Editor’s Blog

Today Friends of the Earth and two solar companies have won their case against the unforeseen December 12 cut-off point – but is this really a “victory” for the UK solar industry, or have we been plonked between a rock and a hard place?

As each and every one of you is painfully aware, on October 31 this year the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced Phase 1 of its consultation on feed-in tariffs, which revealed a 50 percent reduction to the current incentive rates for solar photovoltaics. While most of the post-consultation coverage focused on these cuts, a lot of our readers have also expressed concern over the new potential EPC requirements.

The Government, led by the DECC and Greg Barker, has consistently pushed the message that in these desperate fiscal times it is the best hope to create a sustainable solar industry in the UK. I wonder is it all rhetoric or will the Minister deliver on his promises?

The opposition day defeat has left the solar industry with little option but to brace itself and prepare for the introduction of the new 21p/kWh rate proposed by the Government.

BBC’s panorama show on Monday night was billed as an investigation into the truth behind the UK's rocketing energy bills. Surely a rational, unbiased report from the BBC’s well-respected Panorama show would present the benefits of solar PV and other renewable energies to the wider public, while sensibly explaining the implicit costs to the consumer of supporting such technologies – wouldn’t it?

After sitting at my desk for the best part of half an hour refreshing my screen, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) finally published what we have all been waiting for: the consultation on the comprehensive review of feed-in tariffs. Shortly after 10.30am the new rates were announced, and the UK solar…

As the UK solar industry crosses off another day in the lead-up to the Comprehensive Review, many are beginning to worry that we are in for another fast-track review. The question is, how damaging would this really be? In a bid to find out what the future might hold, I’ve taken a look at the large-scale solar story post-drastic feed-in tariff (FiT) reductions.

Thanks to the scaremongering tactics of the UK press, trade or otherwise, my phone has been ringing off the hook all morning. With wild claims that the feed-in tariff rates for microgeneration-level solar energy will be slashed to just 9p, today’s media has all but knocked the stuffing out of an already nervous UK solar industry.

I’m not ashamed to admit that when it comes to football: I’m a bit of a girl. I don’t fully understand the off-side rule, I can’t reel off last weekend’s results and I spend most of my spectating hoping…

Trade shows and site visits aside, I don’t often get the opportunity to unshackle myself from my desk and get up-close and personal with the subject of my daily musings, so, when I was offered the chance to learn how to install actual solar panels on a real-life roof, I grabbed it with both hands. Making our way to Trade Skills 4U’s Crawley-based head office, Solar Power Portal’s latest intern, Sam Pilgrim and I donned our hard hats and high visibility jackets…