PV installations dip but UK’s largest solar farm gets green light

Solar installations plunged to a record low last month as construction activity slowed down amidst the wider lockdown.

The latest solar photovoltaics monthly deployment statistics, which cover April and were published today (28 May) by the department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) show a total of 511 installations during the month.

This figure was 74 per cent down compared to April 2019 and is the lowest number of installations recorded since the government began collecting monthly statistics on solar deployment in 2014.

The release says the Covid-19 lockdown measures had a “significant effect” on the number of new installations which could be completed.

With 76 per cent of these new installations generating less than 4kW apiece, the total installed capacity for the month increased by 7MW.

The latest figures also mean, according to the new figures, that the total level of solar installations has increased since April last year by 195MW, equating to less than 1.5 per cent of overall capacity.

At the end of April 2020, there was a total of 13,493 MW installed solar capacity across 1,034,993 installations in the UK.

Responding to the figures, the Solar Trade Association chief executive Chris Hewett said: “The lockdown has understandably slowed solar deployment, with projects large and small being delayed due to issues with equipment supply, site access, worker availability and postponed grid connections. In recent weeks the industry has been looking carefully at how to get back to business and adapt to this new normal, with new health and safety protocols to follow to ensure the wellbeing of staff and customers alike.

“We are confident that with the right government policies our resilient industry will bounce back swiftly and support the UK’s green economic recovery through the 8GW pipeline of projects waiting to be rolled out.”

Cleve Hill

On the same day that the figures were released, BEIS approved planning permission for Cleve Hill Solar Park, which is set to be the largest solar park ever constructed in the UK.

The subsidy-free project, to be constructed on farmland near Faversham in Kent, is expected to reach a capacity of 350MW through 880,000 solar panels across 364 hectares.

Hewett called the decision “a major milestone on the road towards a UK powered by clean, affordable renewables”.

The developers, Wirsol Energy and Hive Energy, claim the project could help cut the UK’s carbon emissions by 68,000 tonnes a year. However, the development has been controversial among locals, who are concerned about the size of the project.

The Planning Inspectorate’s chief executive Sarah Richards said: “The Planning Inspectorate is committed to giving local communities the opportunity of being involved in the examination of projects that may affect them. Local people, the local authority and other interested parties were able to participate in a six-month long examination. The Examining Authority listened and gave full consideration to local views before making their recommendation.”

Sharp fall in energy efficiency installations

BEIS has also published new quarterly household energy efficiency statistics, which show that the number of Energy Company Obligation (ECO) measures installations fell “sharply” in last March.

According to the figures, 24,400 of the industry-funded household energy efficiency measures were completed in March 2020, a five per cent increase compared with February’s figure of 23,100.

However, the number of measures completed “fell sharply” in the final week of March following the announcement of stay at home guidance by prime minister Boris Johnson.

The briefing says that the peak in measures, typically seen at the end of the month when much paperwork is completed, was “much smaller” in March than in February, which it says was “presumably” due to the impact of Covid-19.