Opinions

With the deadline of December the 12th all too close, the question I am being asked is what do we need to get done by the deadline?

It was perhaps a foregone conclusion that the money-spinning solar industry, growing at break-neck speed on the back of generous Government subsidy had to be tamed down to sustainable levels, sooner or later.

If there is one thing you can be sure of in this world, it is that the law of unintended consequences follows Government plans like autumn follows summer. The fact is, if Government launches an initiative then there will be a multitude of clever people trying to find ways to use that initiative to their own advantage. Often initiatives are not used in the way they were intended — and many do not end up benefitting those to whom they were originally aimed.

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…

DECC have just announced the proposed new Solar PV FIT rates…

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.

The REA has just issued some analysis that shows that the UK solar sector now employs around 25,000 people.

I can’t quite decide if we have the new procedure for estimating the annual performance of a solar PV system totally sorted (as detailed in the draft of the PV installation guide – Edition 3). I am aware that a number of people are now looking at it in some detail, so I thought it would be useful to describe the thinking behind the revised procedure.

The cost of a 50kW commercial solar photovoltaics (PV) system in the UK has now reached a price range of £100k to £130k. With the UK feed-in tariff set at 32.9p/kWh generated, I would argue that UK solar PV is currently in a bubble — one that serves up a golden opportunity for businesses to add solar PV to their property. David Owen’s excellent blog post on the new FiT, prices and the future for solar in the UK: Part 1 only serves to underline this point. In my opinion, it is unlikely that there will ever be a better time to act, so my advice would be: fill ‘yer boots!