About Us

Working with National Grid ESO

March 2018

We’re currently part way through a 3 year collaboration project with National Grid (ESO), ‘PV Monitoring Phase 3’, funded by the Network Innovation Allowance. The project aims to augment the PV_Live methodology in order to provide 5 minutely outturn estimates in near-real-time; to improve the accuracy of the regional PV outturn estimates through better mapping of the electricity network; and to develop a methodology for estimating the deployed PV capacity using metered demand data and modelled PV yield.

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Collaboration with National Grid ESO

July 2015

Start of a 2 year collaboration project ‘PV Monitoring Phase 2’ with National Grid (ESO) funded by the Network Innovation Allowance. The project set out to develop a methodology for monitoring the national and regional outturn from GB solar in near-real-time and historically.

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Testbed

August 2010

2010 Photo of Nick Clegg at Sheffield Solar Farm (on roof of Hicks Building)

Nick Clegg at our testbed launch event 20/08/2010

Our earliest work focused on comparisons of emerging solar PV technologies and how they perform in the UK climate specifically. We installed a PV testbed on the roof of the Hicks Building in Sheffield and began to study the generation and performance from new and disruptive alongside established PV technologies.

Sheffield Solar Launches

July 2010

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The Sheffield Solar research group is formed in the Physics & Astronomy department, at the University of Sheffield, as part of the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures. It works to bridge the gap between the research lab and how solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is used in the real world and to understand its performance and impact.