According to Solar Intelligence analyst Finlay Colville, the UK installed 1.553 GW of new solar PV capacity during the first quarter of 2016.
“The wait is over, and the counting has been finished by our research team,” explained leading solar energy expert, Finlay Colville, this week. “The size of the UK solar market in the first quarter of 2016 can now be revealed and analyzed in detail.
“All through this week, we have been discussing the factors that were behind what was truly a fascinating quarter of solar activity in the UK. One that confounded the skeptics (several highly respected global companies had been vocal about the UK only adding 750MW in the first quarter), disappointed the eternal optimists (‘the UK will install 2GW in Q1’), but satisfied most of the companies serving the ground-mount sector.”
The UK’s first quarter was the second highest quarter ever for the UK solar PV industry, a growth of approximately 97% quarter-over-quarter, a decline of 38% year-over-year, and the third consecutive quarter of growth since the start of the Full-Year 2016 fiscal period.
The amount of solar added through the UK’s fiscal year period to the end of Q1 was 2.939 GW, down almost exactly 1 GW from a year earlier, when fiscal year additions were 3.926 GW, thanks primarily to changes to the UK solar industry’s conditions for Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) qualification.
Of the total 1.553 GW installed in the first quarter, 570 MW was from sites greater than 5 MW grandfathered in from the May 2014 changes in legislation. Two sites built greater than 50 MW in size, four projects in the 40 to 50 MW category, two in the 30 to 40 MW, nine in the 10 to 20 MW range, and eight in the 5 to 10 MW range.
The full analysis of Solar Intelligence’s figures for the first quarter of 2016 can be seen here.
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