The Solar Trade Association says it plans to put forward an alternative plan to government that would achieve a subsidy-free solar installation industry by 2020 without relying on the drastic cuts to Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) currently being proposed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
The STA is acting following the announcement that two of its members, Leicester-based Mark Group and Bristol-based Climate Energy have gone into administration.
Mark Group’s demise is expected result in over 950 job losses, while Climate Energy had around 128 staff. Mark Group was purchased in the summer by US company SunEdison.
The STA last month predicted that up to 27,000 jobs along the supply chain could be lost as a result of the precipitous drop in Feed-in Tariff income undermining the sector.
DECC is currently consulting on a proposal that would see FiTs cut from around 12.47p per kilowatt hour to just 1.63p for a small domestic-scale installation. According to DECC, the revised tariffs are based on updated technology cost data, and new limits on the funds available which would lead to a phased closure of the FiTs scheme in 2018-19.
The consultation closes on 23 October.
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A spokeswoman for the STA told Construction Manager: “The administrations show just how much investor confidence in the solar market in the UK has dropped. The extreme cuts could potentially eradicate the industry.
“We’ve put together an alternative plan for DECC and have had discussions with them. It relates to phasing the cuts – we’ve agreed that the system needs reform, it doesn’t offer value for money, especially with large-scale installations in the commercial sector.
“So we’ve modelled that we can be subsidy free by 2020, but these sudden cuts are so dangerous for businesses in the sector.”
The STA is also exploring the potential for shifting the solar installation sector towards battery storage of electricity, rather than feeding it into the grid. In Germany, there has been a significant shift towards battery storage.
“In the future, it could transform the way solar energy is used, and we advise that any installation today should be battery-ready,” the spokeswoman said.
