Solar Media Staff

Well, the Budget’s out, and the ‘green’ elements have so far pretty much met our previous expectations. Opening the section on ‘Green Energy’ George Osborne promised, yet again, to deliver ‘the greenest Government ever’. Thus far, this has remained to be seen, but will the Budget 2011 make any difference?

As 12.30 fast approaches the UK’s renewable industry is sat wondering if the self-dubbed ‘greenest Government ever’ will live up to our high expectations during the Budget 2011. Before anything official is announced, here are a couple of things I’ll be keeping an eye out for.

Since the fast track review bombshell was dropped last week I have been thinking about what kind of implications this will have on the UK solar industry as a whole. So, in the wake of the FiT disaster I have been catching up with globally successful companies to find out what happens if they decide that the UK is a no-go area.

Ikaros Solar has set up a UK subsidiary in Technium Springboard in Cwmbran, Wales. Backed by the Welsh Assembly Government through a £500,000 grant from the Single Investment Fund (SIF) over the next three years, Ikaros Solar UK will focus on providing consultancy and solar PV installations for the commercial and business sectors.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) says that the Government’s proposals to cut the level of feed-in tariff incentives available to large-scale solar installations are “ill-judged” and “extremely damaging” to the renewable energy in Britain.

After what seemed like a decade of delay, the DECC has finally confirmed its intention to break the legs of the UK’s solar industry for good. The axe-wielding Government has now proposed crippling cuts to the solar feed-in tariff for all systems over 50kW. Yet again, our expectations are exceeded, and not in a good way. 

The news we have all been waiting for is finally out, and it’s not good. Greg Barker has revealed the scale of feed-in tariff cuts to what he says are ‘large-scale’ solar installations, and it looks like anything above 50kW is in for a rough deal.

Connected home technology company PassivSystems is to supply Engensa customers with solar photovoltaic monitoring systems. The two companies have signed the deal as part of Engensa’s Street by Street Solar campaign, which aims to supply free solar PV equipment to 100,000 homes across the UK.

In response to the UK Chief Nuclear Inspector’s recently commissioned report into the implications of events at Japanese nuclear reactors on existing and new plants in the UK, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne says we must not “rush to judgment”.

Foresight has announced its intention to finance the completed solar photovoltaic roof installations developed by Our Generation – the energy services company set up in conjunction with Mark Group in 2009. Foresight, which has agreed on a £50M program spread over the next 12 months, will fund the investment from Foresight Solar VCT, which has already raised £20 million from individuals, and from the Foresight Solar EIS, its fourth dedicated solar fund which launched this month.