From zero to hero: UK PV market resurges at Ecobuild 2014 From 2016, the requirement that all new homes built in the UK must be "zero carbon" has helped to galvanise the house building industry to deploy solar PV. According to Suki Matharu, a U.K. sales manager for Chinese inverter producer Omnik New Energy, installing solar PV panels is a way for developers and builders to comply with regulations, affordably. The company's smallest single phase inverter, the Omniksol-1k-TL, has been a popular choice for new build homes with PV installations during the past year.Jason McCabe, an engineer at solar mounting systems supplier Renusol, concurs: "Compared with a few years ago, there is definitely more interest from the home building and construction firms," he told pv magazine. McCabe estimates that a good 20% of the new build construction industry is now implementing solar technology -PV as well as solar thermal - in projects. Companies include Persimmon Homes and Taylor Wimpey."We have been following the policy developments in the U.K. with great attention and we now define it as the most important market for us in Europe," says Wuxi Suntech's new CEO Eric Luo, especially within the residential rooftop and the utility-scale ground-mounted segment. Luo cites a radical renewables policy, and plans under the Energy Act 2013, to introduce a strike price for large-scale PV developments as contributing factors.The acquisition of Wuxi Suntech by Shunfeng will mean that in addition to module manufacturing the company plans to expand into the downstream end of the PV industry to serve the U.K. as well as other markets.ARTICLE FROM PV MAGAZINEACCESS TO MORE ABOUT LANDPOWER SOLAR PANEL MOUNTING: SOLAR MOUNTING SYSTEMS
