This annual status report gives an overview of the UK PV industry including an update on installed PV capacity, manufacturing, prices, employment figures, national programmes and policies and standards.

An executive summary of the UK PV NSR 2006 is presented below. Click here to download the full report (PDF file 232kB). Alternatively you may access previous years' reports here.

In summary, the key developments of the year 2006 were as follows:

Installed PV power

• The annual installed PV capacity in 2006 was 3390 kWp. This compares to 2713 kWp in 2005 and 2261 kWp in 2004). The cumulative installed PV generation capacity increased by 31 % during 2006 reaching a total of 14.26 MWp. Government support through the Major Demonstration Programme and the new Low Carbon Buildings Programme supported approximately 75% of the total new capacity. Figure 1 shows the cumulative installed PV capacity up to the end of 2006.

Costs & prices

• Average retail module prices are similar to those in 2005, typically around £ 3.5/Wp for reasonable volume orders. For small orders (few modules) retail prices are around £3.9/Wp. Minimum prices remain the same as in 2005, around £2.5/Wp for polycrystalline modules imported from mainland Europe.

• Overall system prices range considerably because they take into account the significant differences in the projects, the level of integration and technology used. On-grid installed prices ranged from £4.9/Wp to £9.9/Wp. However the average turnkey price for a standard 1-3 kWp system was £6.1/W, compared to £6.3/W in 2005 (at 2006 prices).

PV production

• Crystalox Limited , an operating subsidiary of PV Crystalox Solar plc is one of the world’s largest producers of multicrystal line silicon ingots, exporting to PV companies in Europe and Japan. In 2006 the company produced 2150 tonnes of multicrystal line silicon ingots, enough for 215 MWp.

• Sharp ’s module assembly plant in Wrexham uses EVA lamination encapsulation and produced 85 MWp of crystalline PV modules during 2006. Further capacity expansion took place during 2006 which will bring the total production capacity to 220 MWp in 2007.

• Romag’s Building In tegra ted Photovoltaic (BIPV) lamination facility in Consett produced 2 MWp in 2006. The facility will double its capacity to 12 MWp by the end of 2007.

• GB Sol based in Taffs Well, South Wales produced 0.25 MWp of crystalline modules. 2006 saw the start of construction of an additional 5 MW of production capacity.

• ICP Solar Technologies UK Ltd (ICP UK) in Bridgend increased total production from 1.8 MWp in 2005 to 1.9 MWp in 2006. The Bridgend facility was sold to EPOD in May 2007 and the company is now known as Epod Solar Wales.

Budgets for PV

• Budgets for Pre-competitive R&D and Demonstration / Field Trials (supported by the Department for Trade & Industry and The Engineering and Physical Science Research Council) totalled £15.03 million in 2006. This compares to a total of £12.06 million in 2005. A large proportion of this funding (£7.83 million) has been for the demonstration and field trial programmes, provided by the DTI.

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