UK PV systems have grown by 830% year-on-year!
According to figures released by UK-based renewable energy developer Egg, the company has received an 830% increase in enquiries for PV modules in the past four months, as the UK suffers a continuous heatwave this year compared to last year. impact.
The popularity of the renewable energy sector has grown significantly over the past few months as rising wholesale gas prices have pushed up the cost of living in the UK, while photovoltaics have continued to grow during the heatwave.
In fact, on August 29, 2022 alone, the PV systems operated by its customers produced an average of 11.2kWh of electricity that day, according to Egg.
Gareth Greppellini, B2B business director at Egg, said, “Typically, you see a surge in customer interest in sourcing PV modules on a sunny day, but this year we have received an unprecedented number of inquiries. Since the beginning of May, We received and responded to more than ten times as many customers as we did at the same time last year, and this continued for several weeks.”
The dramatic rise in popularity of photovoltaic systems is evident as the ongoing heatwave underscores consumer interest in renewable energy.
Egg mainly provides photovoltaic modules and battery energy storage systems, and the electricity cost for customers to install household photovoltaic systems and battery energy storage systems will be lower than natural gas power generation.
In addition to this, the increase in energy price caps has also increased the popularity of PV module price enquiries. Egg said more than 12% of PV module enquiries it collected over a 16-week period came in the week at the end of May, when Ofgem warned of a higher energy price cap.
Greppellini said, “The upfront cost of installing a PV system is quite high, but it’s clear that energy prices are likely to continue into 2024 and beyond. We’ve heard from customers that they want to invest as soon as possible and start saving costs; considering that Wait times for PV module manufacturing and delivery, it would be wise for them to start the process now.”
Egg is not alone in reporting a sharp increase in PV inquiries during the heatwave and amid rising energy prices. Renewable energy provider Shawton Energy said it had seen a 10-fold increase in PV system enquiries during the period.
During the August heatwave, as temperatures soared above 30C across the UK, industry experts also revealed that searches for PV modules in the UK had reached record levels.
The heatwave also demonstrated the potential of photovoltaic systems as a means of providing sufficient energy to the UK. On 19 July, photovoltaics covered a quarter of the UK’s electricity needs.
According to news published on Sheffield Solar’s PVLive website, as of noon on July 19, the UK’s photovoltaic systems had generated 7.7GW of power, six times the power capacity of the UK’s largest currently operating 1.3GW Heysham 2 nuclear power plant in Lancashire. times more.
