The Xtra team interviewed MCS Certified’s Ian Rippin at Solar & Storage Live London’s first edition, which took place at ExCeL London.
Ian dove into MCS’ upcoming new certification, the trends linked to its Battery Installation Standard, and the benefits of attending industry shows like Solar & Storage Live.
Interview with Ian Rippin, CEO of MCS Certified
“We’re feeling the pulse and the temperature of the market which I think, over the Autumn and into Christmas and New Year, has been a little bit slower than the same time the year before. But we’re now seeing growth again.”
Xtra: What is MCS seeing linked to the MCS Battery Installation Standard?
Ian: What we’re seeing on solar and energy storage is real growth. We published our standard sometime last year, and since then we’ve seen many more installers wanting to be certified for battery installation. We’re now up at over 1000 installations a month.
Anecdotally, what we’re hearing is that 80% + of solar PV is going in with battery storage. We all know why: because it makes sense from a self-consumption point of view.
Xtra: What support will the new MCS scheme provide to the solar sector and its consumers? And, when can we expect the new scheme to go live?
Ian: MCS 2.0, the new MCS [certification] is coming soon. We’ve been working hard on that behind the scenes.
What will it provide to the sector? It’ll be far more accessible than the current scheme for our installers to take advantage of. Because consumers are asking for a certified product and a certified reputable installer.
That’s the first thing: get yourself MCS certified under the new scheme coming soon.
But in terms of consumers, what we’ve identified as an issue today, is that they can sometimes feel a bit lost when something goes wrong on those rare occasions when they’re in dispute with their contractor. The new MCS is about centralising complaints and creating a place for consumers to come.
We’ll always work with installers to get the right solution for their customers, but we are going to take much more of the burden of managing that interface when there’s a complaint.
Xtra: What are 3 major opportunities for the UK solar market in the next 12 months?
Ian: I’m really excited about the future home standard. That is, we hope, going to go live next year – and option one includes solar PV as standard.
If a home is future-proofed and it’s got solar on its roof, I think that will affect the retrofit market as well, because people will want to have homes that are as good as [possible]. As retrofitting solar will also grow, let’s hope that is the option that the [UK] government will go for.
Of course, I also would say that the new MCS is going to be great for the sector. We have worked hard on making it the best scheme we possibly can, so as soon as I can announce when it will go live, I will. That’s coming soon.
I’m thinking also about battery and energy storage. We’re seeing great opportunities for installers wanting to couple batteries with solar as a business opportunity, and it’s fantastic for the grid and energy security too.
Xtra: Who are you most looking forward to speaking to at Solar & Storage Live London?
It’s great to talk to installers – lots of people are starting to recognise me, so I have to come in disguise! So it’s great to see what installers are doing and see new initiatives in the technology,
I’ve been on a panel this morning talking about the government’s solar road map and we’re looking forward to the publication of that.
That makes a massive commitment both from the government and industry to the solar sector here in the UK. So we’re talking to people about that. We can’t share too much yet because it has not been published, but it is an exciting document. Watch this space for the solar roadmap.
Xtra: Why is it important to be at Solar & Storage Live London and why are events like this important?
Ian: It’s really important that I get out from behind my desk and start to talk to installers, customers, and manufacturers.
MCS is a scheme for installers and manufacturers, and people forget that we certify products as well. It’s important to see how they’re presenting their product to the market, and the sales that are going on.
We’re feeling the pulse and the temperature of the market which I think, over the Autumn and into Christmas and New Year, has been a little bit slower than the same time the year before. But we’re now seeing growth again.
But overall it’s great to get a sense of the industry by coming to events like this.
