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One aspect of the fast-track feed-in tariff review that has been niggling away at me for weeks is Government’s constant justification that cuts were needed to stop “large-scale solar farms soaking up the cash,” when rooftop systems were also taking the hit. In fact, as revealed today, the Government has had to cancel its own plans as a result of this ridiculous banding.

I have had many meetings in recent weeks with DECC / Ministers and Officials. The new FIT’s team comprises of Rachel Solomon-Williams and Alisdair Grainger and they are a breath of fresh air to deal with.

Meeting today with the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Head of the Feed-in Tariff Review, Rachel Solomon Williams, I was able to dig out a few exclusives. Speaking out in defence against the review, Rachel faced a lot of difficult questions in response to the industry’s anger at the recent policy u-turn.

While the FiT review is targeted at large scale installations, the reclassification of solar projects over 50kW as ‘large scale’ threatens community schemes too. The question for Government, therefore, is at what scale can community energy projects succeed?

Since the fast track review bombshell was dropped last week I have been thinking about what kind of implications this will have on the UK solar industry as a whole. So, in the wake of the FiT disaster I have been catching up with globally successful companies to find out what happens if they decide that the UK is a no-go area.

After what seemed like a decade of delay, the DECC has finally confirmed its intention to break the legs of the UK’s solar industry for good. The axe-wielding Government has now proposed crippling cuts to the solar feed-in tariff for all systems over 50kW. Yet again, our expectations are exceeded, and not in a good way. 

The Government’s review of the feed-in tariffs is released this week and is awaited with a mixture of intrigue and dread. The potential effects on the fledgling solar industry in the UK have been well documented on these pages, but few seem to think that they will be positive.

Scotland is perhaps better known for its windy weather than for its radiant sunshine, but that’s no excuse for a poor microgeneration industry, is it? Well, the Scottish Government certainly doesn’t think so, which is why, in a bid to increase the uptake in renewable technologies, it has introduced a new green loan scheme.

Following the absolute devastation caused by the earthquake measuring magnitude 8.9 and the ensuing tsunami that shook Japan this weekend, the world has suddenly begun to turn its back on the nuclear power industry. Confounded at how the country’s reactors are adding such panic in the wake of a disaster which alone is the worst thing the country has dealt with since WW2, people are waking up to the fact that nuclear is not the way forward.

After a long period of anticipation, the UK is finally privy to the details of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). At long last we finally have a Government policy to support solar thermal heat generation – well, sort of.