Big commercial solar roofs and farms face major cut in support
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has today published proposals to reduce Renewables Obligation support for solar on both roofs and in solar farms. The proposals cover both the Renewables Obligation for bigger projects, and changes to rules on the Feed-in Tariff for smaller projects. The Renewables Obligation, which currently supports rooftop and solar […]
RenewableUK slams Chancellor’s retrogressive budget announcement
RenewableUK, the trade association representing the wind, wave and tidal energy industries, has strongly criticised the Chancellor’s announcement in his budget speech that he is retrospectively changing the rules governing the Climate Change Levy – a measure which was originally designed to promote the generation of clean energy. RenewableUK’s Director of Policy, Dr Gordon Edge, […]
New checklist aims to boost solar across UK commercial rooftops
The Solar Trade Association has published a simple and clear checklist to give managers in commerce and industry the confidence to put solar on their roofs. Commercial and industrial roofs dominate the solar market in Europe, but in the UK commercial roofs account for only 5% of all solar deployment to date. However, as part […]
RenewableUK urges Government to support offshore wind industry expansion
RenewableUK, the trade association representing the wind and marine energy industries, has published a new document which makes a case to Government to continue its support for offshore wind, outlining specific actions that Ministers could take to ensure expansion. “Our Offshore Energy Future – Actions for Growth” is launched today at the opening of RenewableUK’s […]
Scottish Government consults on waiving planning permission for commercial rooftop solar
The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on permitted development rights – a waiving of planning permission if certain requirements are fulfilled – for commercial non-domestic rooftop solar. The Solar Trade Association Scotland has welcomed this consultation, after the issue was raised at all levels of the Scottish Government as a barrier to more solar […]
Solar homes, buildings and farms to open doors for Solar Independence Day
On Friday 3 July and Saturday 4 July locations across the UK will be opening their doors to the public to celebrate solar energy and showcase its potential. Ahead of the day, Paul Barwell, CEO of the Solar Trade Association said: “Solar Independence Day will show how versatile this technology is. We’ve got everything […]
Blow to UK wind energy industry
The 18 June 2015 marked a gloomy day for the wind energy industry as the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) confirmed that the Renewables Obligation (RO) will close from 1 April 2016 – a year earlier than previously planned. The RO has been the fiscal driver for commercial scale onshore wind development for […]
Scottish Government heat strategy provides welcome opportunity for solar heating
Commenting on the Scottish Government’s publication yesterday of its ‘Heat Policy Statement – Towards decarbonizing heat: maximizing the opportunities for Scotland’, STA Scotland Chairman John Forster said: “STA Scotland thoroughly welcomes this new heat statement. Renewable and zero carbon heat are a key part of meeting the Scottish Government’s renewables targets.” “However it is important […]
Costed solar industry plan shows how to get UK solar as cheap as fossil fuel electricity by 2020
The Solar Trade Association has today published its ‘Solar Independence Plan for Britain’, setting out how the new Government can steer rooftop solar-generated electricity to parity with retail electricity prices and utility-scale solar farms to parity with new gas CCGT power station prices, both by 2020. In the report the STA looks at several different […]
