Edie Lush

Outlook For British Solar: Sunny With Clouds

Very British Solar: Mr and Mrs Croot of Cawood, York.
Source: Ploughcraft.

Clean Intel Energy’s Edie Lush speaks to Chris Hopkins, Founder and MD of Ploughcraft Solar.

A leading British Solar Installation Company says that while the drop in the Feed-In-Tariff will hurt some solar companies in the UK, the cut means a more sustainable base for the industry.

The UK government announced on the 31st October that they’d cut the solar Feed-In-Tariff by just over 50%, cutting the subsidies available to domestic and small business installations from 43p/kW·h to 21p/kW·h. While this cut was largely expected and follows similar announcements across Europe, solar investors are right to be concerned. As a result of the cut in the tariff, Ernst & Young booted the UK from fifth to sixth place in their latest Country Attractiveness report , a report they produce for investors in renewable energy. (The UK remains fourth in EY’s wind index, but has dropped 3 places to 22nd place in the solar rankings).

There are those who are protesting the cuts, both through a twitter campaign #cutdontkill and in person – Opposition MPs Ed Milliband and Caroline Flint are leading the charge. Solar Century’s ’s Jeremy Leggett is vociferous in his opposition and Friends of the Earth is threatening to sue the government over the cuts.

This was written for Clean Energy Intel