UK Solar Market to Increase 5x This Year and 30x by 2015?

June 7th, 2010 by Zachary Shahan

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Feed-in tariffs (FiT) have hit the UK and they are predicted to create a big boost for solar energy. A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts a five-fold increase in demand for photovoltaic (PV) solar panels this year as a result.

1GW of Solar Energy in UK by 2015

The new report is titled On the brink of a bright future? and predicts that the UK solar market can hit 1GW by 2015.

At the end of 2009, only 32MW of solar energy were installed in the UK (0.3% of total renewable energy in the country), but with a new FiT scheme that could increase 30 times, the experts predict.

Changes in the Solar Industry

With a massive increase in demand, the professional quality of the solar industry is expected to improve in the UK as well.

“The significant expansion that may be just around the corner will change today’s ‘cottage industry’ into a much more professionally organised sector. The PV market will become more sophisticated with more complex products and a greater focus on accountability for system performance,” Daniel Guttmann, renewables director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said.

Mr. Guttman warns that if the industry doesn’t change quickly, however, the UK could miss out on the possibilities created here. “The industry will need to adapt and develop quickly to ensure that as much of the opportunity in terms of job and value creation is captured within the UK. Companies that have been successful so far have benefited from investment in order to fund expansion. Further investment will be required in order to train for and fund the rapid expansion expected.”

Can the UK Catch Up to Germany?

Increasing installed solar energy capacity 5 times this year and 30 times by 2015 is quite significant, but even with this forecast PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that the UK won’t hit Germany’s current solar capacity until 2020. Nonetheless, this will at least put them on the same playing field.

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Image Credit: telex4 via flickr/CC license

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Tags: benefits, Germany, photovoltaic panels, Retrofitting, solar photovoltaics, Solar PV

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

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The feed-in tariff works by offering owners of renewable energy systems of up to 5 megawatts in size money for the electricity produced and also exported to the grid. There are different tariff rates for each technology according to the relative expense of the systems, with solar PV installations receiving the most due to the high cost per kilowatt-hour associated with the technology. One of the main industries to benefit from the FIT is the agricultural industry, which, with large areas of land, can exploit each of the relevant technologies supported by the scheme. Raggatt adds that, in these challenging economic times, the feed-in tariff is kick-starting the UK to moving toward a greener economy, which could spur economic and employment growth if exploited well enough.
http://freeresidentialsolarquotes.com Mark Johnston

I used to live in London and find it hard to believe that Solar is the best renewable energy for the UK. Wind and tidal or wave energy might be the better way to go unless they develop super sensitive solar panels.

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http://www.solarpanelrebate.com.au SolarGen

This is great news for the industry in the UK and the industry on a global scale. It’s hard to mount an argument against FIT’s, it’s been proven time and again in many countries they make solar a much more attractive investment!