The Solar Trade Association (STA) has welcomed the fact that the Government is widely expected to adopt the UK’s fifth carbon budget to require a 57% reduction in emissions from 2032 compared to 1990 levels.
However, whilst the trade body applauds the Government for another clear statement of long-term ambition, it says that important short and medium-term questions remain.
The Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) advice last November was that the Government should set a budget to follow the ‘lowest cost path’ to the long-term target and avoid stop-start investment.
The committee pointed to a ‘critical weakening of policies’ after the election, including the cancellation of Zero Carbon Homes and expressed its concerns about the growing shortfall in delivering the fourth carbon budget for the period 2023-2027.
Jonathan Selwyn, chairman of the Solar Trade Association and Director of Solar Consulting, commented: “The Solar Trade Association very much welcomes the strong support expressed for solar by the Committee on Climate Change and by the Minister in her evidence to the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Select Committee yesterday.
“However, in our meeting this week with Minister Andrea Leadsom we urged her Department to take specific actions to address the significant slow-down in the industry following the recent changes to the solar support framework. We believe that a number of relatively minor changes could help stimulate the market.
“As an industry we are on the path to a subsidy-free future, we hope by the early 2020s. To achieve this, we need a flourishing UK industry and a Government that allows us to compete on a level playing field with other renewables as well as nuclear and gas.”
