The U.K.'s famously unreliable summer has found its mojo this week, delivering conditions that are set to help push solar power penetration to a record 15% of the country's power, predicts the Solar Trade Association (STA). Having surged by more than 1.6 GW of new solar PV installations in the first quarter alone, the U.K.'s cumulative solar capacity now stands at around 8 GW. With conditions slightly cooler on Friday - too much heat can slightly diminish solar panel output - the STA forecasts that the amount of solar power in the U.K.'s electricity mix could hit a new high at around 2pm GMT. "It is hard to say if a record will be set but given that more and more solar is installed every day, it is likely that a new record is set every time we have good conditions," said an STA spokeswoman. "And this week we are certainly having them." The STA is hosting its Solar Independence Day around the country today and tomorrow, and will welcome Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom to a solar farm in Northamptonshire as part of the program to spread the solar message. The shifting sands of the U.K. solar industry have meant that support for large-scale installations, which boomed in 2014, ...Den vollständigen Artikel lesen ...