“The news that the International Energy Agency anticipate solar – both PV and thermal – can become the world’s major source of energy is welcomed by the STA.

“This news follows many reports this year predicting solar is set to achieve a major cost breakthrough with sustained investment today, including in the UK where Ernst and Young predict solar could reach grid parity by 2017.

“The STA urge the UK government to take notice of mounting evidence about the potential of solar, and to urgently reconsider their faulty assumptions that solar is a technology that is too expensive to deploy in the UK. The UK cannot afford to ignore this technology. We must invest today to secure major manufacturing opportunities and a bigger share in what will be a massive global market in the future.”

Solar is easy to deploy across a range of sectors and markets. In the UK alone, solar technology has the potential to readily generate as much as 30% of the UK’s electricity needs, and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The IEA will published their report later this year. The STA is expecting the government to publish the RO Banding Review consultation shortly. This will set out whether the UK government intends to support non-domestic solar.

The STA response follows news from Bloomberg “solar may produce most of world’s power by 2060 say IEA”

“The news that Chinese researchers anticipate solar could be as cheap as coal power by 2015 follows many reports this year predicting solar is set to achieve a major cost breakthrough with sustained investment today.

“The STA urge the UK government to take notice of mounting evidence about the potential of solar, and to reconsider their assumptions that solar is a technology that is too expensive to deploy in the UK.

“Clearly some people in China believe solar could be cheaper than coal by the end of this Parliament. This is not a technology anyone can afford to ignore, particularly given the UK does have some major manufacturing opportunities.

“Solar technology has the potential to readily generate 30% of the UK’s electricity needs, and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.”

The STA are responding to analysis that was covered by Reuters News “China to double solar capacity by year end: report”

The report will also provide further ammunition to campaigners in the UK who have roundly criticised the government for cutting incentives for large-scale solar installations earlier than expected and are currently urging ministers not to impose further deep cuts when they review the UK’s feed-in tariff incentive scheme next year.

Read the full article on Business Green website by clicking HERE

There’s a palpable frustration at the UK’s lack of renewable energy. Communities are in a great position to change this – Brighton Energy believe that by banding together and using their collective strength they can take control of their energy future.

Visit their website for more information or get involved by clicking HERE

The tariff will drop from 29.3p per kWh to 8.5p per KwH on 1 August and solar plant developers have just this weekend to complete large projects in order to benefit from higher tariffs.

Statistics released by DECC show that there was a 56% rise to 121.6 megawatts (MW) between March and June and 18 times more capacity than a year previously.Read the full article on Energy & Environment management website

The scheme plans to fully repay all shareholders within 25-years. We at Our Solar Future definitely agree with Norman Baker, MP for Lewes and transport minister, who said that “Energy should be bottom up, not top down”. Hopefully, this will be the first of many local initiatives to do with Solar power energy. You can read the full article click HERE

Click here to see a copy of the Report.

Ministers plan an abrupt change of policy in an effort to rescue tens of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment promised by Britain’s solar energy industry, which are threatened by Treasury cuts.

On Thursday the Department of Energy and Climate Change was forced to announce that subsidies for large-scale solar farms would be slashed to allow domestic solar schemes to go ahead within a Treasury- imposed ceiling of £860 million.

The effect of limiting the new and highly successful scheme to small projects would, according to solar manufacturers and installers, effectively ‘kill the industry’.

But Financial Mail can reveal that the Department has been working on plans to revive large solar farms by including them in the Renewable Obligation project – another environmental subsidy scheme.

An announcement on the size of the subsidy to large-scale projects will be made in the autumn. The hope is that by 2013, when new tariffs take effect, the solar industry will be able once again to develop.

As expected, the government on Thursday announced cuts to the subsidies given to large-scale solar photovoltaic installations. The cuts were introduced in a bid to ensure that the money assigned to the feed-in tariffs (Fits) programme for the period of the current parliament didn’t get quickly eaten up by large investor-driven solar systems, leaving nothing for householders and small community projects. As Greg Barker told me last week, “the focus of the current scheme needs to be on the small scale, to get the maximum number of installations”.

Given that the total amount of money that can be given out via the Fits is capped, skewing the scheme in favour of small systems is reasonable, but two important questions remain unanswered. First, given the rate of small-scale installations, how long will the Fits funding pot last? Second, why is there a cap in the first place?…

…Howard Johns, chair of the Solar Trade Association, claims that the coalition’s decision to turn this indicative figure into a hard cap “was pushed through without consultation, based on a spreadsheet that no one had seen”.

Investments in major UK manufacturing opportunities, like Kingspan’s insulate and generate solar roofing, are now in jeopardy, as investors move away from UK.  Cost-effective and accessible public schemes, in leisure centres, supermarkets and schools will be severely limited in future.  Innovative projects, like Enfinity’s solar rail scheme in Belgium powering 4,000 trains, will be impossible in the UK without urgent intervention.

Solar Trade Association Chairman Howard Johns said; “The Coalition Government have got it seriously wrong on solar and given recent statements in the press DECC Ministers are waking up to this.   But Treasury have crippled DECC’s ability to respond to major developments in solar and DECC itself hasn’t got to grips with this technology.

“Ironically crushing solar makes zero economic sense for UK plc because it will lose us major manufacturing opportunities, jobs and global competitiveness.  It also risks locking us in to more expensive energy options in future.  It is inexplicable that the Treasury can be allowed to damage energy and industrial policy by taking decisions without taking into account the bigger picture.  The Prime Minister urgently needs to intervene to prevent this calamity.”

The UK Government is derailing solar, just as other major economies including China, Japan and Germany are moving solar to the heart of energy policy.  Recent research shows that solar will be competitive with grid electricity in major EU countries in less than five years and solar could easily generate more than 30% of electricity in the UK.

This is a devastating day for solar in the UK. If you have not done so already, please sign our campaign.

Links:

Guardian: Coalition on course to miss carbon emissions targets, says CBI: Powerful business lobbyist says ministers failing on 12 of 13 environmental indicators after series of policy U-turns

DECC: New feed-in tariff levels for large scale solar and anaerobic digestion announced today (Press release 2011/046, 09 JUNE 2011)