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United Kingdom PV technology status and prospects Ray Eaton, Sustainable Energy Policy Unit, Department of Trade and Industry |
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Renewable sources of energy are an essential ingredient of the Government's climate change programme and are set to make an increasingly important contribution to the provision of secure, diverse and sustainable energy supplies.The Government intends to impose an Obligation on electricity suppliers ("The Renewables Obligation") which will require them to deliver a designated percentage of their supplies from electricity generated by specified sources of renewable energy or make a buyout payment. The primary legislation to allow this is the Utilities Act which received Parliamentary approval on 28 July 2000. The new Renewables Obligation will be imposed by Order, which will also require the approval of Parliament. The Renewables Obligation will enable the UK to make progress towards its target of generating 10% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010.
In addition to the new Renewables Obligation the Government intends to provide support by means of capital grants for offshore wind and energy crops. The contribution of these forms of renewable energy will be essential if the Government's target of 10% of electricity by 2010 is to be achieved.
The Government is committed to expanding its supporting programme for renewables including research, development, demonstration and dissemination. For the UK, photovoltaics is regarded as a longer term technology, and as such will benefit from the RDD&D support programme. It is less likely that photovoltaics will benefit from the Renewables Obligation in the period to 2010 unless costs fall more rapidly than is currently anticipated. At the time of writing the possibility of a market support programme for PV is under review, but it is not possible to say what the outcome of that will be.
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The existing DTI funded RDD&D Programme has continued in collaboration with industry. In addition to R&D projects normally recruited through a competitive call for proposals, a field trial of domestic PV systems is currently underway. This is intended to provide a learning opportunity for builders, electricity suppliers and the PV industry by installing PV on clusters of properties. DTI support totals GBP 1,4 million for three years which will allow the installation of a total of 221 kWp on 166 dwellings. A total of 25 proposals were received of which nice were judged to be of sufficiently high quality to justify support. The budget was increased from the GBP 1 million originally announced to allow these projects (all but one of which is for new build) to be supported. Two year's monitoring is a key element of the trial.
It is intended to launch a similar trial for larger scale systems (more than 20 kWp) for commercial and industrial buildings later this year. The budget for that Programme, excluding the costs of the Scheme Management Contractor has been set at GBP 3 million, and the project duration will be five years in order to allow sufficient time for construction and two year's monitoring following commissioning. This should allow 12-15 projects to be supported and it is intended that a call for proposals will be made in the late Spring (2001).
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council provides support for University based research including semiconductor R&D. The EPSRC is supporting a good number of PV R&D projects under its Renewable and New Energy Technologies Programme which is worth GBP 3,5M per annum.
The SCOLAR Programme to install PV systems (0,5-0,7 kWp) on schools and colleges throughout the UK is expected to result in the installation of 80 systems (original target 100). A number of the Consortium Members are preparing proposals for follow-up projects. SCOLAR was a consequence of the Office of Science and Technology Foresight exercise, which identified photovoltaics as a priority technology.
A number of UK based companies carry out or sponsor development work on PV materials and systems, and there are several UK consultancy firms with PV expertise. UK workers are also involved in European Commission supported PV RDD&D programmes.
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Industry is carrying out a large amount of R&D to commercialize new PV modules including crystalline silicon and thin film materials. Research work is also carried out into developing PV material fabrication technology and there are several companies involved in PV consulting work and systems design. Research and Development is also being undertaken on a range of new niche applications for PV. Examples of R&D projects on which the DTI programme is working collaboratively with industry include inverter development and BIPV products. The Programme and industry continue to work collaboratively with European partners through the EC framework programmes and an example of work recently completed relates to the dissipation of heat from BIPV.
UK University groups are involved in a wide range of PV materials and systems related research projects. These activities range from state-of-the-art research into new PV materials and cell structures through to improvements to PV system applications, such as water pumps and refrigeration units, and grid-connection issues. The main PV R&D groups are located at the following universities: Northumbria, Durham, Imperial College, Southampton, Dundee, Cardiff, Reading, Loughborough, Ulster and the Open University.
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Two other studies will look at the effects of increasing levels of installed PV on the design and operation of UK utility networks contributing to the IEA PVPS Task 5 subtask 50 workplan that started in 1999.
The collection and analysis of performance data from PV buildings in the UK has also been a major priority within the programme. Monitoring is complete on the 100 kWp PV array integrated into rooflights on the Ford Motor Company Jaguar engine factory in Wales and a report on the performance will shortly be available. The performance of the ~70 kW PV system integrated into the Solar Office at Doxford has been monitored and recently reported (ETSU S/P2/00275/REP).
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A number of Design Studies for building integrated PV (BIPV) were commissioned under the DTI PV programme. These studies were carried out in parallel to designs of conventional (non-PV) buildings and allowed the real problems of designing BIPV to be tackled by expert multi-disciplinary teams but at a modest cost. In addition to the Design Studies, several real BIPV projects in the UK received DTI support for analysis of the design process in relation to the PV. The BIPV designs were produced by multi-disciplinary teams, which included architects, electrical engineers, structural engineers, PV manufacturers and suppliers, quantity surveyors and other specialist consultants. In two of the four design studies the clients have been so impressed by the alternative PV designs that they are now seeking funding to include PV in the new buildings. The experience of the Design Study teams and feedback from the designs of real BIPV buildings in the UK were discussed in a workshop hosted by Studio E Architects of London. The conclusions have been published in a compendium of UK BIPV projects (ETSU S/P2/00328/REP).
As part of BP's global project 'Plug in the Sun', 40 new BP service stations in the UK have each had an average of around 18 kWp of solar PV capacity installed. It is expected that all BP service stations in the UK will have thin film PV systems installed in the next few years as part of the world-wide rebranding. BP has also installed PV on its new offices at Sunbury, its refurbished Conference Centre in East London and on buildings at the Baglan Energy Park in Wales.
As well as PV module manufacturing, there are industrial interests in PV manufacturing equipment supply and BOS component supply. The main PV companies are BP SOLAREX (a result of the merger of BP and Amoco; it is now headquartered in the United States). BP Solar manufacture mono and polycrystalline modules, and thin film cadmium telluride and amorphous silicon, as well as a range of systems. BP Solar have established their World technology R&D centre in the UK with a particular focus on developments in crystalline technology. INTERSOLAR manufacture amorphous silicon modules and a wide range of professional and consumer product systems,. CRYSTALOX manufacture furnaces for silicon ingot manufacture and also produce polycrystalline ingot and blocks for the wafer market.. SOLAR CENTURY have installed systems on at least 12 domestic properties in the UK and on commercial buildings including those of Sainsbury and Orange. SIEMENS have installations in Hackney (residential) and on the Ballymena Eco Centre. A number of other companies also have interests in PV or act as agents for overseas manufacturers, and a number of companies are active consultants specialising in PV technologies.
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Table 1: UK PV Systems (kWp)
Note: these figures are best estimates and are subject to confirmation.
| Installed by end '99 | Planned 2000 -2002 | |
| Stand alone industrial and residential | 435 | 120 |
| Grid-connected BIPV | 807 | 1 000 |
| TOTAL | 1 242 | 1 120 |