UK sees large rise in uptake of solar panels

One in every 50 households across Britain has electricity-generating photovoltaic panels

The number of solar panel installations across the UK has almost doubled in a year, as householders and communities increasingly grasp the chance to generate their own power.

There are now almost 650,000 installations ranging from large-scale solar farms in fields to schemes on homes, schools and police stations, with electricity-generating photovoltaic (PV) panels on one in every 50 households across Britain.

The number of subsidised solar farms and large-scale arrays in England has soared from just three in 2012 to 246 in 2014.

Industry body the Solar Trade Association's chief executive Paul Barwell puts the popularity of solar down to falling product costs, easy-to-understand technology and financial benefits - with home owners receiving "feed-in tariff" payments for power generated.

"There's an ongoing concern about energy price rises, not withstanding the very recent reductions in price, and people like the idea of being able to generate energy and becoming 'pro-sumers'," he said.

Development of small-scale solar has not been consistent, with just 0.5% of households in densely-populated London having panels installed compared to 3.6% in the South West.

The South West also has 2,933 arrays on non-domestic buildings ranging from small businesses to swimming pools, compared to the capital's 827.

But while the technology consistently enjoys support from more than 80% of the public, the large scale solar farms which have become an increasingly common feature of the English countryside have sparked some controversy.

Wildlife experts have urged communities secretary Eric Pickles to call in an application to install a 100,000-panel solar farm on rare grassland at Rampisham Down, west Dorset, and campaigners warn of the cumulative effect of lots of solar farms in one area.

Most of the development of solar farms in England has been in the South West, with figures from CPRE suggesting, by last May, there were 98 schemes installed or in planning in Cornwall, 83 in Devon, 61 in Somerset, 30 in Dorset and 42 in Wiltshire.