Solar Energy: Current UK Use
Passive solar design is a proven design approach that can reduce energy costs for buildings. In the UK, significant progress has been made in solar uptake in the non-domestic buildings sector. Uptake in the domestic sector has been slower. However, its application is expected to continue to grow as part of the practice of good building design.
A small, established market currently exists for active solar heating (also known as ‘solar thermal’ or ‘solar water heating’) in the UK, with fairly steady sales into the domestic and commercial sectors since the mid-1980s. Around 10,000 solar thermal systems are installed in the UK every year, and there are now over 100,000 systems in place.
In 2003, total capacity for solar photovoltaics (pv) in the UK was approximately 6 megawatts. This is a small proportion of its potential.
Under the Major Photovoltaics Demonstration Programme (PVMDP) there have been a number of installations given grant funding. These range from individual household installations to schools, social housing and a number of prominent buildings, including the London Transport Museum and the CIS Tower in Manchester, which, once complete, will be one of the largest PV installations in Europe . Remote locations are also ideally suited to PV installations and the PVMDP has supported installations in remote locations including the Island of Foula, Shetland's most westerly island. With a population of just 31, it is completely isolated from the national grid and must generate all its power locally. The grant was used to build a hybrid system that will provide 100 per cent of the island's power requirements through the use of a photovoltaic array fitted to the community hall roof and a hydro electric plant. This grant scheme has closed. Grants are now available through the Low Carbon Buildings Programme.
Likely contribution of solar to the renewables targets
All forms of technology will play an important part in the UK Renewable Energy Strategy in meeting our renewables energy targets.
Future development
Indications are that the cost of PV systems are falling as the efficiency of solar panels increases and the cost of manufacturing declines due to the introduction of new technologies, such as thin-film solar PV. BERR's Renewables Innovation Review estimated that solar PV could become cost-competitive with other forms of electricity generation by 2020–30. The bottom end of the range indicates the case where solar panels are incorporated into buildings at the stage of construction, which is cheaper than retrofitting. This will increase the economic appeal of systems and the range of attractive applications. There are also thousands of PV systems currently in operation in the UK, meeting small power requirements in applications such as phone booths and roadside monitoring systems.