Energy Security and Net Zero Emissions (DESNZ) released cumulative PV capacity data to July at the end of August 2023, showing that 15,292.8 MW of PV systems have been installed in the UK. Between January and July 2023, 634.8 MW of new PV systems were added in the UK, up from 315.5 MW in the same period in 2022.
However, despite the addition of about 71.3 megawatts of new PV systems in July, this figure is still provisional and is expected to be revised upon receipt of more data from brand new operating plants. Capacity additions in July were relatively low compared to 46.4 MW added in July 2022 and 84 MW added in June 2023. Gareth Simkins, a spokesman for the
British Solar Industry Association, told Photovoltaics that the figures were "relatively low", but he suspected that they were only temporary deviations. He also pointed out that government statistics are not very reliable. Chris Hewett, chief executive of the
British Solar Industry Association, explained that the government had a "lag" in counting the operating data of utility-scale photovoltaic power plants and lacked reliable data to quantify commercial rooftop photovoltaic power generation. He said that commercial rooftop photovoltaic power generation is the same as government statistics in the past few years, but the actual capacity is much more than government statistics.
Nevertheless, Hewett believes that the UK solar PV market continues to grow, particularly in the commercial rooftop solar and domestic small solar systems markets. Simkins estimated that July's figure should be 16 gigawatts and predicted that "strong growth" in the photovoltaic industry would be reflected in the figures over the next few years.
In order to achieve the British government's goal of installing 70 gigawatts of photovoltaic systems by 2035, a photovoltaic task force led by Hewett was set up in March 2023. The task force aims to accelerate the development of the photovoltaic market and plans to achieve its goals by increasing rooftop and ground-mounted photovoltaic systems, ensuring investment and increasing the skilled workforce in the photovoltaic industry.
However, the UK solar PV industry faces challenges in terms of grid connection and investment. Hewett said that some Ofgem rules had pushed down investment quotas, which were seen as increasingly being paid for by consumers. At the same time, solar and wind are clearly the cheapest generation technologies on the market now, so the faster you bring solar and wind facilities to market, the faster you can reduce power prices.
In addition, the photovoltaic industry also faces the problem of training skilled labor force. This means ensuring installers and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies are able to recruit a sufficient number of qualified workers to meet market demand, Hewett said. He also pointed out that other issues include improving the reliability of the supply chain and strengthening internal capacity-building (for example, manufacturing and selling packaged batteries), as well as eliminating "important details" related to rooftop solar more broadly.
It is worth noting that the British Solar Energy Industry Association has found that many household photovoltaic systems are equipped with battery energy storage systems, "so now at least 50% of photovoltaic systems are equipped with battery energy storage systems.". This is a major feature of the UK photovoltaic market. According to figures released on the UK government's website, more than a million UK homes have now been fitted with rooftop solar panels, but there is still more "untapped potential" as commercial buildings, schools, warehouses, car parks and water bodies can be fitted with rooftop solar.
In addition, some large-scale utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects are under way in the UK, including the 350 MW Cleve Hill Solar Power Park on the northern coast of Kent, which is scheduled to be completed in 2024. And the 840MW Botley West solar farm in Oxfordshire, which has not yet been submitted for planning permission.
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