Solar subsidy hangs in the balance

The solar industry has taken the government to court over the feed in tariff rate cut that came into effect on December 12th 2011.  The UK solar industry is waiting to hear from the high court if the Government was legally within it’s rights to cut the subsidy that helped a mini boom in solar panels being fitted.

Solar panels are a good sustainable way to produce electricity for domestic use and will feature in the up-coming Green Deal. The return on investment is quickly earned at the current rate that customers are paid for the excess electricity that they feed back into the national grid. Even if there was no subsidy for solar panels they are still going to protect consumer from fossil fuel price rises. For larger projects such as public housing trusts who were looking to install grand scale solar panels the subsidy is key and lots of these projects are now on hold until the courts make a decision.

Current thinking should focus on the insulation of buildings first and only when all the practical measures have been met will power generation be considered. Solar electricity is way down the list when looking at ways of cutting carbon. There are many measures like loft insulation and boiler upgrades that should be done before we start to think about micro power generation.