The 4th of July marked the third Solar Independence Day in the UK, an initiative led by the country’s Solar Trade Association.
The UK is heading towards 12GW of solar PV; more than double Australia’s solar capacity and enough to power the equivalent of 3.8 million homes. At one point last month, solar generation supplied 23.9% of the UK’s electricity demand.
An estimated 800,000 homes in the UK now have solar panels and 200,000 have solar hot water systems installed.
“Solar Independence Day is about celebrating what a large group of small and medium sized businesses can achieve in a short period of time,” said Paul Barwell, CEO of the Solar Trade Association.
“We now need just one more push from the Government to help the solar sector reach its objective of zero subsidy by the early 2020s.”
That goal has been made more difficult to achieve after uptake slowed following particularly brutal subsidy cuts.
With those cuts came significant job losses – up to 18,000 positions may have been lost in the last year or so; around half the UK solar workforce. The Solar Trade Association will shortly be publishing the results of its State of the Solar Industry Survey, which will clarify the impact of the slashed subsidies
As part of Solar Independence day, the STA is raising awareness how solar, as it does in Australia, can protect homeowners and businesses from volatile energy prices. The STA says solar can also reduce the need for energy imports and deliver future independence from subsidies if given stable support.
The celebration includes people from all over the UK posting photos using the #SolarIndependence hashtag.
The day also marked the launch of a new STA initiative, Raising Standards in Solar PV Operations and Maintenance; which has a special focus on commercial solar power systems.
“With this initiative we want to raise standards and establish best practice across the UK in solar PV operations and maintenance, making sure people are aware that preventative action can avoid costly corrective action later,” said Mark Turner, Chair of the Solar Trade Association Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Working Group.
“Solar PV plants have no moving parts but are power plants like any other, and therefore safety has to be our primary concern.”
