The week ending 09 December saw 1,531 sub 50kW installations. Although this is a slight decrease on the 1,615 domestic installations registered in the previous week, together these statistics show a 39 percent rise on the levels experienced in the last week of November.
The figures are still much lower than the 3000-plus installs witnessed in the final weeks before the 01 November Feed-in Tariff degression date but could well be exacerbated by the downturn usually experienced in winter months.
Now that Ofgem has confirmed that FiT rates will not degress again until 01 May, the industry has a welcome period of almost six months to return to higher rates still.
REI editor, Lu Rahman, said: “It’s great to have a positive end to the year and these figures are encouraging indeed for the PV sector. Rates of return are still good, similar to those at the height of the Feed-in Tariff boom and the industry now needs to get this message across to the householder. PV is still a financially attractive investment, as well as providing energy saving benefits. It is important that the industry looks to improve the image of PV going forward, reassuring the consumer that it is still a worthwhile purchase and investment. Hopefully this is the start of an upward, positive trend for the sector but we all need to work hard to help that happen.”