Navigant Energy Director Paula Mints recaps the May 12-13, 2011 Solar Praxis UK conference held in London. Attendees got a harsh dose of reality during the opening sessions. The regal Grand Connaught Rooms in London was well attended at over 200 people, all looking for ways to turn recent industry bad news into future opportunities.
According to first-day speakers, finding opportunities may prove difficult. Here are the facts: the UK's FiT shot out of the gate like an over-eager race horse, rapidly running into a government unprepared for fast growth and fearful of the market overheating. In response, the government recently cut the FiT rates significantly, while also designating systems >50kWp as large solar farms. Speaker Craig Jackson from South Yorkshire Housing Association succinctly explained with a picture of a 58kWp system on the roof of a homeless shelter: "this is not a solar farm."
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