There has been an 18% increase in the amount of installed UK solar power over the past year.
Provisional figures from BEIS show that, as of the end of February 2017, overall UK solar PV capacity stood at 11,770 MW across 907,597 installations.
This is an increase of 18% (1,773 MW) compared to February 2016.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the largest increase in capacity occurred in March 2016 (1,232 MW), just before the Renewables Obligation was closed to (non grace period) 50 kW to ≤ 5 MW installations and before the final closure of the RO to grace period > 5 MW sites.
Of the increase in capacity seen that month, 54% (670 MW) was seen in > 5 MW installations.
In February 2017, 16 MW (3,457 installations) of solar PV capacity is confirmed as having been deployed throughout the month, with the main drivers (50% of capacity) being small-scale 0 to ≤ 4 kW schemes in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
To date, 47% (5,580 MW) of total installed solar PV capacity comes from large scale installations greater than 5 MW, with 21% (2,474 MW) coming from small scale 0 to 4 kW installations.
At the end of December 2016 (end Quarter 4), 57% of capacity (6,653 MW) came from ground-mounted or standalone solar installations. This includes the first operational solar farm to be accredited for Contracts for Differences (Charity solar farm).
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