SolarCentury reports green jobs boom

The UK's leading solar energy firm, SolarCentury, has today reported that the number of people employed by the company and its partner network has almost doubled over the past six months as the government's feed-in tariff incentive scheme begins to take effect.

The photovoltaic (PV) solar panel provider said that total staff numbers for SolarCentury and its network of 11 certified solar panel installers has risen from 200 at the start of the year to 350 today.

It added that most of the companies in its network are continuing to recruit and expect to increase their headcount by a further 50 per cent by the end of the year. The company is now predicting that there will be over 500 jobs in its network by early next year.

"These very encouraging job numbers show that the new feed-in tariff is already delivering rapid growth in new solar PV jobs in the UK," said Seb Berry, head of public affairs for SolarCentury. "The stability and certainty provided by the feed-in tariff means that UK PV companies can plan with confidence, invest for the future and take on many more staff as the market continues to grow in a sustained way."

The news is the latest in a series of validations for the feed-in tariff scheme, which firms from across the renewable energy sector are crediting with driving a surge in sales over the last few months.

Recently released government figures show that over 20MW of new renewable energy capacity has been installed under the feed-in tariff scheme since its introduction in April this year.

The market has been largely driven by soaring demand for PV solar panels with the number of installations in the last four months reaching double the level achieved during the whole of 2009.

Demand from businesses for small-scale renewable energy systems has also exceeded expectations with an analysis from renewable energy installation specialist Ownergy showing that over 6MW of capacity has been deployed by 55 businesses since the feed-in tariff was introduced.