Opposition to the Conservative government’s contentious feed-in tariff proposals has spread to the Houses of Parliament as shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint accused the Tories of undermining solar and onshore wind.
Yesterday the government unveiled proposals to cut the small-scale feed-in tariff by up to 87%, prompting a furious reaction from the renewables industry and environmental groups who labelled the cost-cutting measures as “absurd” and “highly damaging”.
Flint echoed those sentiments this morning and said: “In the run up to the vital Paris climate conference this year, the government should be fulfilling their pledge to decarbonise at least cost, but instead they have severely undermined the two cheapest forms of clean energy, solar and onshore wind.”
“Amber Rudd promised to unleash a solar revolution, but this change is likely to cost jobs and investment in the green economy,” she added.
The Green Party also added to the criticism, stating it to be “ludicrous” that UK renewables were not afforded the same degree of support and certainty that nuclear and shale gas has. Earlier this month, DECC and the Department for Communities and Local Government made a joint decision to fast-track fracking planning applications and potentially overturn decisions made by local planning authorities, while the decision to heavily subsidise Hinckley Point C has continued to be criticised within the House of Lords.
“Currently only around 1.5% of UK homes have solar panels on their roofs. If we are serious about addressing climate change, reducing fuel bills and addressing fuel poverty then we need to be investing in renewable technologies, not cutting them.
“The cuts to the feed-in tariff will have only a negligible impact on energy bills but will have a destabilising effect on the whole UK solar industry, threatening thousands of jobs. This proposed cut makes no sense for business and threatens our meagre carbon reduction targets,” said Andrew Cooper, energy spokesman for the Green Party.