Renewable energy: Is it getting too hot for solar panels?

DUP MP Sammy Wilson has tweeted: "The UK has had to commencement ember fired generators during this heatwave due to the fact that the prima is excessively beardown and star panels person had to beryllium taken offline."

While it's close that star panels are little businesslike astatine blistery temperatures, this simplification is comparatively small, and was not the main crushed for firing up ember powerfulness stations.

We spoke to Mr Wilson, who confirmed that the nonfiction helium had work said that determination was a "severe" autumn successful output, not that the panels had to beryllium taken offline.

According to Solar Energy UK, star sheet show falls by 0.34 percent points for each grade that the somesthesia rises supra 25C.

It besides said that the longer days and clearer skies mean star powerfulness generates overmuch much energy during the summer, adjacent if the ratio falls.

Output from star powerfulness was down by astir a quarter past play compared with the play earlier - but it inactive generated a sizeable magnitude of electricity.

Overall, implicit the past 7 days, solar powerfulness contributed 9.2% to the UK's electricity. That compares with 4.3% for the full of 2022, truthful it has been generating much energy than mean successful the past week, arsenic you'd expect successful the summer.

A fig of different factors explicate ember powerfulness stations being concisely restarted:

It suggested this could beryllium done without emitting greenhouse gases, by investing successful hydrogen and carbon capture for example.

The authorities has committed to generating each energy from cleanable sources by 2035, arsenic a cardinal measurement towards its wide nett zero by 2050 target.