Marks & Spencer has become the latest victim of Government’s feed-in tariff cuts as the retail chain is forced to abandon plans for a large-scale solar system at its Bradford distribution centre.
The company, which opened the 1.1 million square foot building last year, had plans to install a substantial number of photovoltaic panels in order to keep in line with carbon reduction targets. However, Government’s decision to chop the feed-in tariff rates by up to 70% for developments over 50kW have made these plans an impossibility.
Richard Gillies, Marks & Spencer's director of Plan A, CSR and sustainability said, “We went through all the work [for the solar array] only to find the feed-in tariff revised… and the CRC turned into a carbon tax.”
“From our point of view, we've been looking for consistency and a framework we can make decisions in.”
Speaking about plans to sell home energy improvements under the Government's Green Deal efficiency scheme Gillies said, “We're interested. We already have an energy business – it's an economic opportunity and we're a commercial business.”