Why Solar?

When deciding the most appropriate technology for a switch to renewable energy there are many areas to consider. These will include local resources – natural or otherwise; energy requirements – in terms of amount and profile; regulatory matters – such as local/national environmental laws or planning constraints; financial resources; business models; opportunity o over produce and sell energy; timing; flexibility etc.

Across all these considerations, solar energy is the clear answer in the vast majority of situations. Yes, on shore and offshore wind is a proven technology but requires significant capital expenditure, space, civil engineering, and on-going maintenance. It also is dependant on very specific yet un-reliable weather conditions.

Wave and Tidal solutions can enjoy more predictable conditions; however, the technology is cumbersome, expensive, and largely un-proven.

Biomass and / or anaerobic digestion may be suitable in applications such as farming where the raw material may be a biproduct of normal operations, but these tend to be niche and hence expensive solutions.

Solar panel in a field with sun on it

These and other technologies have their place, however the most flexible, reliable, predictable, cost effective and established technology is solar energy – capturing the power of the sun, converting to electrical energy to be used immediately at the site of generation (self-consumption), transmitted through the national grid or a private wire arrangement to other users; or stored in a battery or other storage medium to be used when needed and / or sold when energy is demanded.

As a well-established technology with an industrial supply chain of panels, mounting systems, invertors, cabling, monitoring systems, and a labour force that exceeds all other renewable technologies combined, solar energy solutions such as those delivered by Winfield Energy are the best solutions, environmentally, technically, and commercially.