decc

Labour has stepped up its pressure on the government over proposed increases in business rates taxation on solar installations and launched a campaign against the plans.

Greater support of low carbon investment is needed from government to “plug the gap” left by its earlier climate and energy reset according to a new report penned by a former HM Treasury economist.

Earlier this week Lightsource announced that it had connected the UK’s first CfD solar park, the Charity Farm project in Shropshire, but it’s a bittersweet moment for the industry as Charity Farm could well be the only solar CfD project to ever be connected. Is now the time to bring solar in from the cold?

The cost of solar technology continues to fall across the world, yet figures released by DECC this summer showed a surprise increase in the average cost of solar installs, particularly within the domestic band. Liam Stoker investigates the causes and implications of the increase.

The UK government needs to provide “continuity and stability” in its energy and climate change policy according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which has called on Greg Clark to pick up the baton left by former energy secretary Amber Rudd.

The UK government should make clear its views on a subsidy-free market stabilisation model for technologies left out of the Contracts for Difference scheme, according to the latest select committee report to criticise the government’s handling of the renewables industry.

As the days pass from the scrapping of DECC from Whitehall in favour of the new business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) department, few details have trickled through about how the new branch of government will operate. David Pratt examines what we do know and what remains to be seen as parliament heads off for the summer.

Following the closure of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, an energy and climate change select committee member has all but confirmed the disbanding of the group.

Solar Power Portal runs through this week’s people news from within UK solar including changes at the top of Anesco and Absolute Solar and Wind, as well as the likely new ministerial appointments to the energy brief at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The newly formed Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) could see energy policy relegated to a ‘steady as she goes’ approach while other policy areas take precedence, according to a government MP in the energy and climate change (ECC) select committee.