PV Solar Panels Tops UK Renewables Table.

Photovoltaic installations show the highest amount of growth in the UK, according to a renewables league table recently published by AEA, global environmental and renewable energy consultancy. Not only do the published figures provide confirmation of the confidence placed in the UK's take up of PV solar technology at a time when the coalition government is reviewing the current FeedIn Tariff arrangements, but is also a great boost to those currently embarking on solar PV courses or solar courses.According to the AEA league tables, which records the take up and speed of small scale renewable installations in each council area of microgeneration technology, a summary percentage breakdown between wind, hydro, solar photovoltaic (PV), anaerobic digestion (AD) and micro combined heat and power (CHP) installations can be measured against data used on schemes that have applied for the feed-in tariff (FiT) incentive across the UK.The study analysis reveals that total capacity continues to grow, currently peaking at just under 72MWe, a 64 per cent increase since September 2010. To date, photovoltaic installations show an increase of 84 per cent to 48Mwe, the highest amount of growth, while wind capacity increased by 34 per cent to 14.3MWe and hydro capacity increased by 27 per cent to 9MWe.Across the UK, while the Orkney islands area displayed the highest installed capacity at just over 2Mwe, Cornwall has the next highest capacity at 1.6MWe, dominated by solar PV installations. The Midands feature strongly with Sheffield and Barnsley at 1.09 and 1.08 Mwe installed, respectively, or around 1.5 per cent of total microgeneration in the UK.In the south of England, Welwyn Hatfield shows 1.02 Mwe installed or 1.4 per cent of total microgeneration in the UK, indicating Solar PV to have greater domination in urban areas and a more diverse range of technologies favoured in rural areas.At present, a half of all our energy is used for heating and hot water and three quarters of domestic households' energy consumption is for heating and hot water. The UK's renewable energy strategy aims for renewable sources to supply 12 per cent of heat from renewables and while 5 per cent of UK electricity does presently comes from renewable sources, it is estimated that 30 per cent of electricity may be delivered from renewables with 2 per cent from small-scale electricity generation.At a time when public sector employment is under threat and many are rethinking their career prospects, the renewables energy industry is tangibly signposted as a key growth sector. Those seriously interested to find out more about its job potential can obtain an invaluable introduction on a short BPEC?