Isra-Mart srl:Solar industry steps up calls for feed-in tariff U-turn

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The solar industry has launched two separate online campaigns calling on the government to rethink its decision to review the level of support available through the feed-in tariff incentive scheme to large and medium-sized solar installations.

The We Support Solar campaign, which is backed by a coalition of renewable energy firms including Solarcentury, Good Energy and Sharp, last week sent an open letter to energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne and launched a petition urging him to drop the fast-track review of solar incentives.

"The shock decision to launch a 'fast-track' review for all PV down to the size of small community and business installations has caused chaos in key parts of the sector," the letter states. "Your announcement has halted investment in many projects over 50kW including 'Big Society' community schemes of the type we thought the government was particularly keen to support."

The group, which was instrumental in campaigning for the original adoption of a feed-in tariff last year, warned that the review – which is widely expected to result in cuts to some solar incentives from this summer – had left many solar firms unable to plan for the next financial year.

Supporters of the campaign are invited to sign up to the letter, which also accuses the government of breaching commitments that any future reviews of feed-in tariffs would only occur once a trigger point had been reached.

"Ministerial assurances that any 'fast-track' review would only be launched after publication of a 'trigger' have not been delivered," the letter states. "No such 'trigger' has ever been published, with the result that tens of millions of pounds of private sector investment in projects greater than 50kW is now threatened."

The government maintains that cuts to the level of support for larger solar installations is necessary to ensure projects with more than 50kW of capacity do not eat into the £360m available for feed-in tariff projects, leading to a reduced number of smaller, rooftop installations.

However, according to Ofgem, figures total feed-in tariff payments for the first nine months of the scheme stand at just £8.7m and rumours are circulating that the level of take up remains well short of the £50m that is believed to have been budgeted by the government for the first year of the scheme.

In related news, a separate campaign was launched yesterday by developer Low Carbon Solar that is similarly urging the government to reconsider a review which is expected to damage the prospects of community-scale projects.

The Power to Society campaign is urging the public and landowners to sign up to a petition urging the government to shelve the fast-track review and protect community schemes.

"In pulling back on a commitment to support solar energy, the government will cause the abandonment of scores of 'Big Society' community-owned schemes and hundreds of other developments that could have seen individual parishes benefit from up to £25,000 every year and more local jobs created," said Mark Shorrock, chief executive of Low Carbon Solar.

"The ill-conceived and dangerously short-sighted proposals will have further unintended consequences, including the government missing a European target of generating 30 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2020, and therefore incurring significant fines."

The Department of Energy and Climate Change was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.