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Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Britain’s Solar Industry

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UK wind farms not meeting targets prompting solar questionshave only been able to supply the National Grid with 10% of their capacity for more than one-third of the time over the last two years a shocking report has revealed.
The rhetoric and reaction to the FiT review with a recent release including an analysis Of UK Wind Generation prepared by the conservation charity the John Muir Trust concluded that wind power ‘cannot be relied on' . According to Ray Noble of the Renewable Energy Association the Government needs to harness all the renewable technologies to cover the various weather effects if Britain is to have a secure and green energy future.

“Last year was a poor year for Wind Turbines (because of lack of wind) and also a poor year for Hydro (because of the lack of rain). The beauty of Photovoltaic (PV) generation is it works on light and annual light levels vary by less than 5% therefore the annual generation is predictable,” he said.

“The report from the John Muir Trust putts further pressure on the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) to revisit their policy on solar power,” said Ken Moss, CEO of solar generator mO3 Power. “Solar has a vital part to play if Britain is to have a low-carbon and self-reliant source of electricity.” 

Last month, the DECC announced a proposal that would cut the support (through feed-in-tariffs) for medium sized solar developments by 72% this summer. According to both Ray Noble and Ken Moss this cut would effectively end the development of solar in Britain as a major player in the country's future low-carbon generation plans.

“Wind turbines, because of planning issues, are now being built further and further away from urban conurbations with much having to go offshore; this results in having to use the inefficient main grid to transfer the electricity to the point of use and in doing so you can lose up to 8% in transmission losses,” explained Mr Noble.

“Solar is one of the only renewable technologies that can be deployed on or near to buildings (roof or ground mounted) and be connected to the local distribution system and avoiding transmission losses,” he said.

Analysis of UK Wind Generation rejects the claim made by the industry that on average turbines generate at 30 per cent of their capacity. It quotes a metered average of 27.1% for 2009 and 21% for last year.

The report concludes: “It is clear from this analysis that wind cannot be relied upon to provide any significant level of generation at any defined time in the future.” 

“All the renewable technologies have their part to play if we are not to be reliant upon imports of gas in the future. Wind and hydro will always fluctuate in their efficiency because of weather conditions. The Government has to include solar in the renewable energy mix if Britain is not to be reliant upon imports from potentially unstable states,” said Ken Moss.
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