STA promotes ‘desirable’ arrays through Stunning Solar campaign

The Solar Trade Association (STA) has launched a campaign aimed at highlighting the aesthetic prowess of modern solar installations, in an attempt to promote the number of installations on old and new buildings.


The Stunning Solar project is aimed at highlighting the possibilities that arise when striking design and competent installation is combined with building-integrated solar technology.

STA chief executive Paul Barwell wants to challenge the industry to improve aesthetics so that every solar installation – incorporated into buildings both old and new – becomes an advert for sunshine technology.

Barwell said: “First impressions are everything, and that applies to houses just as much as people. Stunning Solar shows that solar can increase the ‘kerb appeal’ of a home, as well as making it cheaper and more eco-friendly to a household or business.

“We want to see solar become a desirable consumer product, a home improvement. There is mounting evidence that homebuyers are willing to pay more for a solar home, and systems with symmetry, architectural integration and sensitive positioning and sizing are more likely to do just that.

“As Stunning Solar demonstrates, solar can be a tasteful and beautiful improvement to buildings of all shapes and sizes.”

GALLERY: Britain’s stunning solar installations

Solar rescue plan

The STA has continually endeavoured to empower the UK solar transformation through a series of innovative schemes.

Last October, the STA proposed a plan to ‘save the solar industry’ by adding £1 on to consumer bills in a bid to significantly reduce Government suggested cuts to small-scale solar subsidies. Earlier this year, the STA also launched a new solar trade agreement which allows its member companies to repair and maintain damaged installations that were constructed by other companies.

But despite the STA’s best intentions, the industry has recently suffered from slashed Government grants. Earlier this week (11 April), it was reported that the amount of household solar power capacity installed in the past two months had plummeted by three quarters following the Government’s cuts to subsidies.

The STA isn’t the only organisation attempting to highlight the hidden beauty of renewable generators. Earlier this year, the National Trust switched on a unique 175-panel solar array, which has been likened to modern art due to its construction on rocky hillside terrain in north Wales.

edie recently spoke with the organisation’s director-general Dame Helen Ghosh, who revealed the steps the National Trust has introduced in order to make its sustainable practices aesthetically appealing to customers.


On-site solutions at edie Live

On-site sustainability solutions are one of the key topics to be discussed in depth at the edie Live 2016 exhibition at the NEC Birmingham in May. 

From the UK’s largest on-site solar installations to small-scale, single-site solutions, hear from those sustainability professionals that have already done the work and are making it happen for their business.

Register to attend edie Live 2016 here.


George Ogleby

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