The STA has designed the event to show how solar farms can benefit local environments while reducing the UK’s dependence on fossil fuels. Schools, businesses, local householders and community groups will be among those invited to attend some of the 17 solar farms taking part in the event. Companies opening their facilities to the public during the day include Lightsource Renewable Energy, Solar Century, Juwi, British Solar Renewables, Lark Energy and BELECTRIC.
“There’s a really positive story to be told about how benign, unobtrusive solar farms are [while] quietly reducing our carbon emissions, boosting local biodiversity, helping farmers diversify their income, creating jobs and enhancing the UK’s energy security” said STA Chief Executive Paul Barwell. “We need to tell this story to counter the bad news stories resulting from a tiny minority of poor quality projects seized on gleefully by some newspapers and politicians.”
The STA is promoting the day as a springboard for a much wider educational push to highlight the need for stable policy support for renewables.
“With 85% support, solar consistently enjoys the highest public opinion rating of any energy technology” Mr Barwell added. “We’re working hard to maintain that level of support. This means commitment to good quality while continuing to invest to bring down costs for everyone. Despite current uncertainty in central government policy, we remain committed to leading the renewable energy sector to price parity with fossil electricity as soon as possible.”
Alongside the role it performs in reducing carbon emissions, solar PV is critically important to reducing dependence from fossil fuel imports while also being able to increase energy independence for farmers and helping to lower energy bills for consumers.
However, the STA is keen to support that it supports solar PV at all levels of deployment, not just solar farms. The association will also be hosting an industry event on how to unblock the barriers facing widespread adoption of solar on medium to large scale roofs.
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