Add England to the list of countries targeting relatively ambitious solar goals. Its Energy Minister Greg Barker says he thinks getting from 2.4 gigawatts to 20 gigawatts of installed solar over the next decade is achievable. England is not known for its solar radiation  but that didn’t stop Germany from laying out an ambitious deployment of solar power as well as over 100 billion euros in subsidies.

England has high electricity rates and opposition party leaders have pledged to freeze rates if they win power in 2015. England’s deployment of wind farms was unpopular with local groups both because of their visual effects on England’s bucolic landscape and for their impact on power pricing.

Britain is targeting 15 percent renewable power generation by 2020 in order to meets its EU goal. It’s also trying to meet a domestic goal of cutting emissions by 34 percent between 1990 and 2020. The wild card here remains the possibility of grid parity over the next 7-8 years, which could change the calculus away from renewable energy mandates toward the economic benefits of renewables.