consolidation/takeovers20 Oct 2015 12:16
Industry chiefs told a discussion at the Solar Energy UK conference in Birmingham last week that consolidation was the most likely outcome of the shake-up.
“Whenever an industry goes through what we’re about to go through, you get rationalisation and consolidation,” industry website Solar Power Portal quoted Lightsource boss Nick Boyle as saying.
The Solar Trade Association’s head of external affairs, Leonie Greene, said support for solar under the RO costs just £6 a year on each household bill and solar makes up only 6% of the RO budget.
“Solar farms are close to competitiveness with new gas generation and they account for a very small proportion of expenditure on the RO,” Greene said.
“We’re hearing a lot of big figures from government, but they should know it is just a few quid more on energy bills to deliver nothing less than a solar power revolution in the UK. We’re very close, but we’re not there yet.”
Solar company Good Energy (LON:GOOD) claimed that the cost of supporting wind and solar energy last year was less than half that cited by the government to justify its cuts.
The company has just produced a report showing that wind and solar brought down the wholesale cost of electricity by £1.55bn in 2014.
That meant an overall net cost for supporting the two renewable sources last year was £1.1bn, 58% less than the cost reflected in the capped budget set for green subsidies, known as the Levy Control Framework.
Good Energy chief executive Juliet Davenport said: "This analysis puts the bill-payer at the centre of the debate around renewable energy subsidies. Let's give them the full picture and not just half of it.
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