Renewable Energy Installer December/January 2014 | Page 16

Opinion National treasure Steve Pester, BRE, provides an update on The National Solar Centre (NSC) since its opening last April he NSC has been busy on a number of fronts, as usual. You may have already read in the media that our outdoor test site is being developed at the Eden Project, near St Austell. The plan is to get the site up and running in the fi rst half of 2014, performing several types of test including: T t t t t Long term side-by-side module output tests Whole system tests, including different types of inverter Module cleaning studies Orientation and tilt tests These will be rigorously performed scientifi c tests and will provide an excellent source of real performance data for the UK climate. Alongside these very practical activities, the NSC has been helping with government policy by co-chairing the Solar PV Strategy Working Group and producing reports on anti-dumping and base line costings. You may also have noticed the excellent solar road map published by DECC in October, with input from the NSC. This lays out four key principles on which to base support policy for solar projects. Paraphrased, these are: 1. Support will only be given to projects which show value-for- money carbon savings 2. Support should deliver genuine carbon reductions, contributing to the UK’s target of 15 per cent renewable energy from fi nal consumption by 2020 3. Support should ensure that projects are sensitively sited, taking account of landscape, visual impact, heritage and local amenity and any community concerns. 4. Impacts on the grid must be assessed and addressed in any support policies. These guiding principles should help to secure the future for PV by allaying fears and ensuring the wise use of public money. Installer is king, says Worcester, Bosch Neil Schofi eld, Worcester, Bosch, is calling on the government to be more mindful of the integral part installers will play in the success, or indeed failure, of its energy effi ciency policies chofi eld, the manufacturer’s head of external and governmental affairs, argues that a lack of political consensus on how to reduce energy bills, and a perception within industry that policy is being dictated by the ‘big six’ suppliers, could leave those delivering schemes such as Green Deal sidelined, when they are in pole position to improve its outcome. “With the Green Deal clearly at a critical stage, it is up to us to help the government deliver a system that works. At present, there are strong concerns that the Green Deal favours the big six energy suppliers, but we must change this approach and force the S 16 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk government to remember the installer is king. “By changing the mindset of policy-makers, we can turn the Green Deal on its head, in order to position the installers as a ‘one stop shop’ for all energy effi ciency enhancements.” He added: “We need to fi x the bugs in the Green Deal on the government’s behalf and push for action on the RHI (a clear launch date). We also need an assurance that the prime minister’s pledge to roll back green taxes is not code for the scaling back of energy effi ciency policies. In the meantime, it is imperative that we continue to give installers a voice.”