policy

The Solar Trade Association (STA) has strengthened its policy development team as it moves to ready itself for the “pivotal moment” of a new government and the looming Brexit negotiations.

Liam Stoker looks back at the contributing factors to UK solar’s record-breaking half-hour last Friday as the industry sets its sights on further landmarks to come this summer.

The cost of installing domestic solar in the UK has charted an erratic path over the last year since feed-in tariff (FiT) cuts were enacted in January 2016, with a swing of almost £200 per kilowatt at various points.

The Solar Trade Association (STA) will seek to work with the next government to almost double the UK’s solar capacity by 2022 with an overall aim to reach the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) goal of 40GW of solar by 2030.

The Conservative Party has omitted any mention of solar PV in its second consecutive general election manifesto.

When Theresa May announced there would be a general election on 8 June, you could forgive the public a weary sigh at the thought of a third trip to the ballot box in as many years. And you could forgive those of us in the battery storage sector for wondering whether an election campaign might slow the industry’s momentum.

The Aldersgate Group has renewed calls for subsidy-free Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions to be introduced.

The Green Party has pledged to kick-start solar and other renewable technologies with new support schemes as part of the creation of an “energy system fit for the 21st century” set out in its energy and the environment manifesto.

With the UK’s main political parties preparing to unveil their respective election manifestos, the Renewable Energy Association (REA) has unveiled its own equivalent on behalf of the UK’s green economy.

A leaked version of Labour’s prospective 2017 election manifesto includes an ambitious 60% renewable energy target as well as a host of other initiatives which could support solar.