WiredInUSA March 2016

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

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.

wiredInUSA - March 2016

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