STA Friday Reading
Happy new year! A few things that caught the Solar Trade Association's eye this week. Make sure you follow our page.
2017 is here! As always the new year began by looking back at the previous one. 2016 was many things, but amongst the gloom there were some bright spots. It was the year renewable energy became cheaper than fossil fuels in many countries!
For Scotland it was also an important year, hitting two important milestones for solar. It reached 200MW installed capacity, and 50,000 solar homes and businesses.
January is also a time to look to the future, so what better chance to look at some cool technology being developed: one Swiss company is planning to use solar powered planes to take people to space!
Slightly closer to production (and more affordable) a South African engineer has invented a solar powered cooker that tracks the sun, saving people from needing to constantly move the cooker. The technology can also be used to purify water, which could make a huge difference in developing countries.
Solar power is transforming access to energy, in Africa it is now providing off-grid homes with electricity from as little as $7 a day.
Closer to home, small businesses also want to generate their own power and take control of their energy costs. The Federation of Small Businesses has produced a new report calling for more microgeneration, and a greater role for small businesses in energy generation.
Unfortunately Government has been withdrawing support for renewable energy. We are still waiting (although not holding our breath) to find out if there will be another pot 1 CfD round. Meanwhile the final CfD backed solar farm has come online.
In fact the Green Alliance predict 2017 to be a bad year for renewables in the UK, predicting a fall in investment of around 95%.
Meanwhile China is planning to invest £292bn into renewables over the next three years.
To finish with here are two articles demonstrating why decarbonising our world is so important. Firstly 2016 was the hottest year on record, and only 0.7c below the Paris Agreement's target of 2c above pre-industrial levels. Secondly a new report has confirmed that the world is warming faster than previously thought. Let's make 2017 the tipping point to a clean future.