Roof-integrated specialist Viridian Solar bullish about the UK solar market
Fusion Now Boasts the most Complete Fire Certifications of any Roof Integrated Solar
Buoyed by its recent acquisition by Marley Ltd, Viridian Solar is bullish about the growing UK market for roof-integrated solar. Driven by building regulations changes, and to a lesser extent, local planning requirements, roof-integrated solar is fast becoming the technology of choice for UK housebuilders and social landlords needing to deliver low carbon homes in a cost-effective and user-friendly way.
Viridian Solar is planning to expand its Cambridge team to meet this new demand driven by regulatory changes, a very welcome development after so many challenging years for “BIPV” in the UK, and the loss of other specialist roof-integrated solar companies along the way.
Viridian Solar CEO Stuart Elmes contrasts the “deep roots” of today’s UK solar market, with the “shallow roots” of the feed-in tariff retrofit market from 2010. It is certainly the case that during the feed-in tariff “solar-coaster” years, the UK solar retrofit market was in Elmes’ words “almost 100% based on financial returns, and during the many government policy-induced convulsions, all about beating the latest cliff-edge deadline.” None of this was conducive, or indeed relevant, to building a sustainable market for rooftop solar. Elmes reflects wryly that “the new-build sector is a regulatory-driven market and was completely unaffected by the Feed in Tariff, both on the way up, but (as it turned out) also on the way down.”
The huge strides taken by the solar industry to reduce costs and increase quality contribute to a new situation where regulating for zero carbon buildings becomes something that a government can contemplate.
Eleven years on from the start of the feed-in tariff, Elmes explains that “economies of scale and innovation in manufacturing have driven down the cost of solar technology to a point where it is a rational investment without financial support. The roll-out of electric vehicles and falling cost of battery storage is also creating interest among consumers. A more economically sustainable market is emerging. One based around home improvement, energy efficiency and tackling fuel poverty.”
Established in 2003, Viridian Solar manufactures the Clearline Fusion solar roofing system, and partners with all the major UK housebuilders including Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon Homes and Bloor Homes. Elmes emphasises that Viridian’s link-up with Marley will have a positive impact “due to Marley’s great reach in the roofing sector,” and its “tremendous reputation and long-established relationships with roofing contractors and the roofing supply chain.” He adds that “we are going to need all construction trades to get behind renewables if we are going to get to zero carbon quickly.”
Elmes is also positive about the prospects for further improvements in the regulatory environment helping to drive the roof-integrated solar market. It’s obvious he says that “a government cannot hope to meet its climate change targets just by paying people to do the right thing, so grant schemes and Feed in Tariffs can only ever be a kick-start. At some point you have got to start creating the regulatory environment that drives the behaviour you want. The huge strides taken by the solar industry to reduce costs and increase quality contribute to a new situation where regulating for zero carbon buildings becomes something that a government can contemplate.”
Elmes cites changes to the Scottish building regulations as long ago as 2015, as a good example of the type of national regulatory driver that will see further increased uptake of roof-integrated solar. The practical consequence of requiring housebuilders to build homes with lower carbon emissions than those in England has seen approximately 80% of newbuild Scottish homes built since the change, incorporate solar panels.
By contrast, Elmes estimates that only 10% of English new homes are built with solar, largely driven by local planning policies. All of that is about to change however with new Future Homes Standard building regulations requiring a 75%-80% cut in carbon emissions from new homes by 2025. Elmes is optimistic that this change will increase the market for solar on new homes “by between five and ten times, or around 350MWp per year.” He explains that “the new regulations in England exceed those of Scotland 2015, but are similar in that it is expected developers can meet them with either a heat pump or gas heating plus solar PV.
The expectation in the market is that developers will prefer gas heating and solar panels. It remains to be seen how the balance of performance will be split between solar and other energy efficiency measures, but we expect that new homes in England will need more solar panels than those built to the Scottish regulations.”
Viridian Solar is also eyeing markets across the Channel, but the current focus remains on the Netherlands, where it has had a subsidiary since August 2019, and where as Elmes explains “we have put together a really great team to support our expansion plans.”
As in the UK, the primary driver in the Netherlands market is new building regulations (BENG), “brought in in last year requiring new homes to provide a proportion of energy use from renewables, and since the Netherlands market places a premium on aesthetics, roof integrated solar has become the norm for this market.”
Beyond Europe, Viridian also has big plans for further growth, including in the US where the company has a partnership deal with Unirac Inc, and Elmes confirmed that “we also have exciting developments in other non-EU export markets to announce imminently.”