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Solar Flair in County Durham

The 2009 Solar Flair conference brought together national and regional experts in photovoltaics (PV), a technology that is thought to be the future of solar energy and a key part of rise of renewable energy.

As well as trying to build supply chains and develop new research, the conference also played host to the announcement that Consett-based glass manufacturer Romag will attempt to create the world’s largest installation of solar paneling across its premises.

A UK Trade and Investment report published last year predicted that the PV industry would be worth £2.9bn by the end of 2009 - and that it would become a “dominant source” of energy for the 21st century.

Conference Facilitator, Dr James Bellini, a leading futurologist and ‘historian of the future’, said: “When you realise it’s in effect solar energy, photovoltaics are an important part of our future. Consensus forecasts are that by the middle of this century solar power will be the leading contributor to our energy consumption.

“The reason it hasn’t happened yet is the technology is still very early, it’s very costly and it doesn’t give you the lifespan, so they are the areas the industry is working on with increasing speed.”

Dr Bellini added: “Technically, we’re very good in this country, but we just don’t use photovoltaics. You go to places like Spain, who are the biggest producer of solar power in the world, and 50% of their power is through solar power.”

The four largest PV power plants are in Spain and Germany. This is somewhat of a missed opportunity for the UK, according to Dr Ray Noble, a speaker at the conference. “The technology and the use of PV actually started in the North East through professor Robert Hill, the world guru at the time,” said Dr Noble.

“Everyone thought he was mad when he was talking about powering the planet 20 years ago, and here we are today with a sizeable proportion of the energy provided from solar and the future looks extremely bright.

“Unfortunately the UK government didn’t take it on board initially, yet the German government did. You’ve seen the size and scale of the market in Germany now, which could have been here in the UK.”

But nevertheless the technology will be in integral part of the future economy, as Catherine Johns, Director of Innovation Development at County Durham Development Company, one of the conference hosts, explained.

She said: “The photovoltaics turned out to be quite a popular theme we were working on. We thought we could hold a national conference on it, especially as the North East already has a high level of expertise in the area.

“It’s important to remember that this will be a huge piece of technology for the future, you don’t get more renewable than harvesting electricity directly from sunlight.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .