Solar Markets & Finance

Disappointment at the outcome of climate talks in Copenhagen (Financial, 15 January) must not distract from the urgent job of building a low-carbon economy in the UK. We believe the generation of small-scale renewable energy can make a substantial contribution to this objective, but are concerned by the lack of ambition of the government's proposed feed-in tariff scheme. This currently aims to generate just 2% of the UK's electricity from small-scale renewable sources by 2020.

The pre-budget report included some good climate measures, but nothing dramatic. It failed to increase green taxes, and instead increased national insurance contributions, which will make job creation more expensive and is a foolish move at a time of such high unemployment. And it made no mention of the expansion of Trident, which will cost at least £72bn and deliver no obvious security benefits. This money should be spent instead on the low-carbon transition.

How can the forthcoming assembly in Copenhagen (Comment, 27 November) possibly come to worthwhile agreements for slowing down climate change when any conceivable progress is bedevilled by blatant contradictions?

Ed Miliband's hopes of having a key government policy on renewable energy in place before the Copenhagen summit have been dashed by internal wrangling over the final levels at which so-called "feed-in tariffs" (FITs) will be set. Officials at Miliband's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have admitted that the announcement – originally due around now – will not come until January.

Britain's claim to be a world leader in green energy investment has been called into question by an authoritative new study that will embarrass ministers as they prepare to launch an important climate change initiative tomorrow.

Real, gutsy solar power is as rare as hen's teeth in this country. By the real deal I mean photovoltaic (PV) systems that convert sunlight into electricity as opposed to rather prosaic solar thermal systems that heat water. Last year just 6MW of solar PV was installed in this country. Compare and contrast the situation in Germany, where more than 1,500MW was installed last year and one in 10 buildings has a solar power system.

An alliance of construction companies, solar energy groups and politicians will tomorrow appeal to the government to increase support for renewable energy for households through its proposed Clean Energy Cashback scheme.

After months of deliberation, the UK government has announced a range of illustrative figures for feed-in tariffs (FITs), which it's calling a Clean Energy Cashback scheme. FITs are fixed payments made to the owners of small generating stations for the electricity that they export to the grid. Micro-generators need high payments to justify their expensive investment in buying and installing green generation.