Solar energy the key to feeding green to public

Aug 26 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

As the Solar Flair conference returns to County Durham in December, John Hill looks at the hopes for the sector following the introduction of incentives for renewable energy generators.

A YEAR ago, several experts gathered at Sedgefield’s Hardwick Hall to debate the future prospects of solar power. It’s a form of renewable energy that has seen its star rise and wane since the 1970s, but hopes were high at the first Solar Flair conference last September.

That was partly due to the quality of research into solar technology around the world, and partly due to the fact that this technology is now cheaper and more accessible to potential users than it was in the 70s.

However, it was the upcoming introduction of a feed-in tariff in the UK that had most experts drooling. That measure, which appeared in April, means that building owners receive regular payments from energy suppliers for generating their own electricity from renewable sources.

Britain is by no means blazing a trail here. For example, some form of feed-in tariff has been in place in Germany since 1990. However, analysts at PricewaterhouseCoopers say the tariffs could boost the UK’s solar photovoltaic market five-fold in this year alone. Local councils were also cleared earlier this month to sell renewable energy to the grid for the first time in 25 years, in a move that could raise £100m a year for authorities in England and Wales.

As a result, the mood will most likely be even brighter when the second Solar Flair conference swings into County Durham’s Lumley Castle on December 8 and 9.

Solar Flair is the brainchild of the County Durham Development Company, working on behalf of the Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network. Last year’s speakers included representatives from QuantaSol, Sanyo, Romag, The Centre for Renewable Energy at Durham University and the Printable Electronics Technology Centre based at Sedgefield’s much-hailed NETPark facility. This year’s speakers include Durham University’s Dr Ken Durose and journalist and presenter Michael Mosely.

CDDC’s Alan Bramble says: “Within my span of knowledge, solar has moved from being a scientific novelty to a very serious form of alternative technology.

“There’s a genuine change of attitude but also in technology catching up with an idea. The technology is now ready and available to realise this type of concept, and it’s growing and expanding almost exponentially. The advances in the last 10 years will be replicated over the next two or three years and so on. It’s all going to happen very quickly.

“It sounds very mundane but I’d like to see photovoltaics on top of my car, so when the sun comes out it heats it up and makes it possible to step into a nice warm car with a clear windscreen. It’s life-enhancing rather than life-changing.”