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Solar photo competition
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 5th June 2009 at 10:09 am
We Support Solar is running a photography competition to celebrate daylight in the UK. The campaign group is a network of organisations (including YouGen) and individuals who want solar power to be an important part of the renewable energy mix in the UK. To enter the competition you need to take…
Posted in: General, Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water
Are roof mounted turbines any good?
Posted by Graham Eastwick on 24th September 2009 at 10:43 am
Roof-mounted turbines were very popular a year ago or two. However, over the last few months a couple of reports have been published that suggest building-mounted turbines may not deliver as much electricity as hoped. One of the major manufacturers has just closed and stopped supplying turbines to …
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
Wind power without the guesswork
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 10th June 2009 at 11:01 am
Measuring wind power to see whether it makes sense to get a wind turbine has, until now, been either expensive or inaccurate. Now with the launch of the Power Predictor, it’s possible to take the risk out of what is a significant investment. The device is the invention of Toby Hammond, managing…
Posted in: Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water, Wind turbines
How to deal with snow on solar PV modules
Posted by Chris Rudge on 7th January 2010 at 11:36 am
This past weeks little deluge of snow may have provided a nice seasonal blanket of white over your solar PV modules. While the glass in most modules has self cleaning properties, the adhesion of snow means it will cover the modules until the temperature rises. In the case of a ground mounted system,…
Posted in: Solar electricity
Is my roof too shaded for solar PV panels?
Posted by Chris Rudge on 14th January 2010 at 7:10 am
If you are thinking of having a solar electricity system installed in 2010 to take advantage of the last chances of getting a lump sum grant before the Feed In Tariff starts in April, the first thing to do is look for a good location to install it. Traditionally for domestic Solar PV (photo…
Posted in: Solar electricity
How to avoid bugs in your solar hot water
Posted by Paul Hutchens on 21st June 2010 at 9:07 am
The plumbing, heating and solar industry is paranoid about legionella and bacterial infections in hot water systems. This is right and proper as the consequences of legionella infection can be fatal in vulnerable people - but it is actually very rare and I am told there are no recorded cases linked …
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
What types of solar PV panels are there?
Posted by Paul Hutchens on 2nd August 2010 at 9:58 am
Photovoltaic solar panels (PV) come in many different forms. Do you know your polycrystalline from your mono, or thin film from hybrid? No - I thought not, and frankly I do not think I would if I were not in the industry! There are a number of different types of solar photovoltaic systems avai…
Posted in: Solar electricity
Feed-in tariff registration: why is it taking so long?
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 3rd September 2010 at 9:55 am
I've heard a number of complaints from people about how long it's taking to register their solar or wind installation for the feed-in tariff, so when I was talking to Ofgem about grants this week, I asked about that too. It appears that the delay is mostly in migrating installations that were reg…
Posted in: General
Feed-in tariff is proving a big success
Posted by David Hunt on 15th November 2010 at 9:01 am
The government's feed-in tariff scheme has already got thousands of people generating their own electricity. When it launched the feed-in tariff scheme in April it was one of a range of policies aimed at inducing people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Now, just five months later, an…
Posted in: General, Solar electricity, Wind turbines
Using solar PV to heat your domestic hot water
Posted by Paul Hutchens on 26th May 2011 at 10:25 am
Q: Having recently installed Solar PV, I will soon be replacing our old boiler and hot water cylinder. The heating and water run on gas. Does it now make sense to use electricity to heat the hot water for the house? A: This is a really interesting conundrum - well I think it is - but maybe I am a…
Posted in: Solar electricity, Solar heat & hot water
Is Greg Barker looking for other ways to incentivise solar?
Posted by Cathy Debenham on 13th June 2011 at 2:01 pm
Greg Barker (minister for climate change) probably thought he was having a nice night off when he agreed to help present a prize at this year's Observer Ethical Awards. But when I saw him heading in my direction I couldn’t resist putting a question or two to him. He must have had a long day justif…
Posted in:
Can solar panels improve the efficiency of your ground source heat pump?
Posted by John Barker-Brown on 3rd October 2011 at 5:05 am
There is a growing interest in using solar panels to deposit heat within the ground during the summer periods and then using a ground source heat pump to extract this deposited heat during the winter. These systems are commonly called inter-seasonal storage systems and can usually be classed as:- …
Posted in: Heat pumps, Solar heat & hot water
Solar PV tiles: the pros and cons explained
Posted by Paul Hutchens on 14th October 2011 at 9:06 am
Q: We are currently in the planning process to build our own house and have lots of questions regarding the use of solar roof tiles. 1. Do you generate as much electricity with these roof tiles with the equivalent amount of panel space ? 2. I have noticed you can have panels that heat water an…
Posted in: General, Solar electricity
Solar Thermal - a guide to life expectancy and maintenance
Posted by Gabriel Wondrausch on 7th November 2011 at 4:15 am
The UK will see a huge increase in solar hot water (solar thermal) installations, with the recent announcement on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). When you’re investing in a new technology, you want to be sure that it’s going to be reliable and not over-costly in terms of maintenance and repa…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
Four major reasons to join in the mass lobby of Parliament on changes to the Feed-in Tariff
Posted by Howard Johns on 17th November 2011 at 9:08 pm
Now we have all got over the shock of the announcement of potential changes to the feed-in tariff (FIT) some people in the industry are saying we should just get on and make the 21p work. In many ways if that was what the plan really was I would agree, but having sat in the Ministerial Roundta…
Posted in: Solar electricity
Just another day in the Commons - where we merrily destroy the PV sector with spin
Posted by Howard Johns on 29th November 2011 at 9:31 am
Anyone working in the solar industry will have been appalled, dismayed and almost certainly angered to watch the debate on their future and the feed in tariff that took place in the House of Commons. I was sat in the viewing gallery watching and despite the best efforts of Caroline Flint and m…
Posted in: General, Solar electricity
Solar is not just about the feed-in tariffs
Posted by Paul Hutchens on 9th December 2011 at 9:57 am
There has been much talk and debate about solar panels recently; most of it about solar PV and the Feed-in Tariffs (FIT). However, there is another game in town and it is potentially far larger than solar PV. Space and water heating in buildings accounts for nearly 70% of the energy consumed by the…
Posted in: Solar heat & hot water
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