Some people have been surprised that the Government is so involved with the solar power site at the Wiltshire RAF base. British Solar Renewables are part owners, and the state has recently been allowing land to be used for green energy projects.
Recently it was the first time that there was less electricity provided from coal-fired plants than from photovoltaic panels. 17% of the UKs demand came from wind turbines in December and up to April 2016, 25% has been provided. The need to combat global warming is a major factor for new developments. Jeffries Bank analyst Peter Atherton believes that the growth of solar energy recently has been exploded.
For the first time, the sun power panels provided more UK electricity than the coal-fired plants over a full 24-hour period. Just under 30-gigawatt hours which is 4% of national demand.
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Solar Energy can be a world beater according to the Economist despite dependency upon the regularity of hot weather and it is 80% cheaper to install solar panels than it was a few years ago. At the turn of the century there was almost no solar industry in Britain but thanks to subsidies, had grown immensely, although by 2016 the industry is expected to chip in more. Around 2,000 jobs have recently been lost, and up to 18,700 more could follow.
According to Leonie Greene of the Solar Trade Association – a lobby group – solar is reliable and can be sent out quickly. She believes that the UK government needs to rethink their views and enable savings to be made on bills. Cost is a big issue, and there is still unhappiness regarding the cutting back of subsidies.
Solar Power in Numbers in the UK;
- 99% of the UK’s solar photovoltaic capacity has been installed since May 2010.
- 9.2GW of solar capacity has been installed in the UK, enough to power 2.2 million homes in Britain.
- 3.6GW of capacity was installed just in 2015.
- 2.2% of the total power generated in the UK in 2015 was from solar power sources.
- 49% of the total EU investment in solar panels was made in the UK.
- It is expected until 2020 13GW of solar panel will be installed in Britain.