Labour’s ‘rooftop revolution’ to deliver solar power to millions of UK homes

[Mart]

It may actually help us to have solar over the fields, until soil structure can be organically built back up. Which would take years .

Glad you mentioned this, as I'd forgotten it completely. There are many studies confirming that the soil quality, and carbon content are raised over time, by 'resting' the land with PV. I think the growth in wild flowers and mixed plants (I mentioned earlier) also add to this.

Found a good article in Farmers Weekly covering this, but need to point out that it's promotional content from an RE company. But still worth a read, I think. However, I appreciate that 15-25yrs is a very long time, when it comes to soil rotation, and rest.

Beyond the standards of practice: How solar land use can improve soil health

[Ken]

There is no shortage of building land,no shortage of farm land and no shortage of land for the required quantity of PV. etc

The idea that one of these precludes another is false. PV needs grid connections, farming requires quality land and house building needs infrastructure.

So much of the land thought of as farm land because it is green is nothing of the sought it is rubbish land only fit for grazing which can be done very well under PV whilst also improving the quality of the sheep and sheep improve the land.

The rooftop revolution (and batts) is helped considerably by the declining costs of PV but is hindered badly by the renting model particularly of the large industrial roofs. Large industrial roofs could play a big part because the timing of supply has some correlation with demand.

I do wonder if PV with a capacity factor of 11% and seasonal production, is actually a better investment than wind with a capacity factor of c35% which strongly alignes with high winter demand. ie a kwh produced in winter is more valuable than a summer kwh.

At the end of the day we need everything and the market place will sought it out.

[Adokforme]

There is no shortage of building land,no shortage of farm land and no shortage of land for the required quantity of PV. etc

The idea that one of these precludes another is false. PV needs grid connections, farming requires quality land and house building needs infrastructure.

So much of the land thought of as farm land because it is green is nothing of the sought it is rubbish land only fit for grazing which can be done very well under PV whilst also improving the quality of the sheep and sheep improve the land.

The rooftop revolution (and batts) is helped considerably by the declining costs of PV but is hindered badly by the renting model particularly of the large industrial roofs. Large industrial roofs could play a big part because the timing of supply has some correlation with demand.

I do wonder if PV with a capacity factor of 11% and seasonal production, is actually a better investment than wind with a capacity factor of c35% which strongly alignes with high winter demand. ie a kwh produced in winter is more valuable than a summer kwh.

At the end of the day we need everything and the market place will sought it out.

Cheers @Ken, I couldn't disagree with anything you've written there. So, after a decade of dithering let's crack on with it.

[nowty]

Power purchase agreements have agreed at been slightly higher prices for solar than wind over the past few years in the UK. For an end user the power is more valuable because you get the power during the day when most leccy is used. Think of Dan_b’s workplace setup.

And to an energy supplier the power from Solar is more deterministic than Wind, so they can make better hedging decisions.

The operating costs for solar is less and most of it is in the south of England nearer where power is needed.

https://pexapark.com/solar-power-purcha ... %20example.

“ Thanks to the low cost of solar technology, solar is now one of the cheapest renewables available. That is what makes solar PPAs popular. Generally speaking, a template of a solar PPA is comparable to that of a wind PPA, except for their profile risk. A solar asset has a relatively lesser risk than a wind farm because a solar asset does not produce energy during the night time, for example.”

[Tinbum]

So much of the land thought of as farm land because it is green is nothing of the sought it is rubbish land only fit for grazing which can be done very well under PV whilst also improving the quality of the sheep and sheep improve the land.

That's fair enough if it's that land that's being used but it's not.