Opinion
“Heat pump installers face significant reputational risk if the heat transfer fluid they install
results in system damage” Andre Murray, Kilfrost P33
By guest columnist
Bill Wright,
head of energy
solutions, Electrical
Contractors’
Association
A
t long last the domestic RHI
has been launched and is
open for business. On the first
day of operation, OFGEM accredited
its first client for payments and there
have been lots of enquiries on its help
lines.
Also launched very recently
has been the government’s UK
Solar PV Strategy. This is a first for
the government in actually laying
down its aims and aspirations for
the solar industry and should give
encouragement to all struggling PV
firms after the earlier FITs debacle.
The strategy targets PV systems
on factories, commercial and public
buildings such as the 24,000 schools in
England and Wales which are singled
out for development. It states its short
term aim is for over 1GWp on government buildings.
Schools will be given particular guidance on how to
commission and finance PV schemes on their premises.
Additionally DECC and DCLG will work together
to extend permitted development rights for large roof
mounted PV systems of up to 1MW.
The hope is that PV will assist in the objective of
achieving 15 percent renewable energy by 2020. Currently
there is 2.7GWp of installed PV and the government has an
ambition to achieve 20GWp by early next decade.
The cost of installed systems may still drop further,
but additional financial assistance, such as inclusion of
FITs in the Green Deal calculations, would boost uptake.
The future’s
looking up for PV
Steve Pester, BRE, focuses
on the newly-published Solar
Strategy and why its drive
towards large roof mounted
systems is a sound one
ommercial rooftops are where the solar industry is now
headed. That’s not to say that the domestic market will not
continue to improve, but the new strategy document from
DECC makes it clear where the government sees the next
big push – medium to large scale systems on commercial and industrial
buildings.
It is surprising that this large market has not already been tapped –
there is an estimated 0.25 million hectares of south facing commercial roof
space in the UK. But issues of landlord-tenant contracts, non-portability of
PV systems under the FiT, building design life, mechanical loading of roofs
and of course that old chestnut, planning delays, have all played their part
in holding the sector back.
But it makes complete sense to overcome these barriers because:
• There are no issues with land use – commercial & industrial building
roofs are not normally used for anything except keeping the rain out
• The appearance of most buildings in this sector will not be greatly
affected by the addition of PV
• The peaks in energy supply and demand are matched in time, thus
the on-site use will be high
• High on-site use means lower electricity bills for the occupants and
less peaky demand profiles for the national grid to deal with
• With the addition of physical mechanisms to cap the export of power,
it may be possible to avoid local upgrades to the grid infrastructure
C
Via the new strategy document, the government has announced many
specific measures aimed at removing the barriers and allowing the
commercial roofs market to blossom.
The BRE National Solar Centre has been privileged to be a partner
in the writing of the strategy because of our ability to supply robust
information to the industry and to government, for example:
• We are collaborating with the Met Office to improve solar irradiance
forecasting
• Launched a Biodiversity Guide for solar developers at Kew Gardens
on 28 April
• We have already published a planning requirements guide for large
scale solar farms
• and we have supplied a study to DECC on jobs and growth in the UK
solar sector
Whereas many countries in Europe are struggling, it is clear that the UK is
now pushing ahead on solar.
14 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk