truly excited about the potential the Green Deal has to transform Britain’s buildings.”

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

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

Mr. Stephen Lovegrove is the New Permanent Secretary at DECC

The Department for Energy and Climate Change building in Whitehall. 

Even if "change ain't good", to paraphrase the classics, the Department for Energy and Climate Change has appointed a brand new permanent secretary, enters Mr. Stephen Lovegrove, ladies and gentlemen.

Mr. Lovegrove served until now as the Chief Executive of the Shareholder  Executive, and now he will replaced the former DECC permanent secretary, Moria Wallace, who left the building in October 2012.

Initially, Mr. David Kennedy,   the current Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change was appointed for the job, but the Prime Minister intervened, this move created some controversy as the Prime Minister blocked the appointment of Mr. Kennedy, as the new permanent secretary at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Mr. Kennedy's appointment as the new permanent secretary at DECC was strongly supported by senior civil servants and some of the ministers, but the Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron had other ideas in mind, he stated that the permanent secretary at DECC must be a person with serious corporate experience in his resume.

Exits Mr. Kennedy, enters Lovegrove, who was the head of the European media team of Deutsche Bank for ten years in a row (Deutsche Bank is one of the biggest players in the financial market today),  before joining the Shareholder Executive position.

He also had a position as a board member of the The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2012.

Mr. Ed Davey made the following remark about the appointment of Mr. Lovegrove as the new permanent secretary at the Department for Energy and Climate Change:

 “We need to attract billions in private sector investment to build new power stations and to upgrade the energy efficiency of the nation’s homes.  Stephen and I worked together for nearly two years when I was a Minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, not least on the reform of Royal Mail, so I know he will be a huge asset to DECC.”

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

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

Green Deal Just Added 15 New Measures

The full launch of Green Deal is near the corner and is rapidly approaching, hence the Department for Energy and Climate Change also known as DECC made an announcement, regarding the list of eligible measures.

The list which initially contained 30 measures now has 45, so much for bureaucracy, so DEEC, after extensive consultation, included them in the scheme. You may take a closer look at the full document here .

 In January of 2013 we are expecting the publication of the final draft of  the PAS 2030 specification, regarding the installation process, the process management and service provision. Let's take a closer look:


Energy efficiency measures covered in PAS 2030:2012

• Condensing boilers, natural gas-fired and liquefied petroleum gas-fired (domestic and non-domestic)
• Condensing boilers, oil-fired (domestic and non-domestic)
• Heating controls
• Under-floor heating
• Flue-gas recovery devices
• Gas-fired warm-air heating systems (domestic and non-domestic)
• Electric storage heaters (domestic and non-domestic)
• Cavity wall insulation
• Loft insulation
• Pitched roof insulation
• Flat roof insulation
• Internal wall insulation
• External wall insulation
• Hybrid wall insulation
• Draught proofing
• Floor insulation
• Heating system insulation (pipes and cylinders)
• Energy efficient glazing and doors
• Lighting fittings
• Lighting controls (non-domestic)
• Ground and air source heat pumps
• Solar thermal
• Solar PV
• Biomass boilers
• Micro-combined heat and power (CHP)
• Micro- and small-scale wind turbine systems

 Quoting from the document, these are the new measures which are to be eligible in the future, under the Green Deal :

• Chillers
• Duct Insulation
• HVAC Controls
• Hot Water Showers
• Hot Water Systems
• Hot Water Taps
• Roof Lights, Lamps and Luminaires
• Radiant Heating
• Sealing improvements
• Solar blinds, shutters and shading devices
• Transpired Solar Collectors
• Variable speed drives for fans and pumps
• Water Source Heat Pumps

 When the National Solar Centre was launched recently, as I covered it in a previous post on my blog,the Energy and Climate Change Minister, Mr. Greg Barker asked the solar industry leaders to operate outside its silo and, let me quote, "use the Green deal to market solar PV as an energy saving option”.

 The Green Deal is the most important policy of the United Kingdom's coalition government and it will be supported in the near future with great aplomb, with the new Green Deal cashback scheme, a 2.9 million pounds  marketing budget and the full attention of the UK's Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron.

 Of course, there are critics and skeptics of the Green Deal project, they are doubting that the scheme will persuade the general public to engage with energy efficiency.

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

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

£46 Million Announced by DECC Supporting 132 Local Energy Projects

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) just made a lot of business people happy, as they announced that over 130 energy schemes will benefit from a share of the 46 million pounds, as they are trying to help reduce fuel poverty, increase energy efficiency and to help boost collective switching.

Both the local communities and third party organizations had been invited to bid for funding under three separate energy schemes. The first project will try to address the fuel poverty issue, by helping the local communities  to build and install more effective central heating systems and also help them insulate the households of the most vulnerable local residents.

The second scheme will try to improve the  energy efficiency for all the residents, not just the most vulnerable ones, with the help of the local authorities, with money drawn to finance the Green Deal project, which will help to identify where the energy savings are to be made. The Department for Energy and Climate Change received some criticism regarding the initial cost of the Green Deal will discourage many of its potential clients.

 In the end, the competition aimed to help encourage local authorities and local businesses, among with the third sector organizations to initiate collective groups to buy energy in their local areas, the whole concept of collective switching is to help clients to negotiate better deals and tariffs from the energy producers and suppliers.

 The total sum allocated to these projects is in amount of  £46 million and it will be split as it follows:  £31million will help reduce the fuel poverty for the must vulnerable households, £10 million will be used to help boost the Green Deal and £5 million will be used to set up collective switching schemes.

 An ample comment regarding the issue was made by Mr. Ed Davey, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary:


“We need to find new ways to help people with their energy bills, working with communities and councils across the country.
“The projects we are funding will help people save energy and save money: helping the most vulnerable to heat their homes, getting the Green Deal market up and running and encouraging people to switch energy suppliers to get their bills down.
“This £46million will help local councils across England upgrade inefficient heating kit as well as creating demand for and installing insulation under the Green Deal in homes across their local areas. 
“Funding will also be used to drive forward collective purchasing and switching initiatives at a local level, helping consumers get a better deal on their energy bills.  I am delighted so many organisations want to run new co-operative schemes to help people, especially the fuel poor, to get the best deals in the market."

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

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

Solar Park of 75-hectare planned by ADAS in Oxfordshire

Great news for the green hearted liberals in Oxfordshire, as one local farmer is planning to build the largest solar PV installation in the area, with a little help from his friends from ADAS.

The solar array will have 75 hectare and will be built on the land between Barton and Beckley, the project will be supervised by one of the United Kingdom's most important environmental consultancies, the well known ADAS, with the headquarters in Wolverhamtpon.

Even if a formal planning application is still missing in action, the pre-proposal documents had been drafted to   the local authorities from South Oxfordshire District Council, and after taking a closer look, they revealed the  detailed plans to instal the 50.600 solar panels all over the area. ADAS estimated that the solar farm will generate enough power to provide for over 3000 households.

 As usual, not everybody was happy with the new high tech solution for providing clean energy to people's homes, the locals affiliated to the Campaign to Protect Rural England had to object, as Mr. Michael Tyce, from CPRE Oxfordshire told us:


 "Oxford is surrounded by hills so even if the panels aren’t very high and could be disguised by bushes and trees it would be seen from all around from higher ground.
“The Oxford green belt is there to preserve the openness of the countryside, and you are not doing this when you cover it in panels. However you try to dress this up, it is a power station. An industrial project like this is unacceptable.”  


Anyway, the local residents, despite the Campaign to Protect Rural England objections, responded pretty well to the idea of building the huge solar farm in their vicinity, as the local media covered the issue, stating that the public response was  overwhelmingly positive.

This local project came as a consequence of he Department of Energy and Climate Change’s announcement from the last year, regarding the Renewable Obligation support levels for solar in the future. You must keep in mind that the available RO rate for ground-mounted solar projects is due to drop from 2ROCs to 1.6ROCs on April 1, 2013, the rate was raised after the industry complained that the initial plan of dropping the RO rate to 1.5 ROCs would kill many businesses.

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

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

UK Confidence in Green Energy boosted by the Updated Renewable Energy Roadmap

After the update of the UK Renewable Energy Roadmap, the solar industry received an important boost, after being called an essential technology in the United Kingdom's fight to solve its environmental problems caused by the low-tech, obsolete mainstream industry and energy production facilities.

 The solar energy works together now as a key technology, along with onshore and offshore wind, tidal energy, heat pump and green transportation technologies, in a project set by the DECC ( Department of Energy and Climate Change) to achieve the legally binding emission targets until 2020.

 The  Department of Energy and Climate Change provided a document with a significant update on the deployment of the renewable energies in the United Kingdom's markets, between July 2011 and July 2012. In this one year period of time, there has been a major increase of 27 percent in the electricity generated via renewable technologies, bringing the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources at more than 10 percent of all electricity production in the United Kingdom.

This was a significant milestone in achieving the 15 percent target of electricity generation from renewable sources until 2015, the UK's solar industry seems to be back on track for now.
 The same period of time from 2011 to 2012 revealed an increase of 40 percent in the United Kingdom's renewable capacity, mostly from the 60 percent increase in offshore wind capacity, to 2.5 GW and the huge increase in solar Photo Voltaic capacity, an impressive 500 percent.

 Let me show you the most important data from the document released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change :

Onshore & offshore wind

• Overall generation and installed capacity both increased by 34%
• Offshore wind increased by 944MW to a total of 2.5GW of installed capacity. Generation hit just over 6TWh for the period July 2011-June 2012.
• Onshore wind increased by 1.1GW to a total of 5.3GW of installed capacity. Generation rose to 11.2TWh for the period July 2011-June 2012 – an increase of 2.3TWh from the previous year.  

Bioenergy

• Bioenergy installations increased by 900MW over the same period, reaching a total installed capacity of 3.4GW. Generation rose to 14.6TWh, an increase of 1.6TWh from the year before.

Hydro

• Hydro-generated energy increased by 30% during the period July 2011-June 2012 thanks to increased rainfall from the previous year.

Solar PV

• Solar installations in the UK saw a 466% increase between June 2011-June 2012 with 1.2GW of capacity installed in the period.

 The same document shows that since April 2011, the amount of investments in renewable energies reached a peak of  £12.7 billion and the industry announced that  22 800 jobs were created, due to the massive investments in the renewable infrastructure.
  The document from DECC also states:


“The renewables sector (covering electricity, heat and transport) currently supports around 110,000 jobs directly and in immediate supply chains, with another 160,000 jobs supported further along the supply chain. By 2020, the sector could support around 400,000 direct and immediate supply chain jobs and many more further along supply chains.”


 Mr. John Hayes, the Minister of State for Energy made the following comment on the updated Renewable Energy Roadmap:

“Energy is crucial to our economic well-being, bringing in major investment and supporting jobs across the country. I firmly believe that a diverse energy mix is the best way to ensure our energy security. It is extremely encouraging that we have made such positive steps on renewable energy as part of that mix.”


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

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

 

DECC Will Finance Social Housing Green Projects

Good news for over 1000 social housing tenants, they are approved and set to have installed in their homes some state of the art heating systems, part of a government programme  of renewable energy targeted to this sector.

 DECC (the department of energy and climate change) just announced the 44 social housing projects set to    be financed with a share of the £3.2 million, the budget available under the third phase of its renewable heat premium payment social housing competition. 

This competition was started in August, the current year and it involves local authorities and housing associations which are interested in renewable heating systems for their social housing projects, the winners will receive up to £156,000 each of funding for promoting their ideas and projects, also to use their share of funding in any way i.e. to install, let's say, biomass boilers, solar hot water panels or heat pumps, everything is on the table as long as it's renewable and feasible.

Mr. Greg Barker, the Energy and Climate Change Minister stated that :

“We need to move away from costly fossil fuel heating to more sustainable low carbon alternatives, not only to cut carbon but to help householders save money on bills too.”

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

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

Greg Barker hopes on 22GW by 2020 in UK via PV panels

Mr. George Barker, the DECC (department of energy and climate change) Minister made public, one more time, its plans and hopes for the United Kingdom solar market to accomplish 22GW by 2020 in renewable energy.

 Anyway, in his own words, this is very optimistic, the target is actually only aspirational and it depends heavily on the future technological development and the ability of the solar industry do drive down the costs and making solar energy available and competitive, both in terms of efficiency and budget.

There were some parliamentary questions in which the Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint asked Mr. Barker to  include his 22GW solar ambition in the upcoming renewables energy roadmap, stating that:

“As installations flatline, Ministers have clung to the line that their plans will allow 4 million homes to be solar powered, with 22GW of solar to be installed by 2020.

“Will the plan for 22GW, which was announced in April, still be the government’s policy when they publish their renewable road map, or does he now accept that, because of his cuts, Britain will not reach that target for at least another 30 years?”

Mr. Barker replied: “What we said about deployment rates is that we have the potential to deploy 22GW if we can continue to drive down the cost of solar.”

The  Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint  stated:

 “22GW is certainly our ambition, but in order to meet that ambition we need not just deployment, but deployment at a level that the country can afford. That is what we are about on the government benches—delivering renewables at a rate that the country can afford and that delivers good value to consumers, as opposed to the open handed, open cheque book, high-cost model deployed under the Labour Party.”

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

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

Additional electricity storing facilities problems, predicted by Ofgem

Recently, a report from the Ofgem raised some interesting questions about the level of electricity storing facilities in the UK market, in their own words is "“set to end quite rapidly over the next few years.”  The margins of spare electricity are possible to be reduced from the present 14 percent on average to only 4 percent by 2016. Sounds pretty scary, huh?

 Things get scarier, the analysis predicts that there will be dark, I mean that in the future some of the power grid customers will experience blackouts, Ofgem also said that : "The risk of electricity disconnections will appreciably increase from near zero levels.”

 We all remember the 2009 predictions, now revised, in the Project Discovery, which stated that old technology  , like coal and oil power stations, will be history until 2015 (when is the deadline for these major polluters) .

 The major risk factors to energy supplies are the global economic crisis, the environmental program and the old and aging energy infrastructure, all summed up can trigger unpleasant events in the near future.

 Mr. Alistair Buchanan, Chief Executive of Ofgem made the following comment:

 “The unprecedented challenges facing Britain’s energy industry, identified in Ofgem’s Project Discovery, to attract the investment to deliver secure, sustainable and affordable energy supplies for consumers, still remain. Ofgem is working with Government on its plans to reform the electricity market to tackle these issues.

“Ofgem is playing its part by helping Britain to attract nearly £30 billion of network investment thorough its RIIO price controls. Ofgem is also seeking sweeping reforms to the retail market to ensure a simpler, clearer and fairer energy market for consumers. This is vital as if consumers are going to be expected to pay for this investment, it is only right that they see a complete change in the way suppliers treat them. Encouragingly, we are increasingly seeing evidence that suppliers have got the message and we will be publishing our next reforms proposals shortly.”

 Mr. Edward Davey, secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) made a declaration following the Ofgem report:

“I am grateful to Ofgem for providing to Government their first annual Electricity Capacity Assessment. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the security outlook and Government will consider carefully the implications. We will respond formally before the end of the year.

“Security of electricity supply is of critical importance to the health of the economy and the smooth functioning of our daily lives. That is why the Government is reforming the electricity market to deliver secure, clean and affordable electricity.”

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

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/ 

Rexel UK addresses the need for educating Britain about renewable heat

  

I hope you all know about Rexel UK Limited, a business-to-business distributor of electrical installation supplies, also focused on Environmental and Health & Safety products. They recently made a survey that reveals that 56% of customers have not heard of combined heat and power units, while nearly half (46% and 42% respectively) are unaware of air-source and ground-source heat pumps. 

They emphasize the necessity of educating the British consumers about the benefits of renewable heat, this issue was recently addressed by the Public Attitudes Tracker, the wave 2 from  DECC, also they stated that the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme for summer 2013 is in the works by the government of the UK.

 The Renewable Heat Incentive scheme will function in the same way the FiT scheme for solar panels worked in 2010, as introduced by the Government.

 The survey from 2011 carried out by Rexel showed that a mere 13 percent of the UK people had any idea and basic notions about the PV feed-in-tariffs. After only a year, thanks to the media campaign, the latest DECC Tracker reveals that 82 percent of the people are in support for using the Solar Panel technology in their homes and businesses.

Mr.  Brian Smithers, director of Rexel UK stated:

“Legislation to encourage the adoption of these technologies, such as the RHI for renewable heat, can only take us so far,”

“It’s crucial that the industry comes together to share knowledge and educate, not only the consumer but also the developers, specifiers and installers who play such a key role in helping the UK to meet its carbon emission reduction targets,”  pointed Mr. Smithers.

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

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/ 

Good news for 7 cities in UK, 12 million for Green Deal

For 7 major cities in UK its Hanukkah already, they are about to receive f £12 million for their Green Deal project, we are talking here about Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.
DECC selected them because of their bold plan, called Green Deal, promises to cut down carbon emissions.
Mr. Edward Davey, energy secretary, said, and I quote:

“These cities have really ambitious plans to lower their emissions, reduce energy use and help people save money on their bills. I’ve been really impressed by their plans to start testing the Green Deal and transforming our homes and buildings.
“This funding will help them get up and running, and I look forward to seeing a number of properties across whole communities get the energy efficient improvements they need.”

For DECC, this deal is a test for the Green Deal framework, kind of a beta version before its official launch in October, the 7 cities are expected to undertake around 2500 retrofits and every each one of the cities who will receive the money must contribute to an equal amount from their local budgets.

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

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

The UK government cuts Renewable Energy Certificates, grim perspectives for 2013

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) reconsidered its July declarations in which it promised  to take no action in the renewable obligation certificates (ROC) and to continue to support  installations >5MW. At the moment, DECC is considering cuts in the support for solar PV from the actual  2ROCs to just 1.5ROCs from April 2013. 

 The problem is that there are almost 120 MW of >5MW solar parks projects already approved for planning in the UK and this decision could kill the green project or at least severely damage it .The 
DECC's announcement was heavily criticized by the solar industry who argued that the profit margins of the solar panel manufacturers are already evaporating and the future looks grim in this perspective. They also asked DECC to encourage the private investment in the solar panel industry as they did before, on the basis of subsidies. 

DECC stated that  the proposed RO banding rates for solar are a work in progress and they asked the solar industry representatives to make a statement on their announcement and provide up to date informations for future decisions.

 The companies have until October 17 to respond to DECC’s proposals, you can view the document from DECC here.

 For more informations and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime : http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/