Energy minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe has lauded the potential for solar photovoltaics and solar thermal technologies to decarbonise the UK’s businesses in one of her first conference appearances since joining the department.
Addressing visitors at this year’s Solar Energy UK | Clean Energy Live conference in Birmingham, the minister referenced her 15 years’ experience as an executive at supermarket chain Tesco of having seen the potential for solar and other renewables to help power them.
“I used to work for Tesco for 15 years and we used it [solar] on our depos and supermarket groups in California, in Thailand, in Hungary – we called them green stores in those days,” she said.
And the minister added that the government considered solar to be “especially valuable” for decarbonising businesses and factories in particular.
“Batteries, solar panels, wind turbines; all of these can help integrate low carbon generation whilst delivering secure affordable electricity for customers and these technique allow us to save energy, store it for when we really need it and be more flexible in the sources it comes from,” she said.
