The green energy market has seen a steady rise over the last decade as the UK begins to embrace renewable sources of energy. It will become possible for most of the country to operate on clean and green sources of energy, and this is likely to happen in the near future itself. The most commonly used forms of renewable sources of energy in the country today are wind energy, solar energy, and hydro energy.
In 2015 it was recorded that 37% (Friends of the Earth) of the electricity produced in the UK was from renewable sources of energy. Scotland has reached peak usage of green energy with 90% of the electricity used coming from renewable sources. It is also becoming more cost-friendly to produce electricity using solar panels in the UK and windmills than it is through thermal energy sources.
Companies like Tesla have started a global expansion plan as well, to promote the use of solar energy to power homes. SolarCity is a programme that offers low-cost solar panels to homes across the United States of America to help them grow green, and this change is likely to reach Europe and the rest of the world as well.
In March 2021, the UK government signed off on a groundbreaking deal to create new infrastructure to shift the energy market and transition into a low-carbon emissions country. Solar energy plays a big role in this transition out of fossil fuel usage. These moves to shift to a greener future have been initiated since the UK signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 and vowed to reduce their carbon emissions to 0 by 2050. The current goal is to reduce carbon emissions in the country by 10%(Energy World) by 2025.
Solar Energy in the UK and the World
The United Kingdom receives between 4 and 5 hours (Statista) of sunlight on an average per day. These numbers have been fairly consistent over the last decade. If you had to take the entire planet’s energy usage and requirements, the amount of solar energy required to meet the needs would take up 586,000 square km of the planet’s surface area.
This means 586,000 square km of the planet’s area needs to be covered in solar panels in order to meet the energy requirements of the world. This is barely 0.11% (Explaining Science) of the planet’s total surface area. If most households have solar panels in the UK, their energy consumption with oil and gas-based sources would reduce greatly and it would help reduce the country’s annual emissions as a whole. Clearly, solar energy is still an untapped source of inexhaustible energy that comes with many advantages.
Why Are Countries Moving to Solar?
Solar cells have the ability to trap the solar waves and convert them into usable forms of energy. Using solar panels in the UK to produce electricity is relatively easy and the investment is a cost-effective option in the long run. Solar energy comes with a lot of advantages on its own, some of which are:
- Rooftop solar panels are a one-time investment. It may seem like it makes a dent into your savings but they are long-lasting, easy to maintain and durable options that are extremely cost-efficient in the long run.
- The prices of energy will not keep fluctuating the way they are now. The recent hike in energy tariff limits has made it nearly impossible for the citizens of the UK to be able to afford electricity in their own homes. Solar energy provides a stable and secure source of electricity because the supply of solar energy is endless, which means the prices will not keep fluctuating.
- The accessibility to energy greatly increases due to the unlimited supply of solar energy, so it becomes a more convenient choice for all users. The government is also keen on increasing the personal adoption of renewable energy sources so there are various grants and subsidies offered to families who wish to install solar panels in the UK at their homes.
- Solar panels in the UK offer longevity in terms of usage. They can last up to 20 years if they are maintained, and each solar cell requires minimal maintenance. Even with the slightly low average amount of sunlight received in the country in a day, adoption of solar energy can make a big impact on the country’s carbon emissions.
When is it Suitable to Use Solar Energy?
There are a few factors involved in making solar energy a suitable and sustainable source of energy for your home, building or neighbourhood. If you are looking to make the switch and install solar panels in the UK, either partially or completely, you need to take the following points into consideration:
- The efficiency of solar panels is dependent on the amount of photovoltaic energy converted into usable energy when the sunlight hits the solar panel. The current range is between 11 and 15%, which may not seem like a lot, but the solar panels of today can easily cover most, if not all of the energy usage requirements of a home today.
- Positioning of the solar panels in the UK is important to get the maximum amount of sunlight. Before installing solar panels, the right angle of installation needs to be determined to make sure the most amount of light hits the panels and maximizes the efficiency of the solar panels.
- The slope of the roof can also impact the efficiency of the solar panels. The slope of the roof, the shade on the roof, and the temperatures observed are all factors that can impact the efficiency levels of the solar panels.
If you take these factors into consideration, you can get the most out of your solar panel investment. Solar heat pumps in the UK can also become a popular option to warm homes and water in the country to reduce the electricity usage in homes.
Gemasolar, a concentrated solar power plant in Spain, was the first of its kind in the world to provide 24 hour solar power to homes. The power plant provides clean energy to 25,000 homes, and more plants can be created across the world to reduce consumption of electricity through non-renewable sources. The highest solar power producing country in Europe is Germany, and the UK is a close third on the list. Germany is also one of the highest solar power producing countries in the world, coming in fourth after China, the USA, and Japan.
Clearly, the adoption of solar panels in the UK is on the rise, along with the rest of Europe and the world, and the advanced report released recently on the solar pv modules market related to its growth in the market states the same.
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What Does the Modules Solar Central Inverters Market Report State?
The extensive report provides insight on the current state and the future of solar energy in the UK. It becomes easy to understand the different opportunities based on facts, historical data, and existing market data about the solar energy market and solar PV modules market to analyze its full potential. This will help investors and large corporations make sound investments to fuel the growth of adoption of solar energy in the UK. The comprehensive report covers range in adoption and market changes based on different regions in the UK as well as provides more data on the existing players in the solar energy and green energy market. This data includes a business synopsis of each organization, their revenue, different offerings and segmentation.
This report can help new players in the green energy market gain a clear insight on the existing state and the future of the market and resources. It also helps showcase the direction that existing organizations need to grow in in order to generate more profit by working towards a more sustainable future.
Shareholders who are also looking to invest in solar energy providers can find this report very helpful because of the extensive analyses conducted throughout the report on various companies and vendors. ESG consulting offers multiple investment options for shareholders who want to invest in the future of energy. Some of them include the SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis and PORTER’s analysis. Readers of the report can get a quick overview of the Modules Solar Central Inverters market today.
The Future of Solar Energy
The future of solar energy in the UK is bright, to say the least, pun intended. More countries are opting for greener and cleaner sources of energy and solar energy provides one of the most accessible methods of tapping into an inexhaustible power source on the planet. Wind energy requires access to windmills, high altitudes and a separate plant to harness the energy, water energy requires large hydroelectricity power plants to convert the energy into electricity, but solar energy offers individuals the option to personally go green.
It becomes a very feasible option for people around the world because solar panels in the UK can be installed directly into their homes. They can power heat pumps in the UK, provide hot water and heating into homes, and can change the way we use electricity for the rest of time. Soon more cities will become solar-operated, and the zero emissions world that the Paris Agreement aims to achieve in the next thirty years will become a reality.
