Government may face EU action for solar subsidy cut

Tom Bawden
Friday 09 December 2011 06:00 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The European Commission is threatening to take the UK Government to court over its controversial decision to cut solar power subsidies in half.

The commission became the latest party to question the move publicly yesterday, revealing that it had contacted the UK Government as it investigates the impact of the cut.

Günther Oettinger, the EU Energy Commissioner, said: "Whenever member states revise their support for support schemes for renewable energy, they need to do so in a manner which does not destabilise the renewable energy industry or risk undermining their own plans to achieve their 2020 targets."

The Government is legally obliged to generate 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

"Should the UK weaken policies in such a way that it would threaten progress towards their targets, the commission would take action, launching legal proceedings if necessary," Mr Oettinger added.

He was responding to a "priority question" about the solar subsidy from Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London. Ms Lambert said: "Under the Commission's ruling, the UK is prevented from making amendments to support schemes which could jeopardise the renewables industry, yet sudden, drastic cuts to the tariff will strip away investor confidence, reduce the market for solar companies across the country and threaten jobs."

Critics say Britain's fledgling solar industry will be decimated by the Government's decision in October to reduce the so-called feed-in-tariff (FIT) subsidy it offers to households and small businesses for generating solar power from 43p per Kwh to 21p. The Solar Trade Association added that the proposed subsidy cut "had definitely destabilised the industry".

A spokeswoman for the Department for Energy and Climate Change said: "We are committed to meeting the 15 per cent 2020 renewables target. Our Renewables Roadmap sets out that solar would have a relatively limited role in cost-effective delivery of the overall target."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in