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Updated: 7 February 2023
The trade association for the solar industry, Solar Energy UK, has confirmed that national solar capacity now exceeds 15GW, with more solar panels being put on British roofs than ever before. The pace of installations on residential rooftops rose by almost three times year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, while more commercial-scale rooftop solar PV was installed than any quarter since 2019.
In August, just over 3,000 installs were being carried out in the UK every week – up from 1,000 a week two years ago. Some installers have reported tenfold increases in enquiries, while searches on Google for solar panels hit their highest ever level during August.
The figures show that the worsening energy price crisis has made solar an increasingly attractive investment, despite supply chain pressures causing price rises for the first time. For the residential and large commercial sector, prices have increased in line with inflation by 10-15 per cent in recent months.
“Rooftop solar power is as good an investment as it has ever been. The broader fossil-fuelled price crisis means that this is true even though rooftop solar’s ten-year price decline appears to have halted,” said Chris Hewett, chief executive of Solar Energy UK.
“Solar Energy UK’s Lighting the Way forecast showed the UK could – and needs – to deploy 15GW of rooftop solar by 2030 – and we are heading in the right direction. In a time of economic crisis, growth in UK solar has more than doubled in 12 months, and the trend will continue. This is cheap, clean, home-grown energy, providing lower bills, secure jobs and getting Britain off the hook of Russian gas.”
A recent report by the UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) concluded that the UK’s warehouse rooftops alone could provide all the space required for the 15GW of capacity Solar Energy UK says is required by 2030.
Doing so would cut electricity costs for the warehousing sector by 40-80 per cent and save £3 billion per year, but would require a reform of planning rules to be achieved, the report states.
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The increasing deployment of solar and other renewable power generation across Europe is now projected to help drive down power prices in the UK in the second half of the 2020s.
Tom Edwards, senior modeller at energy consultancy Cornwall Insight, explained:
"With many of the headlines rightly focused on the short-term prospects for energy prices, it is often difficult to see the long-term picture. Our new data, forecasting a dip in power prices from 2024 up to 2030, shows that markets and governments are responding to the current higher prices with new investment in renewables to shore up energy supplies."
“The reduction in gas flow from Russia into Europe has led to a revaluation of energy supply and security throughout the continent. With much of what was their main source of energy now unavailable, countries are looking to the alternatives that will help keep the lights on over the next few years, and renewables fit this bill. Our data shows the benefits to the market of a growth in renewable investment, with the increasing competition for [British] renewables reducing prices and helping stabilise the energy market over the next few years.”
The solar boom is set to continue into 2023 as they payback period decreases to six years and the International Energy Agency predicts that solar pv capacity will triple by 2027.
Read more on this story 'Solar now offering 19 years of free electricity' from Green Economy.
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