I was at All Energy in Glasgow a few weeks ago where lots of people were particularly excited by the potential to extend solar further north in Britain. There’s growing interest in the UK solar value chain — but a suspicion that solar isn’t really a national player.

I have previously discussed how Corrie has validated proprietary yield models for solar tracking. So what is the benefit across the UK? The results are striking. Our dual-axis tracker (DAT) delivers 25-30+% additional energy (compared to fixed tilt arrays) across the country. This is transformational, with the potential to bring solar development to areas often dismissed as too cloudy or too far north!


So what’s still holding us back?

For the past decade, tracking has always been an attractive dream. The benefit was clear — but on closer inspection, a few percent yield benefit (less than 8% across most of the UK) was not sufficient to offset uncertainty in lifetime cost, especially when compared to the proven economics of fixed-tilt systems.

By changing our focus from single-axis trackers – a trusted reference point globally – to dual-axis trackers, we can deliver wider daily profiles and better seasonal performance. In addition to this, we improve wholesale pricing by meeting more peak time demand: the value of solar is increasingly as much about when you generate — not just how much.

Offshore wind and solar aren’t strongly correlated in time — meaning dual-axis solar could strengthen the resilience and diversity of Scotland’s renewable mix without competing for the same resource window.

There’s real potential here: for the grid, for end users, for regions and for growing UK-based solar manufacturing.

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