Solar ... In the news

JKenH

They do grow very quickly but only live around 40 years so they won’t be causing a problem forever. We have a lot on our land and although at least 50 yds away they do cause a problem in the late afternoons in winter. 

Martyn1981

Well that's not good - long delays for infrastructure improvements to allow for faster deployment of PV.

[As an aside, a forum friend on another site, was recently involved in filming an install of a large containerised battery at a small sub-station (one of those small brick buildings, designed to fit in with the local houses) by one of the DNO's. This is something that I've been passionate about for many years, as sub stations can't 'pump' excess generation back up the line. So a level of storage will not only allow for better use and transmission of excess grid scale RE, but could hopefully allow for more small scale generation, by allowing larger export limits, or higher penetration of PV in any given area.]

UK businesses face delays of up to 15 years for solar installations

Businesses in the UK are facing waits of up to 15 years for solar installations on their homes due to a lack of grid connectivity, MPs have found.

The environmental audit committee, which looks at green policies in government, has said there is a “dark cloud of delays” hindering the country from reaching its potential when it comes to renewable energy.

An inquiry by the MPs into solar energy has found that the government’s ambition to install 70GW of solar by 2035 may not happen if these delays continue. It found that in some cases, customers were having to wait 10 to 15 years to secure a connection for solar installations.

MPs said there were three key areas where the current approach on grid connection was delaying progress: a lack of physical infrastructure such as cables and transformers; poor availability of data on solar photovoltaic generation, particularly for small-scale installations; and a “queueing system” of applications where developers are applying for grid connections without the project having planning permission.

Coastalwatch

That's a sobering headline you've posted there Mart and yet countered with the desire to see Storage at that more local level to assist with some mitigation. It certainly makes sense to me and if we include domestic storage and EV's into the mix as you've mentioned before then every little helps. Of course this doesn't take away the need for generation in ever increasing capacities.

Having posted recently about the limited roll out of PV during the last eight years I was staggered to read of The Governments Ambition to see 70 GW's installed by 2035. Given that in the last eight years the best months total was 69.5 MW's and with anticipated deployment for the current year being 700 MW's then at the current rate it will take 78.5 years to reach that 70 GW figure.

I certainly don't dispute the need for 70 GW's in the timeframe but it does rather suggest the statement "The Governments Ambition to see 70 GW's installed by 2035" was constructured with little thought as to how it could possibly be achieved.

Martyn1981

Hiya CW, funny you should say that as I read a similar item about wind energy, I'll post on the main thread.

Coastalwatch

That's an impressive figure and I believe approx four times that achieved in the uk to date. Admittedly they've a greater land area than here and maybe a few less nimby's.

Germany’s PV systems inject 40 GW of PV into grid for first time

In the first week of May, the photovoltaic systems installed in Germany made the largest contribution to net electricity generation. They fed a total of 1,744.46 GWh of solar power into the grid and thus had a share of 23.6%.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/05/08/germanys-pv-systems-inject-40-gw-of-pv-into-grid-for-first-time/

Coastalwatch

Following the post above on Germany's PV generation achievements coupled with Marts article earlier today on the G & E thread, The Energy Revolution in 5 Charts,  I came across the article below offering some background into one of the individual's responsible for China's remarkable transition to renewable energy in becoming a global leader in the manufacture of Solar panels and post here. 

Weekend read: Solar’s supply-chain pioneer

pv magazine: In 2001, you were enticed from the University of New South Wales, in Australia, to China to set up the forerunner of Suntech, which would become the world’s biggest solar cell and module maker and the first Chinese solar company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. What can you say about PV manufacturing in China at that time?

https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2023/05/06/weekend-read-solars-supply-chain-pioneer/

Martyn1981

Coastalwatch said:

That's an impressive figure and I believe approx four times that achieved in the uk to date. Admittedly they've a greater land area than here and maybe a few less nimby's.

Germany’s PV systems inject 40 GW of PV into grid for first time

In the first week of May, the photovoltaic systems installed in Germany made the largest contribution to net electricity generation. They fed a total of 1,744.46 GWh of solar power into the grid and thus had a share of 23.6%.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/05/08/germanys-pv-systems-inject-40-gw-of-pv-into-grid-for-first-time/

Hiya CW - Clearly Germany wasn't happy with their massive PV generation, so have decided to do something about it!

By 2026, their annual deployment targets of 22GWp are approx 1.5x more than the UK's total deployment to date. If those numbers are correct, and the targets achieved, then the generation, just from the annual PV additions, would be equal to about 5% of the UK's total leccy consumption.

Germany to speed up solar expansion

Germany aims to significantly accelerate the expansion of solar energy as part of its new comprehensive photovoltaic strategy.

Speaking at the second PV summit, Federal Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck said: “Photovoltaics is one of the cheapest energy sources of all and is one of the most important sources of electricity generation in the future.

The photovoltaic strategy lays out plans to increase ground-mounted systems by 11GW per year from 2026. In addition, the strategy calls for 11GW per year from 2026 for roof-mounted solar systems.

zeupater

Hi

But .... don't they know that with Germany not being on the equator all of this solar will be a useless waste of money and will generate absolutely nothing  .... wahhhh, wahhhh, wahhhh ..... and even louder .... WAHHH .....

Mind though, it's been a pretty dull day here today, some sunny spells but not a lot .... and until MrsZ started reducing the pile of ironing a few minutes ago, most of the energy we've used today has still been within a little over 8minutes of creation in a far distant fusion reaction ....

Z - 

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 said:

The photovoltaic strategy lays out plans to increase ground-mounted systems by 11GW per year from 2026. In addition, the strategy calls for 11GW per year from 2026 for roof-mounted solar systems.

Strategy?! The current government don't have a strategy for anything, which is why I will be voting tactically at the next election!

Coastalwatch

zeupater said:

Hi

But .... don't they know that with Germany not being on the equator all of this solar will be a useless waste of money and will generate absolutely nothing  .... wahhhh, wahhhh, wahhhh ..... and even louder .... WAHHH .....

Mind though, it's been a pretty dull day here today, some sunny spells but not a lot .... and until MrsZ started reducing the pile of ironing a few minutes ago, most of the energy we've used today has still been within a little over 8minutes of creation in a far distant fusion reaction ....

Z - 

How jolly fortunate we are that it's actually eight minutes away and not somewhere much closer!