Teams up with National Grid on solar power project

Solar power provides up to 16 per cent of the UK's energy New project will enable more accurate measurement of Britain's solar energy supply The University of Sheffield is working with National Grid to help the company understand how much energy the UK's increasing number of solar panels are producing and improve the efficiency of its electricity network. The University's Sheffield Solar research team - within the Department of Physics and Astronomy - has been active since 2010, and operates the UK's largest database of rooftop solar panels. Solar power has seen a massive surge in uptake over the past five years, providing up to 16 per cent of the UK's energy demand. However, there is little detailed data available on the actual energy produced by solar panels. Currently National Grid use weather information to estimate how much power solar systems are generating. Sheffield Solar is now working with the company to produce a tool which will use data from live systems to give them a better estimate. Aldous Everard, Business Development Manager at Sheffield Solar, said: "The project is progressing well and we're already publishing some preliminary results online.