At the end of March 2025, GB Energy rolled into action to invest £200M in Solar installations on 200 schools (£80M) and 200 NHS sites (£100M) that include some hospitals. The first installations will be late summer 2025. Two sad numbers: NHS energy bill is £1.4bn, twice the bill in 2019, so it is evident that the Grid and big 6 are profiteering here; second, the idea is that excess solar power can be sold to the Grid, but we know they do not pay a fair price; usually their buying price is about 6 times less than the selling price. Ripoff.
Ed Milliband, Energy Secretary is correct in saying “Right now, money that should be spent on your children’s education or your family’s healthcare is instead being wasted on sky-high energy bills. “Great British Energy’s first major project will be to help our vital public institutions save hundreds of millions on bills to reinvest on the frontline. Great British Energy will provide power for pupils and patients. “Parents at the school gate and patients in hospitals will experience the difference Great British Energy can make. This is our clean energy superpower mission in action, with lower bills and energy security for our country.”
What is not clarified is the pay-back time on these investments. The serious problem with solar in UK is that it can take more than a decade to pay-off the costs. That does not impress most investors. The calculations should be published. The Chair Juergen Maier needs to step up. Will the solar panels be made in Britain?
UK is slow on Solar mainly because the £200M will only buy about 200MW of peak power, which needs to be realistically reworded to give 40MW of average power, a thousand times less than the 40GW of average power that is really needed across UK.
But, at least, a move has been made, however unsatisfactory it is.