Opinions

The renewables industry has responded positively to a sustained period of policy stability but recent policy changes could jeopardise the solar sector’s ability to create jobs, argues David Hunt.

The immediate reaction following the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s 22 July 2015 proposal to change the goalposts for the UK solar industry was obviously one of despair, and what the impact on FY’17 forecasts for ground-mounted solar could be. However, that’s just one part of the story. The other relates to what is left, assuming most of the proposals will end up being rubber stamped by DECC.

In a normal world, if a market declined by an order of magnitude from one quarter to another, one would expect most of the industry participants to be looking for another career opportunity. But we are talking about the solar industry here, so normal benchmarks tend not to be in play too much.

If DECC’s proposals to draw a line under new RO applications from 22 July 2015 end up being written into policy, then potentially one of the hardest hit will be pure-play developers of solar farms.

It seems that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) *may* have learnt from its series of solar-related legal disputes. This time round, instead of taking immediate emergency action to revise subsidy rates the government has taken a rather more creative approach.

The UK government has called time on solar support, onshore wind and the Green Deal at a time when the country’s democratic machinery is in snooze mode. The industry has to make an even bigger noise in order to be heard and that process starts with you.

Earlier today DECC released its monthly stats for PV deployment in the UK. DECC is sizing the market as of 30 June 2015 at 7.75GW, and is putting Q2’15 deployment at approximately 200MW.

Rexel’s Jerry Hamilton says that a smooth transition will prove key if the UK is to achieve subsidy-free solar

The first part of the two-blog feature on EPCs in the UK solar industry revealed the top 10 EPCs with Solarcentury and Grupotec joint leaders. Part two now discusses the share contributions of the top 10, the importance of lower tier EPC companies, and what the future has in store.

If there was one clear takeaway from the consultation and impact assessment releases by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) today, it would be – the government does not want any more solar farms as of today.