This year's London Climate Action Week carried extra urgency, coming as a record-breaking June heatwave disrupted infrastructure across the UK. Against that backdrop, Solivus HQ hosted a Q&A between Juliet Davenport OBE and Jo Parker-Swift, with the audience joining in with sharp questions throughout:

• How does the carbon footprint of lightweight panels compare to standard ones?
• What happens at the end of a panel's lifecycle?
• Do insurance companies favour lightweight solar?
• Why lightweight solar now?

Jo spoke about the early challenge of investor perception, where lightweight solar was still judged against outdated first-generation tech, and how much work went into showing how far it's come. 

Today's lightweight panels match standard panels for energy efficiency, and work better in extreme heat. They also have a smaller carbon footprint, since they skip the glass and metal components and are far lighter and smaller to transport. They're guaranteed for 25 years, and at the end of use they're fully combustible and recyclable for energy, just like food waste, so they keep giving back energy even after their working life ends. 40% of commercial buildings in the UK can’t support the weight of traditional solar panels so lightweight panels are crucial to helping these existing structures reach net zero.

The conversation also turned to roofs as a commercial asset, touching on how war, politics and energy resilience are reshaping the market. Jo noted a marked rise in new enquiries, along with existing clients speeding up processes on projects as the reality of gaining energy control has become a commercial priority. 

For an hour-long session, the discussion covered a remarkable range of topics, with both speakers drawing on their expertise and knowledge throughout the conversation.

The natural environment was a recurring theme, with references to extreme events such as earthquakes, heatwaves, and giant hailstorms. Microgrids also featured as the discussion turned to Farnborough Airport, sports stadiums, data centres, car manufacturing plants, and the farming industry.

Solar panels were also discussed from an insurance risk perspective, including load-bearing considerations and concerns around plug-in DIY infrastructure management.

In every scenario, our speakers eloquently explored the challenges, leaving the audience with a highly positive perspective on the game-changing potential that lightweight solar brings to the renewable energy landscape.

The end result for Solivus? A potential new client, a new graduate, a new partnership connection, and an overall feeling of a genuinely engaged room, all with a shared commitment to doing what's best for our planet.

Moving forward, we unanimously agreed that there will be more of these in-house conversations to come. Watch this space!

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