Extracts from the May-June 2003 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

11. PV Solar

No Community PV

The Department of Trade and Industry’s new £10m "Clear Skies" Community & Household Renewable Energy grant scheme (see Renew 142) excludes both on and offgrid solar photovoltaics (PV), including, sadly, the hybrid Solartwin system, which uses PV to run the pump for a solar hear collector.

In response to a Parliamentary Question seeking the reason why, on 18th Dec. Melanie Johnson for the DTI commented: ‘The Performance and Innovation Unit’s ‘Renewable Energy in the UK- Building for the Future’ report recommended that up to £10m of support be provided as capital grants specifically for renewable energy schemes that engage local communities or individual households. The DTI has since undertaken a broad consultation exercise to inform the positioning, design and workings of this scheme. Through the consultation the DTI has revisited the initial recommendations of the PIU. An initial scoping exercise identified schemes, which had potential overlap with the proposed Community and Household Scheme (CHS), and concluded that such a scheme would be beneficial for the advancement of renewables in the UK. Although the PIU recommended that no restrictions be placed on technology, the DTI has sought to identify which technologies would enhance the public’s understanding of renewables. The scheme has also been designed so that it would not duplicate work under way through other Government or Industry initiatives. Although solar PV has a significant contribution to make to enhancing the public’s understanding of renewables, it is already supported by the first phase of the PV Major Demonstration Programme (MDP) which has a budget of £20m. The programme has already supported PV installations by homeowners and local groups. Technologies such as solar water heating, small wind and micro hydro can also make a positive contribution to the public’s understanding of renewables. These technologies, in contrast to solar PV, receive little or no Government support. The scheme also aims to tackle some of the other barriers to uptake such as installer accreditation. Again installer accreditation for solar PV occurs under the MDP and so any such work in the Community and Household would be redundant. On off grid applications, the DTI are currently looking at whether to expand the MDP to include off grid PV systems. On hybrid systems, customers will be able to apply to the CHS for the non solar PV component and to the MDP for the solar PV component of the hybrid system. The technologies supported by the CHS will be reviewed throughout the lifetime of the scheme and altered if necessary.’

...but 19 new MDP projects

Well maybe it had to happen. PV is after all still very expensive and not that well suited to many low cost grass roots projects- which might get better value from other technologies. But, as the DTI make clear, PV is not being sidelined- there are other sources of funding for it. Indeed, nineteen new PV schemes, 535kW in all, have been given the go ahead in the second phase of the the DTI’s £20m Major Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme (MDP). The projects share a £2.2m grant. They include a multi-story car park in Woking, a coastal visitor centre at Llanelli, Wales and Leicester University engineering building. There are also small and medium scale projects such as flats in London, a school in Hertfordshire and a health centre in Bristol. Brian Wilson, Minister for Energy, said: ‘These nineteen projects will add to the hundreds of solar houses and buildings which the Government has already sponsored’. For details of the projects see Technology.