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Govt Says One Thing And Does Another On Solar

Posted: 02/11/2005

As the G8 governments gathered in London for the Dialogue on Climate Change as promised in the summer, the UK Government told the world again that climate change is a great threat. It said that the UK is leading the way in combating that threat. But for solarcentury, leaders in the U.K. P.V. industry, the reality seems very different.

Solar photovoltaics (PV), a zero carbon technology uniquely suited to our urban environment, is a key ally in the fight against climate change since more than 50% of UK emissions come directly and indirectly from buildings. Globally, the PV market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world, so there is huge potential opportunity in this technology not just for a green British government but also UK plc. Here in the UK, there are already three solar pv manufacturers and over 60 installation companies.

But a huge contradiction at the heart of Government policy is holding back this embryonic industry. For solar photovoltaics, the Government has been committed publicly to a ten year programme in line with Japan and Germany since 2001. But this year Germany will install the equivalent of 250,000 roofs of solar pv. The UK will install just 1% of that figure. We are falling further and further behind.

And what little support the sector has in the UK is bizarrely about to come to an end. On 2nd December, grant applications to the Government's solar PV Major Demonstration Programme end just three years into the ten year programme. All year, solarcentury, Sharp and the Renewable Power Association have been advising Government of the consequences of this remarkable u-turn. They haven't listened.

"The next time the Prime Minister poses as a world leader in combating climate change," said solarcentury CEO Jeremy Leggett, "the facts in a vital solutions industry will tell a different story. All the promise, enthusiasm, and belief he instilled in the solarcentury staff when he visited last year is in danger of being exposed as so much hot air. I hope and expect that the government will wake up in time and act consistently with their long train of promises. But I can't understand why they are leaving it so late, and making business planning so impossible."

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