 | This one diagram proves that the UK Government almost destroyed the solar electric industry by suddenly cutting the feed-in tariff (FIT) for domestic photovoltaic installations late last year.
Stop-go-stop policies on renewable energy are inefficient and ineffective. Britain needs an energy engineering revival – to manufacture and deploy low carbon technology – anywhere and everywhere. |
| Those who finance this energy revolution, who invest in industry and the workforce, need confidence and consistent conditions in which to operate.
Someone in the solar electric industry sent me these comments today by e-mail :- “OK – the FIT money was running out and the price of solar in the UK is reducing faster than any one ever dreamed of. On the other hand, premature cuts by the Government have prevented thousands of social houses, schools and communities from getting clean renewable energy this spring and have ruined the careful plans of solar companies preparing to install in the run up to April 2012. Clearly the budget for the FIT needs to be increased. The argument for not expanding the FIT is that it will raise the cost of electricity for consumers. The counter argument is that doing nothing will mean that energy prices rise even faster as we increasingly rely on dwindling fossil fuels from unstable regions. Invest in new energy now… a stitch in time, saves nine!” “PS I think that sometime this year the cost of electricity from solar will become cheaper than buying from the grid. The only problem is that the cost of solar is all upfront compared to cheap start-up costs for fossil fuels and continuing (and increasing) running costs for the latter.” | |