UK added 555 MW of new solar in 2022

The United Kingdom installed 555 MW of new PV capacity by the end of December 2022, according to provisional data from the government. The country’s cumulative installed capacity hit 14.3 GW across more than 1.2 million installations, up 4% from December 2021.

Rooftop installations for microgeneration projects below 4 kW in size accounted for most of the growth, with 288.6 MW of new capacity at the end of December 2022. Cumulative microgeneration capacity hit 3,169.1 MW, from 2,880.5 MW in 2021 and 2,764.1 MW in 2020. The UK Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) said that 130,596 PV systems were installed in UK homes last year, up 115% from 2021 and marking the highest level of annual deployment since 2015.

Large-scale installations between 5 MW and 25 MW have grown by just 23 MW since 2021. This segment’s cumulative capacity was 4,358.5 MW at the end of 2022, 4,335.5 MW in 2021, and 4,320.5 MW in 2020. The country did not add any PV installations above 25 MW in size in 2022, leaving cumulative capacity at 1,728.7 MW since 2021. In 2020, the figure was 1,653.7 MW.

In December 2022, 50 MW of new installations were added across all segments.

“The number of new installations is the lowest seen in the past four months, with many projects likely delayed due to the Christmas and new year period,” the government said. “The figure for deployment within the latest month should always be taken as highly provisional – it is likely to be revised as further data are received on newly operational sites.”

At the end of September 2022, 55% of the UK’s total capacity, or 7,739 MW, came from ground-mounted arrays or standalone solar installations. This includes two operational solar farms accredited on contracts for difference, according to the government.