Shedding Light on Solar Power

Solar energy has been in the news recently as last week our government announced plans to cut funding for onshore wind energy and solar power. (Landale 2013). Figure 1 (DECC) shows us that solar energy has been on the rise in recent years.

Figure 1- Graph showing the growth in renewable electricity generation since 1990

However, compared to wind energy, the growth of solar power has been relatively small. In 2012, solar energy contributed 11% of renewables production capabilities. Onshore and offshore on the other hand, boasted 57% between them (DECC). Why is this?

Figures 2 (Solar Gis 2013) and 3 (Solar Gis 2013) show the amount of annual irradiation in the UK and Spain respectively.^th windiest region in Europe by a Met Office Wind Review. 

Figure 2 - Map of irradiance in the UK

Figure 3 - Map of irradiance in Spain

As you can see from the maps, the amount of irradiation is much lower in the UK than it is in countries of lower latitudes such as Spain. This results in a lower potential for solar power production. On the other hand, the UK has been ranked as the 4th windiest region in Europe by a Met Office Wind Review. Figures 4 (Met Office 2013) and 5 (Met Office 2013) display the monthly average wind speed for a site in England and a site in Spain respectively. The wind speed in the UK site ranges between 6 to 8 m/s as where the Spanish site stays around 5 m/s (Met Office 2013). It is clear that our country’s climate dictates which renewable source we invest in. It would therefore seem that the UK’s heavy investment in wind energy is grounded in logic and we should continue as such.

Figure 4 - Monthly average wind speed in a UK site

Figure 5 - Monthly average wind speed in a Spain site

What is the Future of British Solar Power?

I believe the future of British solar power will be the use of personal solar power devices. The government offers a ‘feed-in tariff’ in order to promote this. This allows people that have renewable systems installed to power their home will receive money from the government for every kilowatt hour of energy they produce. Producers are also able to sell any excess energy that they produce back to the power grid (UKGovernment 2013).  Due to the fact that our country receives a saddening amount of sun, I believe that on a large scale, we should continue to develop wind power more than solar power. However, I do still feel that solar energy has a role to play in the energy mix.

I’ve included a link to the government’s solar energy cashback calculator here in the event that anyone wants to know how much they could make. Thanks for reading and comments are welcome.