If you want to buy a solar panel in the UK and use it to generate green electricity under the UK feed-in tariff, you will have a much smaller range of solar panels to choose from than customers anywhere else in the world. The reason for this is because of a scheme invented by the UK government called the Micro-generation Certification Scheme (or MCS). This benefits and drawbacks of this scheme were discussed in a previous article on this site and now that we are two months into the feed-in tariff it is a good time for a review of the situation.

There are more solar panels to choose from now than there were two months ago, however there is still a very restricted choice with some major solar panel manufacturers missing from the list. This can only hurt the UK industry. At a time such as now, when the industry is going through an unprecedented boom, customers need as much competition in the market place as possible. Such restrictions are dangerous as they can lead to inflated or irregular pricing. Europe as a whole is experiencing high volumes of demand at present (largely driven by Germany) which is causing equipment shortages and long lead times. We have seen evidence that the MCS restrictions are exacerbating these problems as there is a much smaller number of available suppliers to choose from.

Some of the stated aims of the MCS process are valid. I am very much in favour of protecting consumers from low quality, inferior products. The question remains is how much does MCS add on top of the existing international accreditation bodies for solar panels such as IEC and UL. These bodies are represented by committees with decades of experience in solar panel reliability testing who spend a huge amount of time developing new ways to prove reliability.

MCS accreditation requires visits from MCS inspectors who ‘inspect’ a manufacturer’s facility before their solar panels can be given the green light. Nowhere is it written who these inspectors are and what their qualifications might be to do this above and beyond IEC or UL testing.

Looking at the current list of MCS accredited solar panels it is difficult to see on what criteria certification is being given. Some large very high quality manufacturers are missing, whilst some small, unheard of manufacturers are already there.

I have heard from colleagues in the industry that administrative and beaurocratic issues are currentls holding up a large number of MCS applications and that a raft of new solar panels will join the list soon. I hope this is the case, and I would encourage anyone with more information on the issue to contact this site. My message to the organizers of the MCS process however, is to put more effort into not damaging the industry that it is designed to support.

The rate of photovoltaic installations in Germany has continued at a faster than ever pace during the first two quarters of 2010. Far from slowing down after the record 4^th quarter in 2009, installation of solar panels accelerated through the new year. Accurate projections are hard to make, but there are suggestions that the market volume in the first half of this year could be 4 gigawatts. This is likely to make 2010 another record year for Solar. This demand has been fuelled by the discussions surrounding the reduction in the feed-in tariff in Germany, which has now finally been decided. At the recent Photon PV Technology Show in Stuttgart, there was much discussion surrounding how the PV market would continue to grow despite the feed-in tariff reduction. Many were optimistic that the market may be unaffected the changes.

The scale of activity means that Germany’s dominance of the world solar market remains. In 2009, over 60% of the world’s solar panels were installed in Germany and it is likely that this trend will continue in 2010. This is having a big impact on markets in the rest of Europe. There is currently an extreme shortage of inverters for commercial and domestic rooftop installations and there are also reports of shortages of solar panels from the leading manufacturers.

This shortage is being felt across the UK PV industry. As demand in the UK steadily grows, installers are finding it more challenging to source the right products in a short time period. Many installations are being carried out without an inverter, meaning that customers are forced to wait several weeks for the inverter to arrive and they can start collecting the feed-in tariff. If you are considering getting a PV system for your home then make sure to ask your installer about their lead time for products.

Fortunately there should be an end to this shortage. The inverter manufacturers have been working very hard to increase manufacturing capacity, and some of that new capacity should be coming on-line later in the year. After the feed-in tariff change in Germany in July demand is expected to reduce to some extent which should free-up availability for the rest of Europe. SMA, the world’s leading manufacturer of inverters with a market share of close to 40% are expected to resolve their supply issues by the end of the summer, meaning that their highly sought after small inverters, the SunnyBoy series, become significantly easier to come by.

This will be important for the UK. Prices of PV systems in the UK are still significantly higher than in the rest of Europe. The shortages prevent new wholesale distributors from entering the market and keep costs high. As the market becomes less supply constrained we expect that the industry will become more competitive, allowing an advancement in price reduction. With the great feed-in tariff we have now, any cost reductions mean better returns for the customer, and will hopefully motivate more people in the UK to ‘go solar.’

We have teamed up with one of the UK’s leading Photo Voltaic installer and Distributor to enable us to offer you this amazing Solar Investment.

This company is enabling UK investors to take advantage of a new opportunity unlike anything previously accessible, which will appeal to individual investors, savers, businesses and financial institutions alike

You can now purchase an investment-grade, high-yield Solar Power System (SPS) along with the UK Government-guaranteed right to income from the energy it produces.

How much does it cost?

A single payment of £16000 (plus VAT at 5%) gives you ownership and the rights to any income generated by the SPS for up to 25 years. If you choose to retain ownership for the full term, the payments you receive would repay your capital outlay and produce an additional average return of 7%.

What Is The Return?

Through the SPS, investors and savers can gain a guaranteed income for 25 years which is index-linked and will provide an average return of 7% per annum, by taking advantage of the government’s Feed-in Tariff Scheme (FITS) scheme, also known as the Clean Energy Cash Back scheme, which came into effect on 1st April 2010.

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Energy company E.ON has announced that they will me making full use of the Clean Energy Cash Back scheme in bringing in a solar offering to its customers. The Cash Back scheme which came into effect on April 1 is essentially a feed-in tariff system offering small scale renewable generators cash for money used on site and better rates for money fed-in to the national grid.

E.ON plan to utilize the newly introduced legislation in order to offer their customers what they term the ‘SolarSaver’ scheme, a consultation, survey and installation service for solar photovoltaic products.

E.ON hope that their SolarSaver scheme will act as a sound investment product over 25 for its customers with expectations that it would take just 12 years to break even with 13 subsequent years of profit on the project.

According to the energy company, they claim that this projection is based on the fact that a 2.1kW solar kit costs around £11,350 and would be capable of generating around 1.5kWh p/a. Homeowners would expect to save in excess of £24,000 over the project’s lifespan with the added bonus of helping to offset their carbon footprint on fossil fuel energy savings.

A turnkey product is expected with E.ON stating that their solution will offer homeowners advice on the suitability of their home for solar paneling, consultancy for application of planning applications and advice for customers about entitlement to grants and other government schemes.

Phil Gilbert, spokesman for the SolarSaver scheme announced,

“We’ve all got a role to play in bringing down our carbon footprint and we’re helping our customers do that. With the long term benefit provided by the new Feed-in Tariff they’ll even make money back.

Adding, “This will be the first of many exciting new propositions we’ll have for our customers, giving them the power to produce their own heat and electricity from lower carbon sources.”

For full information about similar investment schemes offered through solarfeedintariff.co.uk please visit: http://solarfeedintariff.co.uk/solar-investments/