United Kingdom

Overall, the United Kingdom reached a cumulative installed PV power capacity of 12.93 GW as of the end of August. Around 45% of this is represented by solar parks exceeding 5 MW in size, while another 20% come from residential installations up to 4 kW. Newly installed PV capacity for the first eight months of this year was just 155 MW.

The “Project Centurion” will allow the testing of ITM Power’s Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser at Inovy’s Runcorn Site, where hydrogen is being produced as a co-product of the chlor-alkali process.

The U.K. government has cold-shouldered PV with a row of disfavourable policies, which have put at risk the financial viability of new arrays. In the past few last years, the market has remained almost flat, with installations sitting at around 200 MW per year.

What problems are being encountered and how to avoid them by learning from past mistakes? With booming installation rates across all segments of the Australian solar market, quality issues have been pushed to the fore, and quality assurance has become instrumental in shaping further uptake.

The solar company has launched a five-year research project with the British scientists, which has been funded with £2.5 million from the U.K. Government. The goal is to develop a thin film multi-junction perovskite solar cell with a 37% efficiency and long-term stability.

While global coal mining companies are enjoying the highest prices in years on the back of boosted Asian demand, banks and financiers are increasingly ending their support for coal power. London-based Standard Chartered the latest to stop financing new coal-fired stations.

Labour this morning unveiled plans for an energy system free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but it is unclear what proportion of the party’s “clean energy” mix would be met by nuclear.

More than 100 free storage systems will given to residential and commercial users to maximize utilization rates of storage systems while reducing costs for grid operators. The algorithms behind the technology would improve the supply situation and shave peak demand.

The market for EVs is experiencing robust uptake worldwide with companies, governments and municipalities implementing policies to drive development. EVN and EVBox announced plans for expansion this week, and the UK government is also pouring investment subsidies into the electric vehicle market.

Anesco has installed 3.75 MW/3.75 MWh of battery storage at the offices of Philip Dennis Foodservice. The systems are connected directly to the U.K. grid, and will generate revenues of £750,000 over the next 20 months.