UK Solar Deployment Poised To Increase 50% YoY, Following Rapid Growth In The Second Half Of 2024
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article from Solar Power Portal.
This is the sub-heading.
Josh Cornes, analyst at Solar Media Market Research, looks at what 2025 might hold for the solar industry.
The first four paragraphs give some interesting statistics.
The UK is forecast to add between 3-3.5GWp-dc of capacity in 2025, just shy of the huge numbers seen in 2015 and huge growth on 2024.
The UK added around 2.3GWp-dc in 2024, exceeding original expectations with the help of a push in ground mounted projects toward the back end of the year. This equates to around 20% growth on the 1.9GW that was added in 2023.
Approximately 20% of the 2.3GW deployed in 2024 came from residential rooftop installations, continuing the boost in this sector, first highlighted by the near 200% year-on-year (YoY) increase from 2022 to 2023. Commercial rooftops also contributed 20% of installations in 2024 with a slight increase of 10% YoY.
Large-scale ground-mount installations in 2024 saw the largest growth, making up 60% of the annual capacity. This uptick has continued to be driven by projects with Contracts for Difference (CfD), with rounds AR4 and AR5, and even AR6, accounting for nearly 850MW of the 1.3GW added.
It is a well-written article, that should be read in full.
Summarising 2024
In 2024 solar installations broke down as follows.
- Ground-mounted -1.38 GW
- Residential rooftops – 0.46 GW
- Commercial rooftops – 0.46 GW
Which adds up to the total installed solar capacity of 2.3 GW.
3.5 GW of total solar is scheduled to be installed in 2025, which at that rate until the end of 2030 would add 21 GW of total solar power.
But the UK will get help from what I think is one of the best solar ideas, which surprisingly comes from The University of Swansea in Wales.
This Google Map shows the three large solar roof panels on Denmark Hill station in London.
Note.
- The three large panels are flat.
- The panels are built on a steel substrate.
- Two provide shelter for three platforms.
- The third panel provides shelter for entering passengers.
These pictures show the panels from various angles.
So often, a small improvement opens up a large opportunity.
This page on the Kalzip web site which is entitled Modernisation of Denmark Hill Station, gives more details of the station project.
Over the years, I put up a few steel-roofed buildings in my time and I helped design a few with a client in the 1970s, that could have benefited from solar panels like these.
Project Fortress
Project Fortress is described like this in its Wikipedia entry.
Project Fortress (formerly Cleve Hill Solar Farm) is a photovoltaic power station under construction on the Graveney marshes between Faversham and Whitstable, Kent in the UK.
Once operational, it will be the largest solar farm in the UK, generating 373 MW of electricity from 900 acres (360 ha) of vertical solar panels and will also include 700 MWh of battery storage. Because of its size, it is a nationally significant infrastructure project so outside the standard local planning procedure.
Electricity will be exported from the project via the 400 kV National Grid substation at Cleve Hill, constructed to serve the London Array offshore wind farm that lies to the north. Here, a battery array will be placed, that will charge from the sunlight during the day and release the energy at night when it is needed.
It is one of the very few co-located solar farms and lithium ion batteries that are co-located with a wind farm in the UK.
We need more of these to balance our power supplies and improve their quality.
US President Trump Issues Executive Order Suspending Offshore Wind Leasing
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the guts of the article.
US President Donald Trump has issued an Executive Order pausing offshore wind leasing on the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and mandating a review of the federal government’s leasing and permitting practices for wind projects. The Order also stops all relevant agencies from issuing approvals, either new or renewed, for both onshore and offshore wind projects until the review is completed.
The following was the response from someone with intelligence, sense and authority.
After the White House issued the Executive Order, Liz Burdock, founder and CEO of the US offshore renewable energy industry organisation, Oceantic Network, said.
Today’s executive order pausing offshore wind leasing and permitting is a blow to the American offshore wind industry and hurts the hundreds of U.S. supply chain companies and thousands of workers already building more American energy. While under a National Energy Emergency created by an unprecedented rise in energy demand, we should be working to quickly bring generation online instead of curtailing a power source capable of providing base load generation and creating new jobs across 40 states.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of those companies and their equipment ending up in the UK and Scotland in particular.
Do Ocado Save Me Money?
Probably not in the normal way, as they are an upmarket on-line shop.
A Rough Order
I generally put my rough order in on the Saturday soon after the delivery for that day arrives at about 06:30 in the morning.
The rough order is stored on Ocado’s computer, so it’s usually just a matter of choosing the delivery slot and adding a few extras.
If I’m cooking for myself all week, that usually means I will need seven meals, which could be ready-meals, something more substantial or perhaps just a tasty home-made snack or sandwich, if I’m eating out.
Typically, my order will get refined through the week and this tends to reduce the cost, as if say I’m a bit short, I might buy something like fruit earlier in the week, rather than get it delivered on Saturday.
Fruit
I don’t eat a lot of fruit, but I do have a banana every day in the morning and when I can get them, I eat a lot of strawberries.
Bananas and strawberries are two fruit, that are rich in magnesium and coeliacs like me, can suffer from a lack of it. As a child, I used to bite my nails, which stopped immediately, I went gluten-free at fifty.
From my experience, I feel lack of magnesium can cause nail-biting in coeliacs.
I usually don’t order fruit online, as I feel the quality is better in local shops, that I pass.
Gluten-Free
I am coeliac, so I have to be gluten-free.
In my opinion, Marks & Spencer do the best gluten-free food, so being able to shop in-store or on-line is a bonus.
Bread
I don’t eat a lot of bread in a week, so I find one of Marks & Spencer’s pack of brown bloomer slices is sufficient.
Toothpaste, Soap Etc.
I buy a lot of things like these online, as I have several days to carry them upstairs and put them away.
I have a large IKEA storage cabinet close by my front door and non-perishables are stored there first, along with my beer.
Milk
Usually, a pint plastic bottle of Marks & Spencer Organic Milk , lasts me all week.
But if it doesn’t l can pick up another bplastic ottle, at any one of four shops within two hundred metres.
Conclusion
I don’t save a lot with my hybrid shopping at Ocado and Marks & Spencer, but I don’t throw much food away.
Is Vitamin B12 Pulling Me Through?
About five months ago, I swapped my food shopping from Marks & Spencer in-store to Ocado once a week. This was mainly to cut down on my walking with shopping, but also to make sure, I’d usually got a meal or two in.
In August, I wrote Liver From Ocado and I’ve generally been eating one of these ready meals a week.
Although, Ocado doesn’t always stock them, so I have to go hunting round the various Marks & Spencer stores looking for Liver and Bacon.
Unfortunately, I’m not always successful.
Today, I went searching round South London looking for a transformer. Nor a kid’s toy, but a National Grid electrical one with the weight of thirty African elephants.
I didn’t see it, but I did walk quite a bit.
I then realised that the various muscle pains in my legs, that I’ve been having for the last few months had gone.
Was it the Vitamin B12 in the ready meal, as I stopped taking the paracetamol some months ago?
Also on Thursday, I had my three-monthly Vitamin B12 injection, so my body probably had enough of the vitamin.
The older I get, the more I feel that the Vitamin B12 injections have helped my stroke recovery.
Is British Airways Getting A Boost From The Lizzie Line?
This article in The Times is entitled Everyone Bashes It But BA Is Surging Ahead …What’s Its Secret?
Various managerial reasons are given, but the Lizzie Line is not mentioned.
live in Dalston and for Heathrow, I take a twenty minute bus-ride and then use the Lizzie Line from Moorgate.
Before Lizzie, I used to take a variety of much slower routes.
If you get on a Lizzie Line train to or from Heathrow in Central London, it’s often very crowded, showing how popular it is with knowledgeable passengers.
London’s new line has made it easier, quicker and more affordable to get to Heathrow by train for many people in England.
So are passengers flying from Heathrow more?
And who’s the dominant carrier at Heathrow? BA!
Council Opposes Six Track Plan For East West Rail
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Councillors have voted to oppose part of a major railway line being built through their district.
These four paragraphs add detail to the story
Bedford Borough Council wants the East West Rail (EWR) line to be made up of four tracks, rather than six, in the Poets area north of the town.
Thirty-seven homes would need to be demolished in order to accommodate the two additional tracks.
However, in their full-council meeting on Wednesday, members agreed to support other parts of the project, such as the relocation of Stewartby station and the closure of Kempston Hardwick.
An EWR spokesperson said it was committed to working with local communities.
This OpenRailwayMap shows the Midland Main Line and the East-West Rail through Bedford.
Note.
- The solid orange line running from the North-West corner of the map to its Southern edge is the electrified Midland Main Line.
- The blue arrow on this line indicates Bedford station.
- The blue lettering to the South-East of Bedford station, indicates Bedford St. Johns station.
- The yellow line connecting the two stations is the Eastern end of the Marston Vale Line, which connects Bedford and Bletchley stations.
- The Marston Vale Line will be taken over by the East-West Rail.
- Just North of Bedford station is Bedford North junction.
The East-West Rail branches away from Bedford North junction to the North-East on its way to Cambridge. It is shown as a dotted orange line.
This OpenRailwayMap shows Bedford station to a larger scale.
Note,
- The Western pair of orange lines are the current fast lines of the Midland Main Line.
- The Eastern pair of orange lines are the current slow lines of the Midland Main Line.
- To the East the orange dotted line shows indicates a proposed route of the East-West Rail.
- There appear to be crossovers that allow East-West Rail services to use Platforms 1 and 2 through Bedford station.
Between the Midland Main Line and East-West Rail platforms, the current Platform 1A used by the Marston Vale Line can be seen.
This picture show the current Marston Vale Line platform at Bedford station,
Note.
- The Marston Vale Line platform is on the left.
- It is numbered 1A.
- The platform is electrified, so can it be it used to terminate some Thameslink services.
It could also be used to terminate East-West Rail services from the West and if they were battery-electric trains they could be charged.
Oxford and Bedford is 51 miles or 82 kilometers, which is within range of a modern battery-electric train. Es[ecially, if it did a ‘splash and dash’ at Milton Keynes Central or Bletchley!
This OpenRailwayMap shows the lines to the North of Bedford station.
Note.
- The current four-track Midland Main Line running diagonally across the map.
- The East-West Rail running along on the East side and branching off to Cambridge.
- Crossovers between the Midland Main Line and East-West Rail.
It looks to me, that operation of East-West Rail trains through Bedford station will be as follows.
- Oxford to Cambridge trains will use the crossovers to call in the existing Platform 2 at Bedford station.
- Cambridge to Oxford to will use the crossovers to call in the existing Platform 1 at Bedford station.
- Trains that are not stopping could use the avoiding line along the East side of the station.
- Oxford to Bedford terminating trains, would stop in Platform 1A.
Because there would be a crossover between the Midland Main Line slow lines and the East-West Rail to the South and North of Bedford station, I suspect for operatuional reasons and safety Network Rail want a double track avoiding line.
Offshore Wind Innovation Hub in New York Opens Third Call For Applications
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Offshore Wind Innovation Hub in New York, led by Equinor in collaboration with Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium (NOWRDC), opened the 2025 application process on 15 January, issuing the third call for its accelerator programme since the Hub was officially launched in January 2023.
These two paragraphs describe the work of the innovation hub.
“We look forward to building on the strong foundation of the Innovation Hub and supporting the next round of entrepreneurs and emerging technologies”, said Molly Morris, President, Equinor Renewables Americas. “The solutions identified by the innovators will play a critical role in advancing the offshore energy industry, developing supply chains, and strengthening energy security for future generations of New Yorkers.”
Last year, six companies were selected to join the Hub’s accelerator programme and receive support to develop further their solutions that could help advance offshore wind in New York and the US: Boxkite Software, Claviate, Indeximate, Pliant Energy Systems, Sensatek, and Triton Anchor. Through the first call for applications in 2023, the Innovation Hub selected Benchmark Labs, Flucto, Heerema Engineering Solutions, RCAM Technologies, OSC, and VinciVR.
Note.
- Many countries have innovation hubs like these based on research institutions and universities.
- Molly Morris, with her Norwegian support, seems the sort of woman, who can keep Trumkopf under control.
- The Offshore Wind Innovation Innovation Hub certainly seems to spread their support around.
- I don’t think the Innovation Hub’s philosophy fits with Trump’s ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’
I can see Molly Morris, Equinor and The Innovation Hub really annoying Trump.
Let the battle commence!
Moment Energy Secures US$15 Million Series A Funding To Build World’s First Second-Life Gigafactory in the U.S
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Cision.
This is the sub-heading.
Funding co-led by Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Voyager Ventures to accelerate production of high-performing Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) from repurposed EV batteries
Series A brings Moment Energy’s financing in the last three months alone to over US$40 Million with US$52 million raised to date
This introductory paragraph gives more details.
Moment Energy’s battery energy storage systems (BESS) can be deployed in projects ranging from 400 kilowatt hours (kWh) to 10 megawatt hours (MWh), targeting an intermediate market segment that is currently underserved but crucial to the clean energy transition. Designed to serve commercial and industrial sectors, EV charging infrastructure, and renewable energy integration, the company is strategically positioned to capitalize on the convergence of rising EVs and renewable energy sources.
Sounds like a sensible way of handling old lithium-ion batteries.
Moment Energy has a web site.
Are we getting a second-life gigafactory in the UK?
We probably will need one.
As Moment Energy is Canadian, they might supply it.
The Anonymous Widower 