The UK has “unexpectedly” become one of the few countries in Europe to have installed more than 10GW of PV, while its top engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms are a mix of international and domestically headquartered players.
New analysis from Solar Media’s in-house analysis firm Solar Intelligence, trailed in a series of blogs for PV Tech’s UK sister site Solar Power Portal, runs down the list of Britain’s top 20 solar EPC companies.
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“Since the initial release of government incentives to UK solar at the start of 2010, the UK has become one of the few countries globally to install more than 10GW of solar PV,” Solar Intelligence’s Finlay Colville wrote for the site.
“And a driving factor behind this somewhat unexpected growth has been the companies that were responsible for the build of large-scale ground-mounted solar farms.”
UK will have more than 1,000 solar farms by March 2017
The list reveals that UK-headquartered Solarcentury, which recently won a contract to partner with furniture store IKEA on residential system sales, came in at the top spot. Indeed, number three is also a UK company, British Solar Renewables, with Germany’s Vogt Solar sandwiched in-between.
“While there are many factors behind Solarcentury’s lead ranking position, it is perhaps fitting that the top company is UK-based and has been a key voice in policy decisions and trade body strategies over the years, the success of which has often created opportunities for its competitors, many of whom feature also in the Top 20 EPC table,” Colville wrote.
Colville’s team categorises large-scale ground mount as 250kW capacity or over. The Solar Power Portal blog series features insights into each of the top 20, their strategies and histories. There will be some familiar names for international readers, including Conergy, Goldbeck – which completed a 49.6MW UK solar farm just in time to receive financial support under the 1.3 ROC scheme which finished at the end of the first quarter – BayWa and the bitter-sweet inclusion of SunEdison in eighth place.
The data used to compile the list is taken directly from Solar Intelligence’s internal market research. Colville claims the “match of confirmed Lead EPCs to the overall market size is greater than 98%”. Solar Intelligence makes this exhaustive and comprehensive list available by subscription in a monthly series.
“As of today, there have been almost 950 solar farm installations of 1MW or above in the UK, with the figure set to exceed the 1,000 mark by the end of the March 2017,” he said.
