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The solar industry has hit out against plans by the government to cut support for solar PV installations by up to 25 per cent under the Renewables Obligation (RO), describing the proposed levels of reductions as “too big and too soon.”

The Solar Trade Association (STA) said plans to slash support from 2 Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) per MWh until April 2015 to 1.5 ROCs/MWh next year for the technology are unfair and not in the public interest as they will hold back a cost-effective technology.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) released its consultation levels on banded support for solar PV under the RO – the government’s main financial mechanism for large-scale renewable electricity generation – on Friday (7 September) afternoon, citing a “cautious approach” to levels because the pace of falling solar PV costs had been “consistently underestimated.”

But the STA’s CEO Paul Barwell said the new levels – which are considerably lower than those set out in last October’s RO Banding Review – meant the industry was once again having the rug pulled from under it.

“The proposed 25 per cent cut is too big and too soon. We understand DECC have concerns about how solar will interact with other renewable technologies under the RO, and how it will influence the budget, but deliberately under-rewarding solar to curtail the industry is definitely not the solution,” he said.

“This is not a fair proposal and it is not in the public interest to constrain a cost-effective technology.”

The STA also expressed concern over DECC’s failure to decide whether to issue a separate consultation on plans to exclude solar PV projects below 5MW from the RO.

It said that it is “vital” that both consultations are considered together to ensure a “coherent and ambitious framework for solar.”

The Association is setting up a Large Scale PV Group which will include installers, developers and investors in order to provide detailed feedback to government on the consultation, but added it was particularly concerned by mid-sized schemes, a fledgling area of the sector.

Seb Berry, Head of Public Affairs at Solarcentury, said he objected to the consultation as it failed to provide certainty or confidence for solar PV developers.

“The sector will have to wait until the end of November for certainty on the ROC rate from April 2013 and beyond,” he told E2B Pulse. “With large-scale projects typically having a nine months lead time, DECC is already creating an entirely avoidable hiatus in the market for at least the first quarter of the next financial year, regardless of the outcome of the consultation.”

He added: “The proposed 1.5 rate flies in the face of all of the advice that we and other companies involved in the large-scale PV sector have given.  If DECC is serious about its 22GW ambition and serious about the role that solar parks and other large installations can play in delivering that, it makes no sense at all to propose the RO equivalent of a feed-in tariff rate that is of no interest to investors.”

The proposed changes would apply to projects accredited under the RO scheme on or after 1 April 2013, and responses to the consultation are open until 19 October.

By James Kershaw. Originally posted on E2B Pulse.

U.K. officials have signaled a preference for Chinese partners in two consortia competing for RWE AG (RWE.XE) and E.ON AG’s (EOAN.XE) Horizon nuclear power project in the U.K. to be minority partners, the Financial Times reported on its website Sunday, citing several people familiar with the sale process.

One consortium, led by Toshiba Westinghouse, includes State Nuclear Power Technology Corp of China, while a second consortium includes China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp., the FT reported.

The website quoted a person familiar with deliberations in the U.K.’s energy department as saying “it has always been understood that the Chinese could not have more than 50%, for reasons of public acceptance and political acceptance.”

U.K. officials say the government doesn’t have a “fixed view” on the composition of the consortia, the FT reported.

Originally published on Fox Business.

Original article published on Financial Times.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will pledge 100 million pounds ($156 million) for two investment funds that seek to back renewable and energy efficient projects.

The government will channel the money through Equitix and Sustainable Development Capital, two funds that will aim to attract foreign investment to nurture clean and renewable energy companies. Clegg will also welcome the creation of the world’s first food-grade plastic bottle recycling plant in east London and the expansion of Spain’s Grupotec Tecnologia Solar SL solar panel works in the west of the capital.

“We seek nothing less than a clean, green, low-carbon economy,” Clegg will say in a speech in London, according to remarks released by the government’s business department. “There is a global energy revolution under way. And the U.K. is not going to be left behind.”

Last month, the government granted tax relief for natural gas drillers and cut subsidies for renewable energy, signaling more reductions in the months ahead as it balances demand for cheaper power against a goal to lower pollution from fossil fuels. The Department of Energy and Climate Change cut subsidies for onshore wind by 10 percent, offered less financial support than expected for biomass and said it may cut solar further.

Drax Group Plc (DRX), owner of the U.K.’s largest power station and biomass consumer, fell by a record 15 percent on July 25 when the government published the plan. Gas drillers get a tax credit worth 500 million pounds.

Clegg will make the comments at an investment conference attended by company executives including Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica Plc (CNA), Steve Holliday, chief executive office of National Grid Plc (NG/) and Keith Howells, chairman of Mott MacDonald Ltd.

Originally published on Bloomberg.com

Welcoming an announcement by Energy Minister Greg Barker today (Thursday 24 May 2012) setting out a clear plan for solar power to 2020, Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director Andy Atkins said:

“After a year and a half of crippling uncertainty, the sun is starting to shine again on the solar industry.

Greg Barker’s 2020 vision will allow solar firms to get back on their feet, protect jobs and plan for the future – but to avoid more fiascos any mechanism for setting subsidy payments must be managed independently of Government.

The Energy Bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create jobs and tackle high fuel bills by switching our electricity supplies to clean British energy – but current plans will leave the nation hooked on costly gas and risky nuclear power.

Developing the nation’s huge renewable energy potential will help drive us out of recession – the Government must make it easier for communities, schools and hospitals to plug into clean power.”

This week, Friends of the Earth and the Federation of Small Businesses wrote to Energy Secretary Ed Davey, urging him to end the uncertainty over the feed-in tariff that is hampering the solar industry, and to set out a clear plan to 2020 that enables the sector to grow steadily and with confidence.

 

Originally published on www.foe.co.uk