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UK Government Threatens Future of Solar in the UK

Sophie Rivett-Carnac | 14.02.11

The government has made a damaging decision to pull the plug on large scale solar feed-in-tariffs, threatening the growth of renewable energy in the UK.

This week, Chris Huhne, Britain’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, announced the government would start its first review of the feed-in-tariff scheme for small-scale, low-carbon electricity generation. This news comes earlier than expected and will lead to uncertainty within the UK renewable market, in particular for solar PV.

Dark clouds move over UK solar industry

Baffled, disillusioned, incredulous, angry and frustrated are words that spring to mind when describing the mood in the renewable energy sector at the moment.

A dark cloud descended on the solar industry when Energy Minister Chris Huhne announced on Monday that DECC are starting work on a 'comprehensive review' of the UK's feed-in-tariff scheme.

The reason for the review is because the UK's feed in tariff - a scheme that has encouraged thousands of homes, communities and businesses across the UK to start generating their own electricity - was proving to be too popular. Huhne thinks that a review will provide the renewable energy sector with 'investment certainty'.

The implications of his announcement has achieved precisely the opposite; the future of solar is threatened, a growing industry with new jobs and new investment is under threat, and investors - as well as investigating legal action against government - are now looking move to countries where solar is growing apace without the barriers and uncertainty created that the UK Government has created.

The FIT scheme has so far stimulated good demand and proved very successful. More than 14,000 homes in the UK have installed solar PV since April 2010 and there have been 21,000 planning applications to date.

Huhne's problem is that the FIT scheme wasn't designed for 'large scale solar investors' who are looking to build bigger, more efficient 'solar parks'. As a result he's going to change the definition of 'large scale', moving it from the current 5MW to a meagre 50KW.

What is so ridiculous about the review, announced only ten months after the FIT scheme was introduced, is that it completely undermines what DECC made it their mission to set about achieving in the first place - 15% renewable energy by 2020. According to the latest figures from energy regulator Ofgem, 22,500 renewable electricity projects, with a total capacity of 80MW – less than 0.1% of the UK's total electricity supply – benefit from the tariff. More than half this comes from solar, and the target is to increase this 50-fold by 2020.

Not only this, they fail to appreciate that the large scale solar installations that would reduce the demand for fossil fuel based energy, will provide a source of clean electricity for businesses and homes that aren't well placed to install solar tiles on their rooftops.

Even more infuriating is that the FIT scheme was providing a solution to more than just the government's carbon reduction commitment. The FIT scheme offered communities the chance to generate energy through shared spaces. Schools, hospitals, factory-owners and farms had been given a financial incentive to install solar systems and start generating their own electricity, by reducing their own energy bills or selling anything they didn't use themselves back to the grid and simultaneously raising awareness and educating people on energy consumption habits.

Government greenwash?

All the Government's talk of growing the green sector, creating more jobs, hitting renewable energy targets and providing investment certainty in a market that is dependent on stability is apparently untrue. In fact, this behaviour is strangely reminiscent of a time when BP announced that they were pulling the plug on their renewable energy projects. BP were correctly accused of greenwash - could the UK government be accused of the same?

While the renewable energy sector wait for government to scratch their heads and come up with a new plan for 'investment certainty', some important questions need to be asked: why does government want to stifle widespread solar generation in UK? Who is behind this short-sighted approach? Does the vision for a greener Britain exist still?

We'd love to hear your thoughts.

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renewable energy, solar power, feed-in tariff, carbon reduction commitment, government