Monday 7 July 2014

David Cameron urged to back UK solar

More than 150 businesses are calling on the Government to back the solar industry and reconsider its proposed changes to financial support for large-scale projects.

In a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, companies including IKEA, Ecotricity and Tridos Bank have highlighted the importance of solar installations and concerns about the uncertainty in the industry a result of the support cuts.

DECC has proposed to halt the Renewables Obligation (RO) support for large-scale solar farms with capacity of more than 5MW from April next year.

The call comes on the day DECC closes its consultation on the proposals.

Paul Barwell, Solar Trade Association (STA) Chief Executive is calling on the Government to rethink the proposals as “they are putting the UK’s position in the booming global solar market at risk”.

He added: “So serious are the implications of these consultations for the British solar industry that we are asking the Prime Minister to intervene. We only need one more push, one more period of policy stability to be able to compete with fossil fuels without support. That is the global race the PM needs to win for the UK economy and the climate.”

The letter also highlights the positive benefits solar will deliver for UK businesses including "improving international competitiveness and electricity sector competition as well as lowering energy price inflation".