The doom and gloom of the British winter in January, while not particularly cold, certainly lacks the solar energy you would expect to generate enough electricity from solar panels. Planning to make the most of scant solar resources, a manufacturer of what are considered the most efficient solar units on the market has announced that they have received MCS accreditation and are ready to install in the UK.

The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) accreditation is required before manufacturers can release their panels onto the UK market. Currently operational across the rest of continental Europe, the HIT series of pv cells produced by SANYO are a leader in energy conversion with a rate of around 21.6 per cent. This makes them a world leader in energy conversion efficiency and will certainly make them a sought after commodity throughout the British solar market.

The highly efficient HIT cells will operate under the feed-in tariff in the UK. The feed-in tariff is legislation which guarantees a fixed, premium rate for units of energy both used and fed back into the grid by solar micro-generators of less than 5kw. This means that British consumers will be able to benefit from increased revenues from solar panels able to generate more units of energy than competitor modules under the same solar conditions. The new panels which will become available from the 31^st March 2011 will also mean that less roof space is required to generate energy, broadening the scope of households where solar installations are a viable option.

With the recent announcement that a number of foreign solar manufacturers are preparing to invest in the UK in order to take advantage of the feed-in tariff, the arrival of the HIT solar modules highlights how crucial the tariff legislation is in encouraging investment in our burgeoning renewable market. With the boost this will give to the economy in an already struggling manufacturing sector and job creation in green energy, hopefully Cameron’s government will take this on board and continue to give their backing to the legislation which makes UK solar energy viable in the long term.

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The uptake in solar panels on the back of the feed-in tariff mechanism is creating excitement amongst industry insiders in the UK. Indeed, recent announcements about impressive growth figures from such firms as Solar Century have perpetuated a general feeling of optimism about the future of solar energy in the UK. Soon to invest in the UK PV market are Inventux Technologies and Abound Solar. Both of these companies have recently received their MCS (Microgeneration Certification scheme) certificates and are ready to invest in the UK. Moves like this are sure to be followed by other solar manufacturers, creating jobs and bringing the UK closer to the much hyped ‘green revolution’ expounded by politicians across the globe.

The solar feed-in tariff works by offering guaranteed, premium rates for units of renewable energy both used and fed back into the grid by small scale solar pv generators. The tariffs were introduced as a way of encouraging investment in what have historically been expensive projects to set up – solar PV. The scheme has already been successful in bringing about an increased uptake in solar panels through a variety of projects being set up by fledgling and indeed, more experienced installers.

A number of projects under way; most typically employing the model whereby the solar company installs the panels on the homeowners roof free, allowing the homeowne to benefit from vastly reduced utility bills over the life-time of the project. The solar company benefits over the life-time of the project from the revenue, generated by the feed-in tariff. While homeowners have the option of buying out the contracts, such schemes have been criticised in some circles as being grossly unbalanced with regards to the profits made by the companies compared to the monetary savings made by the homeowners. Nevertheless, such projects have proved popular over the last 10 months and all evidence suggests that they will continue to prosper until tariff rates are cut as part of a government review.

Inventux and Abound are buying into this market, aware that the aforementioned buoyancy us based on the government’s tariff scheme and without it, the UK solar pv industry would be unviable. Inventux who specialise in micromorph silicon thin-film modules have already announced that they are involved in projects in the UK and will continue to grow their UK operations so long as tariff mechanisms make it a sustainable operation. Similarly, Abound with its CdTe thin-film modules is hoping to expand into the UK market by building relationships with already established UK installers. However, both companies will be aware from past examples that where feed-in tariffs are in place, there is no guarantee of long term success – this of course is in the hands of the governement.

Much hope was pinned on Copenhagen and Cancun as a way of highlighting the case for renewable energy and prompting large scale investment in green energy. Government’s globally assumed that private investment would pour in, helping to bring the big world economies closer to meeting climate change targets, win votes and of course revitalise struggling economies with a vibrant green energy industry. As it was subsequently found out, the world financial crisis was such that rather than see the universal growth of green energy, some sectors were forced to make drastic, indeed devastating cut backs.

The world recession has had a detrimental effect in certain areas of renewable energy. Certainly Spain, once a world leader in solar pv thanks to its feed-in tariff policy suffered greatly from cuts made to the tariff by Zapatero’s government in the face of a Spanish economy on the brink of collapse. However, according to the Director of the UK Carbon Trust Ben Sykes, the recession has not necessarily meant a downturn in all sectors,

“The big, exciting stuff that was going to come out of a very successful global conference didn’t happen, but you have steady growth in a number of technology areas”

The world of finance certainly recognises that despite cut backs in certain areas of renewable energy, other sectors including solar pv have continued to go from strength to strength in the UK. Ever since the introduction of the feed-in tariff in April 2010, investment in solar energy has rocketed with an impressive uptake in solar panels taking advantage of the healthy profits to be made. With regards to efficiencies, the head of HSBC’s climate change centre of excellence Nick Robins stated,

“The learning curve has accelerated during the crisis, particularly in solar.”

The UK solar feed-in tariff, legislation which guarantees fixed, premium rates for units of energy either consumed or fed back into the national grid is designed to incentivise investment in solar energy, traditionally expensive to set up. Already the uptake in solar on the back of the tariffs has exceeded expectations with over 10,000 panels installed so far. As was predicted, the uptake in solar along with the growing competition in the UK market has caused prices to fall a little bit closer to ‘grid parity’, the holy grail of renewable energy. According to energy expert Anthony Froggatt, Chinese manufacturing volumes have led to grid costs being the equivalent of nuclear in the US.

Germany, perhaps the greatest success story for solar energy and a leading exponent and pioneer of the now widely employed feed-in tariff is seriously considering re-thinking its backing of renewable energy. Cuts in German feed-in tariffs while not welcomed by solar investors or those simply looking to make a quick Euro in green energy, are of course necessary and an important mechanism in regulating what can be an explosive sector.

Feed-in tariffs work by offering fixed, premium rates for renewable energy generated and used by small scale generation projects. While Germany has been a world leader in solar energy generation on the back of generous tariffs, it now seems that it in the current climate of austerity, the German government is perhaps rethinking its legislative bias towards green energy projects.

In a statement issued by Environment minister Norbert Roettgen, it certainly appears that the current stance is unequivocally pragmatic when it comes to backing solar energy over more traditional fuel sources. Indeed, pragmatism turned Teutonic bluntness when questioned on plans to further reinforce legislation designed at boosting solar investment,

“We’re in talks with the solar power sector to come to a reasonable further development. Those who want renewable energy should keep in mind that there is a need for society’s acceptance of it,”

Of course, while there is a need to regulate the the solar market in order to prevent a situation similar to Spain where the market became saturated, the fact remains that feed-in tariffs do not come out of the public funds. Instead, they come from the big utility companies obliged by legislation to purchase the units of renewable energy at the rate set by the tariff. This goes to add weight to the argument against reducing tariffs too drastically in Germany. Certainly, protectionism of certain industries at the expense of others is questionable but the figures for renewable energy in Germany speak for themselves.

Reports from the German finance ministry have shown that the revenue from renewable manufacturers alone came to over 16 billion Euros in 2009. In the same year around 294,000 Germans were employed in renewable energy with 64,000 of these working in solar energy. With these employment figures in mind and the fact that in Germany there is a real appetite for renewable energy investment, it would be politically naïve for any government to make too dramatic a cutback to tariff rates, even during these times of draconian spending measures.