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Campaigners say government must rethink re solar |
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7 Jul 2014, 9:54 PM
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“Ministers must rethink planned changes to how solar power schemes are supported or risk derailing Britain’s renewable energy revolution", environmental campaigners said today, following the close of a public consultation on the topic.
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The announcement coincides with today’s (Monday) close of the most recent public consultation on proposed changes to solar support schemes, which could reduce the amount of new solar being developed by half.
Last week, ratings agency Moody’s predicted that solar power and offshore wind would drive down the cost of electricity in the UK by the end of the decade and help keep the lights on.
Friends of the Earth’s Energy Campaigner Alasdair Cameron said:
“Ministers are yet again failing to walk the walk on Britain’s solar potential. They say their plans are ambitious, yet this proposal attacks solar parks while doing almost nothing to boost large rooftop systems.The solar industry has made phenomenal progress in recent years: solar power is already cheaper than new nuclear, could soon be less expensive than gas, and can be installed safely and discreetly in the heart of our communities. Ministers must recognise solar’s huge potential and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to plug in to the sun – starting with our schools.
“If every school in the UK installed solar power it could generate enough electricity to power more than 350,000 homes and would earn them more than £1 billion over the lifetime of the panels.”
Friends of the Earth played a leading role in the campaign for the introduction of the feed-in tariff, which sparked the recent solar boom. The environment charity has successfully challenged previous Government attacks on the policy in court. The most recent changes proposed by the Government revolve around a separate support scheme designed for large scale systems known as the Renewable Obligation (RO). Under the proposed plans the RO will be closed early and solar projects forced to enter a closed bidding system, which will severely limit the ability of small and medium-sized companies to take part. The Government estimates that closing the RO could reduce the number of new large scale solar projects by around 50% (projected solar capacity would fall from 6.3GW to 4.3 GW by 2020, up from around 2 GW today).
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