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wiredInUSA - March 2016
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First estimates by SolarPower Europe
indicate that European countries
connected around 8GW of solar power
systems to electrical networks during
2015. Demand for solar power systems in
European countries increased by around
15 percent, year-on-year, compared
to 6.95GW of new grid-connected solar
power capacity in 2014.
“It is good to see the European solar
power sector again on the growth path
in 2015,” said James Watson, CEO of
SolarPower Europe, the association of the
solar power sector in Europe.
After peaking in 2011, demand for solar
power installations in Europe declined
for three consecutive years. Europe’s
solar growth in 2015, however, is primarily
based on the strong UK market while
demand for solar systems in most other
countries stayed flat or declined.
Annual global grid-connected solar rose
by over 25 percent in 2015, reaching
more than 50GW, from 40.1GW in 2014.
Summing up the solar
market
EDF Energy has extended the lifeof four of its
nuclear power plants in the UK. The French
company has revealed that Heysham 1
and Hartlepool will operate for a further
five years, to 2024, while the closure dates
for Heysham 2 and Torness have been
extended by seven years, to 2030.
The move comes at a time when EDF is
delaying a final investment decision on its
proposed Hinkley Point C reactor because
of shareholder pressure over the cost of the
project, said to be $26 billion.
EDF operates eight nuclear reactors in
Britain. Heysham 1 and Hartlepool started
generating electricity in 1983 with Heysam
2 and Torness generating from 1988.
The news of the extensions came as EDF
revealed its 2015 financial results, in which
the group described the performance of its
UK nuclear fleet as “exceptional”, reaching
an output of 60.6TWh, its highest in the past
ten years.
Addressing UK’s power
shortfall prediction