How can SMEs unlock the UK’s £500bn retrofit market?
With less than two months to go before the launch of the Government’s Green Deal, it won’t be long before real opportunities begin to open up for businesses looking to unlock the huge potential of the UK’s domestic retrofit market. But if you are a small to medium-sized business, the chances are you are still trying to figure out how you can win a share of this emerging market. We’re already blogging regularly about SMEs and how they... Read More
Why we have to turn the anti-renewables press around
The renewable energy industry is vital to sustainable growth and the shape of its future will certainly be determined, in part, by the media. What the media says can directly affect confidence in an industry, from investors and policy makers, through to manufacturers, buyers and sellers. With this in mind we decided to stress test our theory that the media is currently skewed against the renewables industry and conducted a study to investigate how... Read More
RHI and FiTs: the unintended consequences of penalising green energy ‘early adopters’
Eco householders can't sell their green energy back to the grid Anyone who was brave enough (or stupid enough) to invest in on-site renewable technologies before July 15 2009 will not have forgotten the disappointment and sense of injustice when they discovered they were going to be ‘penalised’ for their efforts under the Feed-in Tariff (FiT), the Government’s mechanism for incentivising small-scale renewable electricity. Due to the cost... Read More
The solar Feed-in Tariff still offers a good rate of return – so why have installations dried up?
Since the beginning of April solar PV installations have fallen off a cliff. The only time they have been lower over the past 15 months was after the Christmas 2011 Feed-in Tariff deadline. In this time, five companies have resigned their YouGen membership – two going into liquidation, one ceased trading, one changing direction. Others find that the phone isn’t ringing. One company I spoke to this week said they’d had no enquiries... Read More
Government loses Feed-in Tariff appeal, but what next?
While the Government failed to overturn last month’s ruling that its rushed cuts to the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for solar PV are unlawful last week, the uncertainty over FiT rates still exists. As soon as the unanimous verdict was announced in the Court of Appeal, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne announced that his department would seek permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. What does this mean? As a result,... Read More
What’s the Feed-in Tariff saga costing and whose going to pay the ultimate price?
So, the saga over the solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) cuts looks set to continue; a defiant Chris Huhne has said he intends to seek to appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land – despite four Judges telling him that what he plans to do is unlawful. Many from across the business community – not just the solar industry – are urging him to draw a line under the FiT fiasco and move one. There are dire warnings that a second appeal will... Read More
“Greenest Government ever” – how do you rate the Coalition’s green performance?
The Houses of Parliament The “greenest Government ever” – Prime Minister’s David Cameron’s much quoted – and questioned – claim made within a few days of his Coalition Government coming into power. Tomorrow (January 12), the House of Lords will debate that claim. According to Baroness Smith of Basildon (Labour) who tabled and will open the discussion, the debate will act as a “benchmarking exercise” to see how well the Government... Read More
2011: the year of solar…or its demise?
Photo credit: solarcentury.co.uk 2011 will remembered for many tumultuous events, but for those of us reporting on the UK green business sector, there’s one that stands out amongst all the others by a long shot. The rise of solar and the shock decision by the Government to slash the subsidy, which has allowed an industry to grow so rapidly on the back of it, has dwarfed all other developments this year. Not even the drama of a last minute deal... Read More
The Feed-in Tariff and life after 43p
What a month it has been! With the global PV price falling over the last few years, we all knew that time would be called on 12 per cent rates of return and a 20p(ish) Feed In-Tariff was around the corner. But, the way it has been done…Well, if you wanted to kill an important, but still fledgling industry, announcing a seismic change in its financial basis with six weeks notice is probably the way to do it. But this, in itself, gives me faith... Read More
Solar FiT: why kneejerk policy needs to be replaced by a green growth strategy
This week’s unemployment figures and the Bank of England’s downgrade of its growth forecast for 2012 don’t make good reading for a Government that is trying to convince the country’s it’s got a growth strategy. One bright spot in the economy is the low carbon good and services sector. It grew a healthy 4.7 per cent last year. But instead of supporting it, the Coalition appears to be undermining it with a schizophrenic green policy,... Read More
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