Opinions

John Parnell compares the UK’s “bonfire of renewables”, to use a phrase coined by Jenny Jones this week, with a far more different approach in Washington, highlighted by this week’s appearance from US vice president Joe Biden at US solar industry conference Solar Power International.

Solar Trade Association head of external affairs Leonie Greene discusses its efforts to lobby government since the feed-in tariff proposals were made public and what you, the industry, can do to help.

I have met a number of officials from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) over the years and hold them in very high regard. Make no mistake, these are smart people we’re dealing with. Which makes the recent Feed in Tariff (FiT) review all the more perplexing.

Well it’s been a little while since I typed one of these. There are a few reasons (including a broken leg!), but mostly it’s due to being occupied with other projects – most significantly finishing the new IET Solar PV code of practice, which I am pleased to say should be published later this month.

With the Department of Energy and Climate Change publishing their devastating proposals for the feed-in tariff scheme, I’ve written to the Prime Minister to ask him to explain his government’s policy. I don’t hold out much hope for a response but needed to get this off my chest.

Not content with completely decimating the available feed-in tariff rates for solar, the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) potentially catastrophic consultation on the future of the feed-in tariff (FiT) also introduces the possibility of a cap on all new FiT expenditure.

The Conservative government has shown a complete lack of respect by leaking details of subsidy cuts via unofficial press briefings, something which is just further evidence of a double-standard when it comes to its attitude to energy generation, Liam Stoker writes.

At this year’s awards, we’ll be asking you the industry to help install solar at a hospital in Uganda, an install that could literally save lives.

The government’s dismantling of solar support is not only spooking investors but will also fail to translate into cheaper bills for the wider public, warns Abid Kazim.

The government’s dismantling of solar support is not only spooking investors but will also fail to translate into cheaper bills for the wider public, warns Abid Kazim.