Tag: Solar Power
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Help us save the solar industry!
If you follow the UK news, it won’t have escaped your notice that the government has decided to cut the subsidy for solar power in half for all new installations in less than 6 weeks. Solar is in trouble! The new tariff of 21 pence, down from the current 43p, will take effect from 1…
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Solar-powered internet school set to benefit children in rural Africa
David Smith reports in The Guardian that electronics firm Samsung have built a solar-powered mobile classroom inside a 12-foot shipping container. It features “an array of gadgets including laptops, a video camera and a 50-inch e-board in place of a blackboard”. The idea is that…
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Barclays launches £100m renewables fund for farmers
YES. This is what we like: well-known people (like Michael Eavis) championing solar power. That gets the green thumbs up from the GPI team. Today, The Guardian reports that Barclays’ business arm is to help UK farmers finance renewable energy projects “following a massive surge in interest”. Good stuff. And for the record, our interest…
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Solar Power Helps Women Bring Light to Sierra Leone
Today, in The Guardian’s Poverty Matters Blog, we’ve found this great story about how an Indian College has trained 12 Sierra Leonean women to become solar engineers. It’s all part of a drive to bring electricity to rural communities. “A group of 12 women from villages…
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Solar Trends From Around The World
“Experts weigh in on what comes next in Europe, Asia and North America.” When it comes to the future of solar and renewable energy, our friends at 2degrees are constant source of news and knowledge. We really liked this interesting article about regional markets, which provides an insight to some of the observations gleaned from…
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Financial Times says “Invest in panels for solar savings”
Last week, the FT reported that homeowners will save more money in the long-term if they invest in their own solar panel installation, rather than taking up a ‘free’ installation deal from energy companies. “A number of providers now offer customers free solar panel installation. But while the schemes can save customers between £10,000 and…
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Richborough solar farm begins producing power
On Wednesday 3rd August, BBC News reported that the first large-scale solar park in the Southeast began supplying electricity to homes and businesses in the local area. The £13m project, near the site of the former Richborough Power Station in Kent, is capable of supplying 1,300 homes. Following the recent reduction in government subsidies for…
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Npower and UK’s “big six” utilities await reform white paper
David Blair, Energy Correspondent for the Financial Times, reports today that the moment that Npower and all of the UK’s “big six” utilities have been waiting for will finally arrive next Tuesday, when the government announces the most radical reform of Britain’s electricity market for two decades. Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, will publish a…
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How to reduce your electricity bill with power meters
How much energy do each of your various household electrical appliances and computing devices consume? Actually, very few of us can answer that question with any confidence. That’s because we only normally come into contact with our energy consumption when we receive a bill – and this only provides a total figure for our entire…
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UK’s first solar-powered business park connects to the National Grid today!
The Howbery Business Park in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, claiming to be the country’s first solar-powered business park under the government’s FIT scheme, has today been connected to the National Grid. Boasting some 3000 solar panels, the ground mounted installation is expected to generate more than 682MWh of clean electricity per annum. The photovoltaic panels will power more…