Published: 14 Jan 2021, 13:26
Solar Energy UK worked with marketing agency Brand Ethos on the new logo: Image: Solar Energy UK.
The Solar Trade Association will change its name and rebrand next week to “reflect the new era for Solar in the UK”, according to its chief executive Chris Hewett.
The trade body will become Solar Energy UK from 18 January, including sub-group Solar Energy Scotland and a potentially “more physical presence in Edinburgh and Cardiff” Hewett told Solar Power Portal. The group worked with marketing agency Brand Ethos to create the new look for Solar Energy UK’s website and publishing materials.
Hewett told Solar Power Portal the rebranded association will reaffirm its reputation in the UK solar market by reaching out to other areas of the green energy sector, such as technology and finance, as well as keeping in regular contact with UK government officials to meet a target of 40GW installed solar capacity by 2030. Solar Energy UK is set to publish a more detailed report on how this target could be reached in “the next few months”, he said.
“The more I look at it the more convinced I am that’s easily achievable” said Hewett, adding the group will work with entities such as techUK and the Green Finance Institute to “demonstrate how that can happen and how we expect that to be rolled out across all different sectors.”
Solar Energy UK’s policy priorities for the year ahead include working with the government on Contracts for Difference (CfD) design, with the aim of holding solar auctions every six months; a green tax reform, exempting rooftop solar and battery storage from business rates; and supporting market growth by researching the value of green properties in order to “encourage more finance companies to offer more products, whether that’s green finance mortgages or investment in residential sector”.
“We’re well and truly into the subsidy free era now, and it feels like from what we hear there is a real optimism and the industry will take off in a sustained decade of growth,” Hewett said, adding that 2021 felt like the time to “modernise our look and the way we present ourselves to reflect that new era.”